Merantix Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Merantix Capital is a Berlin-based early-stage venture firm and a unit of the wider Merantix group, which has been building and investing in applied AI since 2016. The firm was co-founded by Dr. Rasmus Rothe and Adrian Locher. Its thesis is that Europe's industrial heritage and research base can produce AI champions, and that early-stage teams most need two things: talent and traction. The firm positions itself as the connective tissue between Europe's large corporates and ambitious AI-native startups, using the Merantix AI Campus in Berlin, the London AI Hub, AI House Davos and the Merantix Momentum AI consultancy to give founders design partners, early customers and engineering talent.
The firm lists a broad set of areas of interest on its invest page: Gen2 fintech, tech-bio and healthcare automation, agentic models, robotics and industrial AI, new systems of record (reinventing ERP), defense and AI-powered security, neuroscience, IP protection, safety for regulated industries, cloud labs, online trust and fraud prevention, government and bureaucracy, cybersecurity, energy infrastructure, and generative design and engineering.
Stage Focus
Merantix Capital invests from pre-idea through pre-seed and seed. Its fund is split roughly 50-50 between two tracks. The first is venture studio founders who work with the Merantix team from the pre-idea stage to create new AI companies and validate ideas through the ecosystem. The second is direct pre-seed and seed investments in AI-native companies.
Check Size
The firm does not publish check sizes. The latest fund is EUR 103M and targets about 40 investments, which implies average total commitments of roughly EUR 2.5M per company including reserves. Disclosed rounds are small, for example the pre-seed round in Outpost Bio, reported at USD 3.5M and EUR 2.9M, which Merantix co-led.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. The firm co-led Outpost Bio's pre-seed and, in the studio track, is often the founding partner from day zero. It is treated as both leading and following.
Recent Activity
In June 2026 Merantix Capital closed its EUR 103M AI Fund, its largest to date and about three times its 2020 debut vehicle. Strategic limited partners include Union Investment, Jungheinrich, KPMG Germany, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The firm is actively deploying from this fund. Recent investments include Droidrun (mobile-native AI agent infrastructure, now Mobilerun), Arqh (AI logistics optimization), Outpost Bio (AI for human microbiology), Graph Therapeutics, Meteoric (automated energy supplier) and Hoshii (AI workspace for B2B operations), plus several stealth ventures in logistics, manufacturing, recruiting, ERP, energy, fashion tech and fintech.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists about 18 named companies. Exits shown on the page include Libra (legal AI, acquired by Wolters Kluwer), SiaSearch (data refinery, acquired by Scale AI) and Kausa (business analytics, acquired by SAP). Other notable names are Vara (AI breast cancer screening), revel8 (human-layer cyber defense), Cambrium (sustainable materials), Briink (ESG reporting), Almetra (assembly line productivity), Ovom Care (reproductive care) and WhyBrilliant (AI recruiting).
Team
- Dr. Rasmus Rothe: Co-founder and General Partner. PhD in computer vision and deep learning from ETH Zurich; chairman of the German AI Association (KI Bundesverband).
- Adrian Locher: Co-founder and General Partner. Serial entrepreneur who has helped build more than 20 European companies; founded DeinDeal, acquired by Ringier.
- Nicole Büttner: Founding Partner. Former founder and CEO of Merantix Momentum; joined the Capital team full time with the new fund.
- Rockman Law: Investor
- Matilda Glynn-Henley: Investor
- Laetizia Hellmeister: Investor
- Pranav Tadikonda: Investment team
- Steven Perlberg: Head of Communications
- Oliver Schmied: CFO
Decision Process
Partnership model with two general partners and a founding partner. No published timeline. The studio track involves working with founders before a company exists.
Founder Preferences
Visionary AI-native founders, including pre-idea entrepreneurs willing to define a new category with the Merantix team, and technical teams building AI products for real-world industries. Corporate and industry connections are a core part of the offer.
Geographic Focus
Europe, anchored in Berlin (Merantix AI Campus), with a London AI hub and presence in Davos.