Prequel Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Prequel Ventures is a Berlin-based, pan-European pre-seed and seed fund founded in 2022 by Markus Börner and Mathias Bosse. The firm backs founders building what it calls Europe's "new Industrial OS" — the technology stack that runs the continent's industrial economy, spanning AI-native supply chains, autonomous production systems, and the software layer connecting physical goods, factories, and logistics networks. The firm frames its mandate around four core investment theses: Agentic Supply Chain Intelligence (software that senses demand and coordinates suppliers autonomously), Autonomous Production & Robotics (software-defined robotics restoring European manufacturing competitiveness), New Industrial Business Models (platforms unlocking new revenue in traditional cost centers), and Supply Chain Sovereignty & Resilience (infrastructure making European supply chains transparent and defensible). Since 2020 (predating formal fund structuring) the team has backed 20+ founders in this space, growing to 24 portfolio companies by 2026.
Sector Focus
The firm invests along the full value chain of physical products, with concentration in: intralogistics and warehouse automation, manufacturing software and ERP, freight and logistics automation, planning and procurement software, maritime robotics, supply chain finance, sustainability/carbon compliance software, and robotics & AI more broadly. Notable sub-theses include customs and trade compliance automation (Traide), dexterous industrial robotics (Gobano), agentic ERP interfaces (Hoshii), and circular inventory/parts intelligence (Resourcly).
Stage Focus
Prequel is explicitly a first-check, conviction-led investor: "Stage Pre-Seed → Seed, first believers from day one." The firm occasionally participates in later rounds of existing portfolio companies or notable adjacent deals (e.g., a Series D in UK autonomous vehicle company Oxa), but its core mandate and initial-ticket structure is built around Pre-Seed and Seed.
Check Size
The firm's stated initial ticket size is €50k–€250k, consistent with a first-institutional-check, high-conviction pre-seed strategy. Follow-on participation has been observed in larger rounds (e.g., Oxa's $103M Series D first close in March 2026), suggesting some reserve capacity for winners, though this is the exception rather than the fund's typical check.
Lead Tendency
Evidence is mixed: Prequel presents itself as a "first believer" that leads pre-seed rounds for genuinely new companies, but public announcements show it also participates alongside larger syndicates (CROWN Procurement's €2M pre-seed alongside HEARTFELT_, another.vc, Kima Ventures, BackBone Ventures, APOK Invest, and ZAS Ventures; Oxa's Series D alongside the UK National Wealth Fund and PMV). Lead tendency is best classified as "both."
Recent Activity
Fund I first closed in January 2024, targeting a volume of €10M as "Europe's first independent pre-seed venture capital fund focused on pioneering supply chain technology." A "Fund II" reference appears in the firm's own LinkedIn activity (undisclosed size). Recent deal activity includes: a pre-seed investment in Munich-based valuemize (AI-based product cost and sustainability management for hardware teams), announced July 28, 2026; participation in Oxa's $103M Series D first close (autonomous vehicle software for ports, airports, and warehouses), announced March 3, 2026; and the earlier CROWN Procurement (now branded "Crown" in the portfolio) €2M pre-seed round for an e-auctioning procurement platform. The fund appears actively deploying as of mid-2026.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio spans 24 companies across Europe, including Nautica Technologies (autonomous ship-hull-cleaning robotics, an ETH Zurich spinout), Gobano Robotics (AI-powered dexterous industrial robotics, Paris), traide AI (AI customs classification trained on 500,000+ decisions, Berlin), Vectrix (freight order automation from email to TMS, Antwerp), Bonx (next-gen no-code ERP for SME manufacturers, Paris), Resourcly (industrial parts/inventory intelligence, Mannheim), and Hoshii (agentic AI for ERP interactions, Zurich). Other companies include Whistle Robotics, Depotcharge, Revel Studios, Herita, Valuemize, BoWatt, Neutreeno, Crown, Pesto, ZeKju, Skyflow, Cbamboo, i-flow, Fabrikatör, Nimmsta, Tocco, and Floxmind. No exits are publicly documented on the firm's site as of this research.
Team
- Markus Börner, General Partner — Over a decade in venture capital and private equity focused on early-stage industrial and deep-tech companies across Europe; known for a strong European co-investor network and direct founder sparring.
- Mathias Bosse, General Partner — Over a decade in venture investing with deep domain expertise in European supply chain technology; brings operator-side experience alongside investing.
Decision Process
Two-GP partnership structure (Börner and Bosse), consistent with a small, hands-on early-stage fund rather than a committee-based process.
Founder Preferences
The firm favors technical and domain-expert founders tackling structural inefficiencies in physical/industrial value chains — e.g., customs compliance, procurement negotiation, warehouse robotics, and ERP modernization — often citing founders' deep sector expertise (e.g., CROWN's Mykyta Voytenko's procurement background) as a key diligence signal.
Geographic Focus
Pan-European, headquartered in Berlin (Friedrichstraße 68, Mindspace), with portfolio companies across Germany, France, Switzerland, the UK, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. The firm also publishes an annual Supply Chain Tech Report (with Oliver Wyman for the 2026 edition) covering startup activity across 25+ European countries, reinforcing its pan-European scouting reach.