Silence Research
Investment Thesis
Silence is an angel-style venture fund that began as a climate tech investor and now describes itself on its site as "global investors" writing "pre-seed to Series A follower checks." It was founded by Borja Moreno de los Rios, a serial founder (he built Merlin, an hourly jobs marketplace in the US, which was acquired) and a former venture partner at FJ Labs. The firm's published theses cover AI x Energy and AI x Manufacturing (both October 2025), electricity markets and the power sector (October 2024) and cellular agriculture (May 2022). The portfolio spans energy storage, virtual power plants, home electrification, carbon markets, circular-economy marketplaces, construction and industrial AI agents, and waste.
In a 2024 TechCrunch interview, Borja said Silence's edge is in SaaS and marketplaces rather than long-horizon deep tech. His argument was that safer, software-led climate bets create more value than ten moonshots that all fail. The recent portfolio has moved toward applied AI: agents for construction, accounting, commodity trading back-office and factory floors.
Stage Focus
Pre-seed through Series A. The portfolio page lists roughly 30 pre-seed and seed companies and a handful at Series A (Cactos, Unigrid, Arbor, Metaloop, Ampere, Musa, Runwise). The firm describes its role as follower checks, so it joins rounds led by others.
Check Size
According to TechCrunch (March 2024), the average ticket is around $300,000, with a range of $100,000 to $700,000. Some follow-on money is reserved for the strongest companies.
Lead Tendency
Silence does not lead rounds and does not take board seats, so that it stays neutral like an angel with a larger ticket. There are exceptions. Borja cited Cardino, a used-EV marketplace, where Silence invested pre-seed on the deck alone and, with FJ Labs, led the 1 million euro pre-seed in 2023 because no other lead would commit. Point Nine later led Cardino's seed.
Recent Activity
The fund raised $35 million (first close June 2022) and had made 22 investments by March 2024. The portfolio page now lists about 54 companies. Recent public rounds include Talky's 1.5 million euro pre-seed, with Silence alongside HelloWorld and Motive Force and led by Axeleo Capital. Silence published two new theses in October 2025, which signals it is still actively investing. No second fund announcement was found.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio includes Cardino (used-EV marketplace, reported 72 million euro GMV in nine months), Runwise (building energy optimization), Electryone (virtual power plant software), Ampere (OS for renewable energy assets), Cactos (BESS), Unigrid (sodium batteries), Metaloop (online scrapyard), Musa (waste management in Latin America), Cleanhub (plastic waste), CNaught (carbon credits), Shovels (building permit data), Cozero (climate accounting) and BlueLayer (carbon project management). The site shows no exits.
Team
- Borja Moreno De Los Ríos: General Partner and solo GP of the original fund, based in New York per LinkedIn, MIT alumnus
- Guilherme Penna: US and Latam investor, previously at Global Founders Capital
- Sara Ramos Colmenarejo: Europe and deeptech investor, previously at Hummingbird, with an energy forecasting background
- Albert Lee: Venture Partner
- Mateo Garcia Pepin: AI Partner
- Brendan Hayes: CFO (and COO per TechCrunch)
Decision Process
The fund began with a solo GP, Borja, and has since added investors with regional and thematic coverage. Decisions most likely rest with the GP, informed by the regional leads. This is not stated publicly, so confidence is low.
Founder Preferences
Silence backs ex-founder-style operators in SaaS and marketplaces who can get a pre-seed or seed round done with institutional leads alongside. It is comfortable investing on a deck alone. It works with well-known co-investors such as Point Nine, FJ Labs, Fifth Wall, FirstMark Capital, Lowercarbon Capital and Axeleo Capital.
Limited Partners
LPs include general partners at FirstMark Capital, DST Global, FJ Labs, Point Nine and Hummingbird, plus family offices and successful founders.
Geographic Focus
Global, split across Europe (the largest group), the USA, Latin America, the UAE and Africa. Sara covers Europe, and Guilherme covers the US and Latin America.
