System.One Research
Investment Thesis
System.One is a solo-GP venture firm run by Maximilian (Max) Claussen in Berlin. The firm's public letter to founders says the future is shaped by a few exceptional people with the vision to see it and the skill to build it, and that System.One exists to find them and back them early with conviction and alignment. The site footnote describes the firm as dedicated to technical founders at the earliest stages, investing in companies and ideas with product and technology at their core. Crunchbase's description adds that the firm likes founders who combine early technical ideas with a bold mission and major potential impact, and that product and tech risk are core to what it does rather than a problem it tries to eliminate.
The letter positions the firm against the broader trend of venture becoming a full asset class with larger funds and institutional structures. System.One is intentionally lean, works with a small number of deeply engaged commitments, and keeps the portfolio deliberately concentrated.
Stage Focus
Inception stage and pre-seed. Claussen writes the very first check, often before there is a product, traction, or a clear idea, and then helps founders find aligned follow-on investors and make sound decisions. Tracxn counts 15 seed-stage first rounds and one Series A first round among 17 tracked companies, with follow-ons in later rounds (for example Mondoo's Series A extension in 2025).
Check Size
The site states he invests flexibly, typically 500K to 3M. Third-party profiles repeat a 500K to 3M range (Superscout lists it in euros; the site does not name a currency).
Lead Tendency
Not stated. The firm describes itself as first institutional check and later rounds show it as a participant alongside larger funds (Hop Aero seed was led by Initialized Capital; Mondoo's Series A extension was led by HV Capital). Recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- October 2026: participated in Hop Aero's 11M seed led by Initialized Capital, with Y Combinator, Lunar Ventures and Outsized Ventures.
- September 2025: followed on in Mondoo's 17.5M Series A extension led by HV Capital, with Atomico and Firstminute Capital.
- August 2025: portfolio company lemon.markets agreed to be acquired by dwpbank (closed 30 September 2025).
- Tracxn shows roughly one investment per year since 2023, down from three or four per year in 2019 to 2022, which fits a concentrated, lean model. Fund status is recorded as unknown; Crunchbase shows one fund.
Portfolio Highlights
The firm publishes no portfolio page (the /portfolio URL returns 404), so the portfolio below comes from press releases and databases. Notable names: n8n (workflow automation, Berlin, Series C 2026, described by Tracxn as a unicorn), Mondoo (cloud security, San Francisco), deepset (AI platform, Berlin), Vay (remote-driving mobility, Berlin), lemon.markets (brokerage API, acquired by dwpbank), Stellate (GraphQL edge caching, lists Claussen as an investor on its about page), ENLYZE, Garden and Vault Platform (both acquired per Tracxn), Hop Aero, Deta, Martian Law Club and conlio. Crunchbase lists 32 investments and Tracxn 17, so the list here is partial.
Team
- Maximilian Claussen, Founder and General Partner. Venture investor since 2010, first at a large pan-European firm (Crunchbase lists Earlybird as a past role) and since 2016 through System.One. Described in the German press (Business Insider / Gruenderszene, June 2023) as the first solo VC in the DACH region to launch his own fund.
- Tracxn lists a team of three, one of them a partner. No other team members are named publicly.
Decision Process
Solo GP. Claussen makes all investment decisions. In a 2017 Heavybit Venture Confidential episode he described casting a wide net and filtering quickly. Contact is by email to [email protected]; warm introductions are not required by anything the firm has published.
Founder Preferences
Technical founders with an early technical idea, a bold mission and large potential impact, who value a high-trust, aligned relationship with a small number of investors and who have limited bandwidth for managing many stakeholders at this stage.
Geographic Focus
Berlin-based with a global reach. Tracxn's portfolio split by first round: Germany 10, United States 3, United Kingdom 2, Netherlands 1. Superscout's statement that the firm invests mainly in the United States conflicts with this and is not used.
Gaps
No disclosed fund size or AUM, no lead-versus-follow data, and no firm-published portfolio. Database counts differ (32 versus 17 investments).