Verve Ventures Research
Overview
Verve Ventures (legal entity Verve Capital Partners AG, Zürich) is a European deep tech venture investor. It was formerly the Investiere platform and rebranded to Verve in 2021. It says it has invested at the intersection of science and enterprise for 15 years. In 2026 it secured a FINMA securities firm license, so it operates as a regulated Swiss securities firm. Its capital comes from a base of private investors: family offices, wealth managers, institutions, founders and senior executives. It is not a classic single-fund GP model, and that shapes how it deploys.
Investment Thesis
The firm's manifesto argues that Europe's research strength, combined with pressure to rebuild its industrial base and supply chains, makes a generational opportunity for deep tech. It invests only in Europe and wants to be the founder's first institutional partner. Three topics organize the thesis:
- Resilience in Energy & Resources: disruptive energy and materials innovation that scales with large enterprises (sustainable aviation fuel, direct air capture, geothermal, battery flexibility, critical minerals, nuclear, pumped hydro storage).
- Future of Computing: quantum, photonic and optical computing, memory, chip interconnects and AI hardware.
- Frontiers in Health & Bio: the convergence of biology, engineering and data (antibodies, gene therapy, siRNA conjugates, oncology, medical devices, clinical trial technology).
Stage Focus
Pre-Seed and Seed, with follow-on participation in later rounds across the portfolio.
Check Size
The website states an initial ticket of EUR 1-5M. Third-party sources describe EUR 60-70M deployed per year and a CHF 58M growth fund close, which I could not confirm on the firm's own site.
Lead Tendency
Not stated. The site says it wants to be the first partner, but public sources show it both leading and participating alongside other funds, so lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- Added Aylight (ETH spin-off, chip-scale frequency-comb lasers for datacenter interconnects) as a new portfolio company.
- Added Groove Quantum (germanium spin qubits compatible with standard chip fabrication).
- Memo Therapeutics agreed to be acquired by Ipsen for a total potential consideration above EUR 700M.
- Ran 2026 thesis webinars: Energy & Resources (Sep 2, 2026, recording published), Future of Computing (Dec 2, 2026), Health & Bio (next update 2027).
- Secured a FINMA securities firm license.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio overview lists about 96 companies across six pages, mixing current holdings and exits. Notable holdings include Climeworks, ANYbotics, Flyability, Wingtra, Axelera AI, Kandou, Q.ANT, C12, Kipu Quantum, Neustark, Ecorobotix, Aktiia and Veesion. Exits include Memo Therapeutics, Metaco, Beekeeper, Bring! Labs, Sherpany, Avrios and WeMaintain. The older exits skew toward Swiss software and consumer marketplaces from the platform's earlier years, while current investing is concentrated in deep tech.
Team
- Steffen Wagner, Partner, CEO
- Lukas Weber, Partner, CEO
- Romeo Bütler, Partner, CIO
- Lucas Laib, Partner, COO
- Thomas Meier, Partner, Head of Resilience in Energy & Resources Investments
- Xavier Mesnier, Partner, Head of Frontiers in Health & Bio Investments
- Emma Schepers, Investment Manager, Head of Future of Computing
- Michael Blank, Partner, Head of Portfolio
- Mike Hobmeier, Partner, Head Asset Management & Products
- Friederike Reinl, Partner, Head of Investor Relations
- Chris Gay-Crosier, Partner, Head HNWIs and Family Offices
- Andy Weymann, Venture Partner, Health & Bio
- Lorenzo Fabritius, Rebecca Laurent, Pepijn Rot, Senior Investment Associates
- Martin Scholl, President of the Board
The site notes more team members on a further page that was not read.
Decision Process
Not disclosed. The team is organized by topic heads (Energy & Resources, Future of Computing, Health & Bio) with a CIO and a partnership structure, so the process is recorded as investment committee with low confidence.
Founder Preferences
Scientists, engineers and experienced company-builders who can take a peer-reviewed result to a category-defining product. Many portfolio companies are university spin-outs, particularly from ETH Zürich, EPFL and other European research institutions.
Geographic Focus
Europe only, with a heavy Swiss, German, French, Italian and UK presence in the portfolio.
Gaps
AUM and fund size are not stated on the firm's site. Portfolio stage at entry and investment dates are not given, so none are recorded. Portfolio company domains were left empty so server-side discovery can resolve them.