Vsquared Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Vsquared Ventures is a Munich-based venture capital firm founded in 2020 by Thomas Oehl, Herbert Mangesius, and Benedikt von Schoeler, positioned as one of Europe's earliest dedicated deep-tech funds. The firm's public framing is deliberately contrarian: "We see entrepreneurs where others see dreamers" and "We build on conviction where others build on trends." Vsquared backs founders pursuing technically ambitious, capital-intensive breakthroughs years before markets validate them — citing its early bet on Isar Aerospace ahead of Europe's "New Space" boom as the archetype. The firm frames its ideal founder profile as combining "scientific, technological, and entrepreneurial madness" with curiosity and playfulness, and explicitly commits to deep, hands-on partnership once it invests ("we will do whatever it takes to help accelerate and scale your vision").
Sector Focus
The portfolio is organized around six thematic pillars, visible as filter categories on the firm's own portfolio page:
- New Space: Isar Aerospace (launch vehicles), The Exploration Company (reentry capsules/space logistics), Morpheus Space (ion propulsion), ConstellR (thermal-infrared microsatellites)
- New Computing & Sensing: IQM (superconducting quantum computers), Quantune Technologies (quantum cascade lasers on a chip), QC Design (quantum fault-tolerance software), Black Semiconductor (graphene-based chips), Lace Lithography, OQmented, Lightium (photonic ICs), Synthara (in-memory computing)
- Robotics & Manufacturing: Neura Robotics (cognitive/humanoid robots), Micropsi Industries (robotics AI software), Xavveo (autonomous driving/factory automation), Hyperganic (generative design software), Sidos (Wi-Fi planning tools for network installers)
- Tech-Bio: Inbrain Neuroelectronics (graphene neural interfaces), Hedera Dx (precision medicine data), Kano Therapeutics (gene insertion therapies), Atrandi Biosciences (microfluidics)
- Energy Transition: Dynelectro (solid-oxide green hydrogen), Group14 Technologies (lithium-silicon battery materials), Cylib (battery recycling), CustomCells (battery cells), Pulsetrain (EV powertrain/battery management), Vaeridion (electric air mobility)
- AI & Next-Gen Software: Arlequin AI, One Data, Ramblr, Zama (fully homomorphic encryption), Safe Intelligence (AI safety), Simscale (cloud engineering simulation), Belfort (encrypted-compute hardware acceleration)
Stage Focus
Vsquared invests primarily at pre-seed and seed for first checks (e.g., leading AlphaLum's CHF 3.4M seed in January 2026 and Pulsetrain's €6.1M seed in March 2025), then follows on into Series A/B/C as portfolio companies scale — several portfolio companies (Isar Aerospace, Neura Robotics, The Exploration Company, ConstellR) have gone on to raise very large growth rounds ($270M+, $1.4B+) with Vsquared participating as an existing shareholder rather than leading.
Check Size
Publicly stated range is €500K to €5M per initial investment, with meaningful reserves held back for follow-ons given the capital intensity of deep tech and hardware-adjacent businesses.
Lead Tendency
Mixed — Vsquared leads or co-leads seed-stage rounds for new investments (AlphaLum, Pulsetrain, QC Design) but shifts to a participating/follow-on role as the largest portfolio names raise nine- and ten-figure growth rounds.
Recent Activity
Fund II (€214M, closed June 2024, exceeding its original €165M target) is actively deploying; total AUM across both funds is roughly €450M. Recent activity includes: AlphaLum's CHF 3.4M seed (Jan 2026, led), ConstellR's €37M Series A (Feb 2026, participated as existing shareholder), Isar Aerospace's €270M raise (June 2026), Neura Robotics' $1.4B humanoid-robotics round (June 2026), and the June 2026 opening of a London office to bridge the London-Munich deep-tech corridor.
Portfolio Highlights
33+ active portfolio companies span quantum computing (IQM — one of Europe's leading quantum hardware companies), new space (Isar Aerospace, The Exploration Company), robotics (Neura Robotics), and energy storage (Group14 Technologies, Cylib, CustomCells). No public exits, acquisitions, or IPOs were identified as of this research.
Team
Founding team: Thomas Oehl (Founding Partner, co-founder), Herbert Mangesius (Founding Partner, co-founder, engineering background spanning space/semiconductors/quantum/robotics/climate), and Benedikt von Schoeler (General Partner, co-founder). Lise Rechsteiner (General Partner) leads the new London office and previously co-founded Norwegian deep-tech fund Propagator Ventures, holding a PhD from ETH Zurich. Investment team includes Patrick Tucci, Maria Juesas Portoles (previously Principal at US deep-tech VC Promus Ventures), Michael Jobst, and Jakob Lingg, all Investment Partners.
Decision Process
Partnership-based decision-making across founding and general partners; no solo-GP structure.
Founder Preferences
Technically deep, scientifically credentialed founders (frequently PhDs or spin-outs from research institutions/corporates, e.g., AlphaLum spun out of ams OSRAM) building in hardware-intensive, long-R&D-cycle categories that generalist funds tend to avoid.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Germany/DACH and pan-European, with a new London office (opened June 2026) explicitly aimed at expanding UK deep-tech coverage. LPs include Novo Holdings, the NATO Innovation Fund, the European Investment Fund, Germany's KfW Capital, and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark.