First Momentum Ventures

Excited to welcome our new cohort of Venture Scouts! At First Momentum Ventures, our Scouts play a vital role in discovering and supporting innovative (deep) tech startups, empowering founders to turn big ideas into successful companies. Meet our newest members: 🪐 George Peter Hantzaras – Director of Engineering at MongoDB with a 15-year tech background, including leadership roles at Citrix and Workable, where he’s led cross-functional teams to drive SaaS growth. 🪐 Subhradeep Misra – Quantum and Solid-State Physicist and current postgraduate at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, with a passion for all things quantum and semiconductors. 🪐 Leonard Cornelius – Economics, Finance, and Data Science student at Imperial College London College, and one of the top participants of the Deutscher Gründerpreis für Schüler:innen award. 🪐 Dr. Amin D. – Engineering graduate from Iran’s renowned Sharif University of Technology with a PhD in Material Science and Engineering, now part of PwC’s CVC team. 🪐 Lars Bognar – Specialist in additive manufacturing and 3D printing, with experience at Ford Motor Company and Accenture. 🪐 Ole Margraf – Supporting Europe’s top Climate Tech Investing Syndicate at Climate Insiders, launched by Yoann Berno. 🪐 Giovanni Gusso – Strategy Manager at Hotjar | by Contentsquare, with extensive B2B SaaS and marketplace experience. 🪐 Markus Dirr – Corporate venture building expert with 7+ years of experience, creating market intelligence for innovators and investors at the side. 🪐 Tim Bruckdorfer – Computer Science student at the Technical University of Munich, focusing on machine learning and data analysis, and an active member of TUM.ai. Interested in exploring Europe’s next startup stars and gaining hands-on VC experience? Join us as a Venture Scout: https://2ly.link/20bZT #firstmomentum #venturecapital #venturescouts #phd #founders #students #studentjobs #startupjobs

Das Handelsblatt berichtet über unser Portfolio Start-up QuantumDiamonds 👏 Die Chipindustrie wächst rasant – QuantumDiamonds will davon profitieren. Die Ausgründung der Technical University of Munich hat ein Verfahren entwickelt, mit dem sich die immer komplexeren Halbleiter zuverlässig, schnell und kostengünstig testen lassen. Die junge Firma kombiniert dabei eine Quantentechnologie mit Künstlicher Intelligenz. Erst Anfang des Monats hatte QuantumDiamonds das weltweit erste kommerzielles Quantengerät für die Analyse von Halbleiterfehlern auf den Markt gebracht. Den Link zum vollständigen Artikel findet ihr in den Kommentaren. 👇 #deeptech #quantumdiamonds #firstmomentum #spinoff #spinout #hardware

🤖 Pushing the Boundaries of Training Sales Staff with AI 🤖 We are thrilled to see our portfolio company, Jam, coming out of stealth mode. The team around founders Sebastian Klein, Tobias Hoelzer, and Clemens Lechner raised an oversubscribed Pre-Seed round from lead investor Picus Capital, other investors 10x Founders, and us. Sales staff training poses a challenge for large enterprises, as onboarding new reps and training them is time-consuming and resource-intensive. Jam is building an AI platform designed to revolutionize sales training with AI-driven simulations and personalized learning playbooks. Congratulations to the Jam team for the major milestones achieved at such a high speed over the last months, and again, welcome to the First Momentum Ventures family! 👏 Want to be part of the journey? Jam is hiring! #jam #firstmomentum #gtm #sales #enterprisesoftware #b2b #ai #startupnews

🎙️New Video Podcast Alert🎙️ Our Founding Partner, Andreas Fischer, was recently discussing with Gonzalo Pérez from Wayra how we at First Momentum Ventures are backing and supporting technical startups early - sometimes even years ahead of the general VC market. They dove deep into: 👉 Identifying exciting teams and technologies 👉 Differences in the investment processes for Deep Tech companies 👉 ... and much more. Tune in for the full story on the What's In Store Show’s YouTube channel: https://2ly.link/20JgQ 📺 #venturecapital #startupfunding #europe #firstmomentum #deeptech #hardware

🪐 Join First Momentum Ventures as our new VC Investment Intern (starting January '25)! 🪐 👉 Apply here: https://2ly.link/203op Do you have a passion for startups and Venture Capital? First Momentum Ventures, one of Germany's most renowned pre-seed and Deep Tech investors, is looking for a new VC Investment Intern to join our team in January. This exciting opportunity is available either in Munich or remotely for at least six months. 🗒️ As our new intern, you'll… - Source exciting startups - Conduct screening calls with startup founders - Assist our Investors in due diligence - Participate in Investment Committee meetings - Support portfolio activities 🦸♀️ We're looking for people with… - A strong academic background - Practical experience in startups - Exceptional analytical skills - Fluency in German and English - Passion for the startup industry Join us for hands-on experience, remote work with occasional team gatherings, and inclusion in our team retreats and social events. Apply now to shape the future of venture capital in Europe with us! 🚀 #FirstMomentum #VCInternship #vcjobs #VentureCapital

🎙️New Podcast Alert🎙️ First Momentum Ventures General Partner, David Meiborg, sat down with Andreas Munk Holm from EUVC to dive into the ins and outs of Deep Tech funding. During this episode, they explored: 🔹 The current landscape for Deep Tech investments 🔹 How technology maturity shapes funding strategies 🔹 The DNA of successful Deep Tech founders 🔹 …and much more! Don’t miss out on this deep dive into what it takes to build and back the next big thing in Deep Tech. 💡 Catch the full conversation on EUVC or your go-to podcast platform. 🎧 Link in the comments👇 #EUVCpodcast #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe #firstmomentum #deeptech #hardware #podcast

QuantumDiamonds Launches the World’s First Commercial Quantum Device for Semiconductor Failure Analysis 💎 We are proud to announce the launch of QD m.0—the world’s first commercial quantum sensing device designed for semiconductor failure analysis! This advanced system utilizes diamond-based quantum microscopy to deliver unprecedented precision in detecting and localizing faults in integrated circuits, meeting the increasing testing demands of 2.5D/3D chip stacks, advanced packaging, and heterogeneous integration in modern semiconductor fabrication. The launch event, held last Thursday, kicked off with an inspiring speech by Bavaria’s Minister of Digital Affairs, Dr. Fabian Mehring, followed by an engaging presentation from our CEO, Kevin Berghoff, and CTO, Fleming Bruckmaier, who shared QuantumDiamonds' journey over the past two years, unveiled the device, and talked about future plans. The event continued with a lively panel discussion moderated by Bartu Bisgin, our founders' associate: our panelists—Philipp Gerbert (CEO, TUM Venture Labs), Benedikt Kläs (Investment Manager, Zeiss), Axel Fischer (Former VP and GM, Samsung Semi Europe), and Inga vom Holtz (Investment Director, UnternehmerTUM)—shared their insights on Europe's strategic role in semiconductor manufacturing. We are deeply grateful to everyone who helped make this milestone a success, including our investors, partners, esteemed guests, and the incredible QuantumDiamonds team—a special thanks to Mey Maschinenbau, our strategic manufacturing partner. This launch marks a new chapter for QuantumDiamonds, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds! 💎 Want to learn more about the QD m.0? Connect with our CTO, Fleming Bruckmaier, at Semicon Europa (November 12-15) in Munich, Germany. — Jordan Billiald, Moritz von Klot, Mauricio Fleischer Acuña, Paolo Oppelt, Andrea Lenz, Christopher Trummer, David Meiborg, Michael Hinderer, Dr. Maximilian Ochs, Alois Eder, Jens Haertel, Soeren Jehmlich, Dieter Leikermoser Earlybird Venture Capital, IQ Capital, Onsight Ventures, First Momentum Ventures, Creator Fund, Munich Quantum Valley, UnternehmerTUM, SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen, Intel Ignite Venue credit: WERK1 – the most startup-friendly place in Munich Picture credits: Frame by Frame, © Munich Quantum Valley | Sascha Mehlhase

You must read this if you are an early-stage hardware founder! 👇

🦾 Fünf essenzielle Tipps für Hardware-Gründer! 🦾 Hardware-Startups begegnen einzigartigen Herausforderungen, insbesondere bei der Finanzierung. In einem Gastbeitrag für Gründerszene/Business Insider teilt David Meiborg, Partner bei First Momentum Ventures, fünf praxisorientierte Tipps, die Gründern helfen, erfolgreich Investoren anzuziehen und nachhaltige Unternehmensstrukturen zu etablieren. Ein entscheidender Rat für Gründer: Strukturiert euren Cap Table von Beginn an sorgfältig! „Bei First Momentum Ventures haben wir mit Startups gesprochen, die bereits 15-20% ihrer Anteile an Berater oder Dritte vergeben hatten, bevor sie ihre erste finanzierte Runde abschließen“, erklärt David. Ein überfrachteter Cap Table kann zukünftige Finanzierungsrunden erschweren und die Kontrolle über das Unternehmen untergraben. Den Link zum vollständigen Artikel findet ihr in den Kommentaren. 👇 #deeptechnapkin #firstmomentum #deeptech #gründerszene #HardwareStartups #VentureCapital #StartupFinanzierung #Innovation

Looking for your next big career move in B2B and Deep Tech? Check out the First Momentum Ventures job board and explore over 80 roles at our more than 30 portfolio companies! P.S. We are hiring too! 👉 https://2ly.link/1zt7f 🤖 QuantPi creates automated and scalable solutions for AI model explainability and robustness auditing. Having secured €2.5m from the EIC this year, they are growing the remote team across the board, looking for an Account Executive, a Finance Manager, Engineers, and a Data Science Working Student. 👉 More here https://2ly.link/1zt7j 🌱 one • fıve provides circular, cleaner, and tailor-made packaging solutions in record time. Being remote first, they are hiring a Sales Manager - Packaging and a Machine Learning Engineer anywhere in Europe. 👉 More here https://2ly.link/1zt7k 🌊 Dive CAE empowers engineers with particle-based simulation software that takes care of everything. They are hiring a Junior Business Development Engineer in Berlin and a Senior Business Development Representative in the US to drive growth. 👉 More here https://2ly.link/1zt7h ⚙️ Software Defined Automation empowers automation engineers to turn factories into software systems with cloud and modern software development tools. The team is looking for a Product Manager in Garching/Munich. 👉 More here https://2ly.link/1zt7l 🪐 First Momentum Ventures is also growing (remote)! We are currently on the lookout for an Investment Intern (January 2025) and a Finance & Investor Relations Manager. 👉 More here https://2ly.link/1zt7m Didn't find the right job yet? Create a job alert and get notified when a matching opportunity comes up. 👉 Set up your personal job alert here https://2ly.link/1zt7f #hiring #openpositions #vcnetwork #startupjobs #remotejobs #deeptech