Picus Capital

Exciting news! Our portfolio company Niva has raised a $5.5M investment by KASZEK to accelerate their journey towards dominating global business identity. With Agentic AI, Niva is transforming business verification, onboarding, compliance, and monitoring - initially cutting previously manual processes from weeks to minutes for FinTechs, traditional financial institutions, and a long-tail of B2B businesses. Their mission: making it effortless to trust and work with businesses anywhere in the world. Congrats to Abhinav, Akhil, and the entire Niva team on this milestone—we’re proud to be part of the journey! We are especially excited to share this journey with our frequent co-investors & partners at KASZEK, Canary, and Gilgamesh Ventures. Read more: https://lnkd.in/df5X4hDe

💡 Want the secret sauce to standing out in recruitment processes? Our Senior HR Manager Giovanna shared her thoughts on what truly makes candidates memorable - and it’s definitely not rehearsed answers. If you want to find out more about why self-awareness and authenticity matter most - for both job seekers and companies - and how they can make all the difference in recruiting, make sure to have a look at the full article below. https://lnkd.in/dYKHMnct #Hiring #Recruitment #CareerGrowth

🚀 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐒𝐒, 𝐀𝐈 & 𝐃𝐞𝐯 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐫 🚀 At Picus, we’re committed to going deep into the investment verticals that shape the future. As part of our Frontier Tech team, Alexander and Claudius are constantly tracking the latest developments in open-source software, AI, and devtooling. Their bi-weekly Substack, Repository Radar, dives into the most exciting trends shaping the ecosystem. The third issue, just launched, unpacks Anthropic’s “Claude Plays Pokémon” experiment, Microsoft’s AutoGen for multi-agent workflows, and MongoDB’s strategic AI moves, among other moves. It also highlights emerging OSS projects like Devika, Fabric, and Scrapegraph-ai, along with under-the-radar gems such as SmallPond, olmOCR, and Claude-Code. Check out their insights and subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/dQRUzVv5 #AI #OpenSource #SoftwareInfrastructure #DeveloperTools

We’re thrilled to announce our investment in SmartSolar, a pioneering EnergyTech startup on a mission to decarbonize Southeast Asia’s grid—starting with rooftop solar. SmartSolar has already installed nearly 1MWp of solar capacity across SMEs in Vietnam, tackling a major market gap in Southeast Asia. With zero upfront cost, businesses can finally access affordable, clean energy and cut electricity costs from day one. Leading this $1.85M Seed round alongside 2degrees and Iterative, we’re backing founder Kevin Junker and his team as they scale across the region. Southeast Asia’s solar adoption is at a turning point, and we believe SmartSolar is poised to lead the charge. Congratulations to Kevin and the entire SmartSolar team—we’re excited to be part of your journey! 🔆 #EnergyTech #SolarEnergy #Sustainability #ClimateTech #VentureCapital #SmartSolar

A warm welcome back to Claudius, who returned to Picus as an Investor in our Munich Office! Claudius first joined Picus in early 2023 as an Intern, and later strengthened his technical expertise at ClearOps as a Product Manager and Lead Data Scientist, where he developed deep knowledge in AI and data-driven solutions in the Supply Chain domain. Academically, Claudius is a graduate of the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM). His educational journey includes research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Gen AI and Big Data Analytics, alongside Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Technical University of Munich in Management & Technology and Computer Science. Now, he returns with fresh perspectives and expanded knowledge to strengthen our team and support our founders. Great to have you back, Claudius - excited for the journey ahead! 🚀

🗓️ #Climate & #Energy Tech Dinner Accel & Picus Capital 😍 Looking back at a great event with multiple founders and operators in the energy and climate tech space. Thanks to everyone for joining us in London to discuss the latest trends in the sector, as well as the impact of current geopolitical shifts. We remain highly excited about many further opportunities in the future. Zhenya, Cecilia, Sebastian, Philipp, Karl, Archy, Toby, Luke, Joe, Amos, Daniel, Gavin, David, Duncan, Gene, Aleksi, Axle Energy, trawa, Gridcog, tem., ClimateAligned, Unwritten, About:Energy, Volter, Granular Energy

We believe that backing visionary founders goes beyond capital—it’s about providing value add at every stage to founders. That’s why we’re especially proud that Dealroom.co named us as one of the Top 40 global Value-Add Seed Investors in their latest report. This ranking highlights investors who drive real impact, measured by metrics like Seed to Series A conversion, follow-on investment quality, and long-term support. Honored to be in such great company—and even prouder of the founders we get to partner with every day. Read the full Investor Value-Add report below!

We’re excited to welcome Emma and Pia to the team! Pia joins our Munich office as Office Coordinator, bringing eight years of office and event management experience from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Outside of work, she spends her time traveling, hiking, and with her family & friends. Emma will support our team as a Junior HR Manager, having previously worked for Temedica and BayWa AG. With a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from University of Warwick and a Master’s degree in Economical Psychology from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München she is passionate about helping people grow and thrive in their workplace. In her free time, Emma enjoys reading, traveling, and skiing. Welcome aboard, Emma & Pia!

We’re always excited to support the next generation of innovators! 🚀 A huge thank you to Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) for inviting us to another inspiring Managing Product Development (MPD) course. It was a pleasure to join our fellow VC partners HV Capital, b2venture, and Cherry Ventures in sparring sessions with the talented student teams, exchanging ideas on market opportunities, business models, and scalability. Our partner Sebastian and investor Claudius, a CDTM alumnus himself, had a great time connecting with students and exploring the latest developments in Munich’s startup ecosystem. We’re looking forward to continuing our collaboration next semester! 

Big news from our portfolio: FINN is shifting gears with up to EUR 1 billion in debt financing to scale its car subscription platform! This funding, backed by Citi, Jefferies, and Avellinia Capital – AvCap, among others, marks a major step in FINN’s mission to make car ownership more flexible and accessible. With this investment, FINN will expand its fleet and offer even more drivers a seamless, commitment-free alternative to buying or leasing.  As mobility needs evolve, we are excited to see FINN leading the way with a model built for the future, prioritizing sustainability, convenience, and flexibility. Congrats to Maximilian, Max, Nikolai, Andreas, and the entire FINN team on this milestone - looking forward to seeing what’s next!  Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dap3C6WG