Amadeus Capital Partners and APEX Ventures Join Forces to Invest in European Deep Tech Partnership
Amadeus Capital Partners and APEX Ventures have announced a new partnership to support deep tech early-stage startups, predominantly in the DACH region, through the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund. The €80M fund has had a first close of €28M and has made its first investment, space tech company OKAPI:Orbits.
Deep tech addresses today's most pressing challenges across climate change, medicine, space, and more, impacting our daily lives. The pace at which technological breakthroughs are occurring is quickening. In recent years deep tech innovations have led to incredible discoveries that show what is possible, including artificial intelligence solving the protein folding challenge and the revolutionary mRNA discovery to fight COVID-19.
Anne Glover, CEO and Co-Founder at Amadeus, said, “Major technological breakthroughs are occurring at an accelerated pace with profound changes to our lives and society, and more talent is gravitating towards purpose-driven ideas. In the last couple of years, the world has seen significant breakthroughs in response to crises, and deep tech entrepreneurs have seen these crises as an opportunity. History repeatedly shows that the most successful ventures are born out of these times.”
Glover continued, “Our partnership with APEX Ventures will enable more early-stage deep tech startups to access the support and knowledge they need to scale and see their technology positively impact the world.”
Andreas Riegler, Founding Partner of APEX Ventures, added, “Today’s startups need more support from their investors, and deep tech businesses, in particular, must have investors that go beyond capital, sharing expertise and knowledge that supports the founders and team to grow. By combining our expertise with the Amadeus team in this fund, we hope to significantly impact the European deep tech ecosystem.”
Amadeus is a pioneer global venture capital investor with a long track record of backing technology entrepreneurs. Amadeus brings the know-how and network to help entrepreneurs build great companies, from early stages in the UK to global growth in Europe and Latin America, focusing on AI & machine learning, cyber security, digital health/medtech, fintech, insurtech, enterprise software and semiconductors/hardware.
APEX Ventures focuses on early-stage companies driven by deep tech. It has invested in more than 40 deep tech ventures across the fields of AI for medical applications, quantum and laser technologies, automation and robotics, computer vision, space technologies, and medical technology.
The fund’s investment committee includes Amadeus’ Co-Founders Anne Glover and Hermann Hauser and APEX Partners Andreas Riegler and Wolfgang Neubert.
Wolfgang Neubert, General Partner of APEX Ventures, commented, “We know there is a growing deep tech opportunity in Europe, and the DACH region is an excellent breeding ground for innovation. 30 per cent of the top European universities are located here. When combined, the per capita number of patents filed across Switzerland, Germany, and Austria tops the rest of Europe. The region has the largest developer pool, with over one million people. But deep tech funding in Europe is still scarce, which presents a great opportunity for APEX and Amadeus to collaborate with this fund and scale more great European deep tech companies.”
The Amadeus APEX Technology Fund will initially invest between €1-1.5M in seed and series A stage deep tech ventures with unique and defendable technology. Investments will be made in sectors that include artificial intelligence and machine learning; quantum technologies and photonics; mobility and space innovation; autonomous systems and robotics, and other emerging deep tech areas. The business models must involve innovative technology and engineering based on significant scientific advances.
The new fund has already invested in OKAPI:Orbits, which offers space traffic management software designed to help satellite operators reduce manoeuvres, save fuel and limit downtime. OKAPI:Orbits is growing its international footprint at a time when increasing traffic in low-Earth orbit has heightened interest in space situational awareness and space traffic management. Further investments will be announced shortly.
