First Believers in Frontier Founders.

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Close-up of beige oyster mushroom gills with delicate, layered texture.
Aerial view of tiered green and tan rice terraces with winding paths.

We back technical teams at the nucleus of their journey, rewiring the fabric of modern life through biology, food, and industrial systems.

Where frontier founders begin

Sector focus

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Programmable Biology

Where computation meets biology. Tools that accelerate discovery and systems that produce at scale.

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Food Technology

Rewiring the world’s largest supply chain - from how we grow to what we eat. Transforming agriculture, food production, and distribution to build a more resilient food system at scale.

Aerial view of layered terraced rice fields in varying shades of green and brown.

Neo Industrials

Backing the next generation of industrial infrastructure - energy, manufacturing, materials, and supply chains redesigned for a resource-constrained world.

Investment approach

First checks

Most investors show up once there is momentum. We engage when direction is still being encoded. With checks of up to €1,0M we lead or co-lead as your first believers.

Thesis-driven

We are thesis-driven high conviction investors with a concentrated portfolio active in Europe and the US.

Purpose-built

You can’t apply the SaaS playbook to deep-tech. Our support model is built for scientific ventures, tailored to the pace, complexity, and capital needs of frontier innovation.

Philosophy

Beyond investment

We bring the techno-economic depth, industrial networks, and operational experience necessary to accelerate frontier tech adoption and turn ideas into scalable, category defining companies.

Partnership

We speak the language of technical teams. We invest selectively and stay close. The partnership is direct, open, pragmatic, and personal. Founders only work with decision-makers.

Impact

We back a new breed of companies where resilience is inherently engineered with viable unit economics and lower footprint.

Numbers that matter

83%
of our portfolio founders have a technical background.
51%
of our portfolio companies have a female co-founder.
43%
of our portfolio founders are second-time entrepreneurs.

Commitments

Spotlight

Planet A Foods created ChoViva, the world's first 100% cocoa-free chocolate. Their product is natural and 10x more sustainable than conventional chocolate.
Close-up of dripping creamy white sauce or batter from a perforated utensil into a container.

Founded

2021

Location

Munich, Germany
Cocoa is facing imminent threats from climate change and an increasing number of diseases. Up to 50% of the worldwide farming area is at risk. In addition, millions of hectares of rainforest were ploughed down for cocoa plantations during the last decade. Planet A Foods is able to recreate the building blocks responsible for mouthfeel, texture, brittleness, flavor and aroma release using specialized fermentation and roasting techniques. Their approach recreates the biomimetic consumer experience we all came to love while drastically reducing the industry's CO2 footprint.
The founders of Planet A Food, Dr. Maximilian Marquart and Dr. Sara F. Marquart
endolith helps copper miners extract more copper from low-grade deposits using optimized microbial communities.
Aerial view of an open pit mine filled with blue water, surrounded by terraced rocky slopes and evergreen trees in the foreground.

Founded

2023

Location

Denver, Colorado
The global copper market is anticipated to reach $497 billion by 2032, but high quality copper deposits are largely depleted. To solve for a significant increase in demand due to the EV transition, new mining approaches are required to unlock low-grade deposits. endolith uses bioleaching, a process where microbes turn solid metals into water soluble elements, which simplifies extraction. This approach is significantly more sustainable than conventional methods and allows miners to recover copper from hard-to-mine deposits.
The founder of Endolith Mining, Dr. Liz Dennett, and two coworkers
Apoha invented Liquid Brain, a new kind of processor that allows AI to feel, taste and smell.
Close-up of a blooming orange dahlia flower with green leaves against a black background.

Founded

2021

Location

London, UK

Website

apoha.com
The Liquid Brain is a physical interface between matter and machine that captures the unique sensory fingerprint of every molecule it feels (the tanginess of a lemon, the creaminess of milk), like an API for the next frontier of physical AI. From proprietary hardware and protocols to models and infrastructure, Apoha owns the sensory intelligence stack.
The founders of APOHA, Shamit and Anshika Shrivastava
Yuri provides modular, reusable bioreactors and factories in space allowing scientists to harness the benefits of a zero gravity environment.
SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docking with the International Space Station above Earth.

Founded

2019

Location

Meckenbeuren, Germany
Every time humans have harnessed a new physics environment it led to exponential growth in knowledge and wealth creation. Exploiting gravity will lead to the next revolution in science and manufacturing. Unlocking the full potential of 3D cell cultures and growing crystalline structures in higher quality will drastically improve drug and advanced material discovery.
Three people wearing white Yuri t-shirts posing indoors against a wall with star-like light projections, one sitting on a metal box holding a device.

Founder perspectives

Testimonials

“Nucleus, with their exceptional network, was the most influential and valuable partner in the first years after we incorporated.”

Dr. Sara & Max Marquart

Founders @ Planet A Foods

“We see a VC partnership as an early hire, and Nucleus would unquestionably be our first. They provide the guidance, structure, and execution clarity that meaningfully shifts outcomes."

Juan Garzon & Ruben Lopez

Founders @ Cultzyme

“The team is very responsive, transparent and honest from the start. They clearly demonstrate a strong understanding of scientific and technical areas - which makes them a fantastic partner.”

Charlie Silver

CEO & Founder @ Ruby Bio

“Nucleus is the deep‑tech investor that quietly does the real work - fiercely supportive, founder‑first, and willing to lean in on the toughest, highest‑impact problems.”

Dr. Mathias Bösl

CEO & Founder @ Spark E-Fuels

Hands on. True partners.
At the Nucleus of Frontier Founders.

Team

Supported by a community of world-class industry leaders.