Berlin-based Auxxo, a sector agnostic pre-seed and seed stage investor that backs feminine (co-)based startups in Europe, introduced the primary closing of its new fund — the Auxxo Feminine Catalyst Fund II, at €26M.
The fund’s first closing is over one-third greater than the earlier fund’s whole of €19M (Auxxo Feminine Catalyst Fund I).
The European Funding Fund (EIF) has joined as an anchor investor, along with Aurum Affect, Cherry Ventures, Speedinvest, in addition to a lot of famend household places of work, enterprise angels, and founders from throughout Europe.
“We’re glad to be persevering with the drive for higher gender variety in European enterprise capital alongside Auxxo. Range and monetary return can go hand in hand, and we sit up for this new fund making {that a} actuality,” says Marjut Falkstedt, Chief Govt of the European Funding Fund.
In an trade the place girls are underrepresented, the fund sends a robust message: over 50% of the Restricted Companions are girls, marking an vital step towards elevated variety within the funding sector and honest entry to it.
“We’re proud to again Auxxo’s daring imaginative and prescient for a extra inclusive and high-performing enterprise ecosystem. They’ve persistently proven that investing in feminine founders isn’t simply the precise factor to do, it’s sensible, strategic, and delivers outcomes,” says Deepali Nangia, Accomplice at Speedinvest.
For Auxxo’s portfolio corporations, the funding grants entry to a rigorously curated ecosystem of mentors, advisors, and co-founders who perceive the distinctive challenges and alternatives confronted by feminine founders in at present’s market.
Deal with Europe’s feminine founders
Auxxo goals to assist Europe’s feminine founders and create optimistic change within the enterprise capital ecosystem. The fund invests in early-stage startups in Europe with no less than one feminine founder who holds no less than 20 per cent of the shares.
Auxxo takes a collaborative method, appearing as a connection between founders and conventional enterprise capital. The fund focuses on figuring out potential in startups and assists them by means of teaching, assist, and entry to a community of buyers.
Their involvement in aggressive funding rounds highlights Auxxo’s function as a trusted associate within the European VC panorama.
Three investments have already been comprised of Fund II:
Emidat, a pioneer in local weather information infrastructure for the development industryResolutiion, an AI-driven platform revolutionising the decision of business authorized disputesStanhope.ai, allows autonomous real-time machine studying and iteration utilizing an revolutionary “Lively Inference”-based framework from computational neuroscience.
“We’re extremely proud to be partnering with EIF and different inspiring LPs who perceive that variety drives returns,” says Bettine Schmitz, Co-Founder and Normal Accomplice at Auxxo. “Our community is rising – not solely in measurement but in addition in affect and effectiveness. The truth that greater than half of our LPs are girls is a transparent signal that the trade is shifting towards the longer term we’ve all the time envisioned.”
Auxxo: Feminine founder-centric fund
Based by Bettine Schmitz and Dr. Gesa Miczaika, Auxxo is Europe’s main enterprise capital fund centered solely on investments in groups with no less than one feminine founder.
The group combines over 25 years of technical VC expertise with deep operational experience in startups.
Earlier than founding Auxxo, Bettine labored as an investor at Axel Springer Plug & Play Accelerator, serving to corporations like N26 and Studysmarter succeed.
Dr. Gesa Miczaika was the primary worker at Blacklane, the place she performed a key function within the firm’s worldwide enlargement. She is the previous Vice President of the Board of the German Startup Affiliation (Bundesverband Deutsche Startups).
“Our mannequin has all the time been based mostly on belief, transparency, and teamwork,” provides Dr. Gesa Miczaika, Co-Founder and Normal Accomplice. “We deliver the total power of our motion and our a long time of mixed expertise into every of our portfolio corporations. We sit up for constructing on the extraordinary momentum of Fund I and persevering with to show that feminine founders should not simply an funding alternative – they’re the way forward for European innovation.”
