What Verve Ventures does

Verve Ventures (legal entity: Verve Capital Partners AG) is a Swiss-domiciled, privately held venture capital firm founded in 2010 and headquartered at Uetlibergstrasse 132, 8045 Z\u00fcrich, focused exclusively on European deep tech at the Seed stage. The firm operates a single unified digital investment platform (app.verve.vc/invest) that allows qualified investors to browse vetted opportunities and commit capital, with an initial ticket size of EUR 1\u20132M per portfolio company. Deal flow and portfolio construction are organised around three explicit thematic pillars: Resilience in Energy & Resources, Future of Computing, and Frontiers in Health & Bio, each backed by dedicated topic pages, public thesis webinars and ongoing blog content. As of June 2023 the firm reported managing over EUR 300 million in assets under management with more than 1,500 investors on the platform, across 150+ portfolio companies.

The firm's go-to-market combines a direct-to-investor self-serve digital portal with a curated network of hundreds of active LPs (entrepreneurs, C-level executives, domain experts) who contribute deal sourcing, customer introductions, talent referrals and follow-on capital. Strategic partnerships with Z\u00fcrcher Kantonalbank and Swiss private bank Bergos (announced June 2023) extend distribution into Swiss private banking, while long-standing relationships with ETH Zurich and EPFL provide privileged access to spin-off deal flow. Verve's venture partners are operationally embedded\u2014Julien Pache served as CCO at Bring! Labs, and Andy Weymann (former Smith & Nephew CMO) was added to deepen healthcare investing\u2014reinforcing a hands-on, value-add model beyond capital alone.

Verve monetises primarily through recurring fund management fees on AUM (industry-standard for venture funds), supplemented by performance-based carried interest on exits. Historical exits include Beekeeper (merged with LumApps at a USD 1.1 billion combined valuation, Verve's largest LP distribution), Ikerian/RetinAI (acquired by EssilorLuxottica), Metaco (acquired by Ripple for USD 250 million), Seervision (acquired by Q-SYS), Bring! Labs (acquired by Swiss Post) and Sherpany (acquired by Datasite). The firm completed a Series C funding round in June 2023, added former ZKB CEO Martin Scholl to its board, and continues to deploy capital across all three pillars with active 2025\u20132026 deals spanning Italy, France, the Netherlands and the UK.

Name

Verve Ventures

Legal name

Verve Capital Partners AG

Website

https://verve.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Verve Ventures is a Swiss venture capital firm running a digital investment platform that lets private and institutional investors co-invest in European deep tech startups across Energy & Resources, Future of Computing, and Health & Bio, with EUR 1\u20132M seed tickets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Venture Debt Providers (FSANAAAL)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Deep tech investment
• Seed stage funding
• Private equity platform
• Investor onboarding

Headquarters

HQ city

Zug

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Fund Management Fees: Typical venture capital management fees charged on assets under management (AUM). As of 2023 the firm manages over EUR 300 million; recurring management fees form the core operating revenue.
2. Carried Interest on Exits: Performance-based carried interest earned when portfolio companies are exited at a profit. Recent exits include Beekeeper (acquired by LumApps at a USD 1.1 billion valuation, enabling Verve's biggest capital distribution to investors), Metaco (acquired by Ripple), Ikerian/RetinAI (acquired by EssilorLuxottica), Seervision (acquired by Q-SYS) and Sherpany (acquired by Datasite).
3. Platform Access & Onboarding Fees: Investor onboarding via the online platform (app.verve.vc/invest) and entrepreneur applications via 'Join' flow; the website states it advertises financial instruments under Swiss Federal Act on Financial Services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Verve Ventures (Verve Capital Partners AG) is a Swiss-based European deep tech venture capital firm that operates a digital investment platform connecting sophisticated investors with vetted Seed-stage deep tech startups across Energy & Resources, Future of Computing, and Health & Bio themes. The firm invests an initial ticket size of EUR 1–2 million per portfolio company on behalf of its network of 1,500+ investors and charges management fees plus carried interest on exits. Beyond capital, it provides portfolio companies with introductions to enterprise customers, talent recruiting support, and follow-on financing access.

Product overview

Verve Ventures is a European deep tech venture capital investor operating a single unified digital investment platform (run by Verve Capital Partners AG, based in Zurich) rather than a multi-product software suite. Through this platform, qualified investors can browse and back deep tech startups at the Seed stage with an initial ticket size of EUR 1–2 million. The platform is organized around three named investment topics — 'Resilience in Energy & Resources' (verve.vc/climate-energy/), 'Future of Computing' (verve.vc/future-of-computing/), and 'Frontiers in Health & Bio' (verve.vc/health-bio/) — which together structure how portfolio companies (e.g., Metafuels, Q.ANT, Axelera AI, Orakl Oncology, tozero, ecoRobotix, neustark) are sourced, presented, and supported. Beyond capital, the offering combines an online investor portal (app.verve.vc/invest), investor onboarding and KYC, webinars on each 2026 thesis, and value-add support such as introductions to key accounts and follow-on financing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Verve Ventures Digital Investment Platform Online investor platform (app.verve.vc/invest) that lets qualified investors browse and commit capital to European deep tech Seed-stage opportunities; accompanied by an entrepreneur apply flow (verve.vc/join). Targeted at family offices, wealth managers, institutions, founders and senior executives.

Quantifiable outcome

• More than 1,500 investors have been attracted to the platform (as of 2023)
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered unrelated to verve's core business, minor, flagship and core.

• CAA Media Financeunrelated to verve's core businessGTM or Marketing Partner · 11 May 2026Note: source article mentions a film sales co-representation agreement involving an unrelated entity named 'Verve Ventures' in the film/TV industry; this does not refer to the Swiss deep tech VC.
• BergosminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 7 June 2023Swiss private bank Bergos was announced as a recent partner of Verve Ventures at the time of its Series C round, helping distribute investment opportunities to Bergos clients.
• Axelera AIflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerFlagship portfolio company; Axelera AI is developing edge AI inference hardware. Verve Ventures is an investor and provides operational support; the company has raised EUR 200M+ and grown to 200+ employees.
• Axelera AI (Netherlands HQ)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean AI semiconductor company headquartered in Eindhoven (Netherlands) with R&D offices in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and UK. Verve Ventures is a key investor and partner in scaling the Metis AI inference platform across edge AI applications in defense, retail, healthcare, robotics and surveillance.
• Haelixa (ETH spin-off)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerETH Zürich spin-off (founded 2016) providing DNA-based traceability for premium fibers. C&A has traced over 16,800 tons of organic cotton using Haelixa's technology. Verve Ventures led the EUR 2M pre-Series A round with ZKB.
• Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch and training center at University of Zurich founded by Falko Paetzold. CSP and Verve Ventures engage in thought leadership collaboration, with Verve featuring CSP content and jointly educating next-generation wealth holders on impact investing, including private equity and venture capital allocations.
• ETH ZurichflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary academic source for Verve Ventures' portfolio: multiple portfolio companies including Haelixa, Neustark, Scrona, Versantis, Inositec and Beekeeper are ETH Zurich spin-offs.
• EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary academic source for Verve Ventures' portfolio: multiple portfolio companies including Axelera AI, Limula and Ikerian are EPFL spin-offs.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Companisto: Berlin-based online venture capital platform connecting private investors with startups, offering a digital investment experience and a network-driven investor base that closely mirrors Verve Ventures' platform model.
• Seedrs (Republic Europe): UK-based online investment platform enabling private investors to back European startups with a regulated, digital-first model; both firms blend an investor-facing platform with venture capital deal flow.
• Earlybird Venture Capital: Berlin-based European venture capital firm with a deep tech focus across industrial tech, healthcare, and enterprise software; directly competes with Verve for early-stage deep tech deal flow in DACH and beyond.
• Speedinvest: Vienna-based European deep tech and sector-focused venture capital firm investing across climate, deep tech, fintech and health; comparable in geography, stage, and thematic focus to Verve Ventures.
• OurCrowd: Israel-headquartered global online venture investing platform connecting accredited investors with startup opportunities; shares Verve's platform-based distribution model and curated deal flow.
• Crowdcube: UK-based online investment platform offering retail and sophisticated investors access to private company equity; comparable in offering a digital, community-driven channel to private market deals.
• HV Capital: Munich-based European venture capital firm with deep tech and digital business focus across multiple fund vintages; competes with Verve for German and pan-European Seed and growth-stage deep tech deals.
• btov Partners: European venture capital firm with offices in Zurich, Berlin, Munich and Luxembourg investing across deep tech, digital and industrial tech; overlaps with Verve on DACH geography and Seed-stage deep tech focus.

Broad incumbents

• Index Ventures: Established European-headquartered venture capital firm with broad tech, fintech, and frontier tech coverage; while much larger and broader than Verve, Index competes for many of the same European growth-stage opportunities.
• Atomico: London-based European venture capital firm founded by Skype's Niklas Zennström; competes for late-stage European tech deals and overlaps with Verve's investor network (notably Zennström co-invested in Beekeeper Series A).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/verve.vc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/verveventures
• Instagraminstagram.com/verveventures
• Xx.com/VerveVentures

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments280 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Verve Ventures