NAP

What NAP does

NAP (NAP Investment Management GmbH, formerly Cavalry Ventures) is a Berlin-based European venture capital firm that operates as "The Expert Founder Fund." The firm invests exclusively at pre-seed and seed stage — often pre-product and pre-revenue — writing initial cheques of €1–3M with follow-on capacity into vertical AI startups building for high-stakes industries such as advanced manufacturing, energy, logistics, compliance, construction, and healthcare. Its stated thesis targets "expert founders" (or "Nerds And Pioneers") — domain insiders with deep technical expertise — on the premise that only 3–5 credible founding teams per vertical exist across Europe, making early identification the firm's primary competitive function.

Operationally, NAP is registered as an alternative investment fund manager under the German KAGB and the EuVECA Regulation, supervised by BaFin, and benefits from support under the European Union's InvestEU Fund. The firm runs a deliberately lean team of six investors and a senior operations function (IR, Legal, Finance & Compliance, Admin) with no platform team. It is supported by a curated network of 250+ LPs composed of entrepreneurs, Mittelstand executives, family offices, and corporate investors who actively open doors for portfolio companies. NAP also operates a proprietary in-house sourcing tool (sourcing.nap.vc) and supplements capital deployment with content and ecosystem assets: the "Big Bets on Cheap Chairs" podcast, the NAP Log Substack, and the Automate VC community.

The firm earns revenue through traditional venture fund economics — management fees on committed/invested capital from its 250+ LP base and carried interest on fund profits — though exact fee, carry, and AUM figures are not publicly disclosed. The portfolio spans 30+ named companies across Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the UK, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Bulgaria, with notable positions including Aleph Alpha, Usercentrics (consent management on 2.3M websites), PlanRadar (construction SaaS across 170,000+ sites), AMPECO, Deltia/Almetra, SPREAD, VoiceLine, and others. Realised exits include Delivery Hero (Frankfurt IPO, DHER), Planetly (acquired by OneTrust), WhenThen (acquired by Mangopay), and Loctax (acquired by Tax Systems/Providence Equity Partners).

Name

NAP

Legal name

NAP Investment Management GmbH

Website

https://nap.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NAP is a Berlin-based European pre-seed and seed venture capital firm investing €1–3M into vertical AI startups founded by domain experts across high-stakes industries, supported by a 250+ LP operator network and a portfolio of 30+ companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early-Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Financial Vehicles (525990)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSANAAAA

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed)

Financial & Insurance/Private Equity & Venture Capital/Venture Capital Firms

Keywords

• Pre-seed venture capital
• Seed stage investing
• Vertical AI funding
• European venture capital
• Expert founder fund

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Fund Management (AIFM) Revenue: NAP is a registered alternative investment fund manager under KAGB and the EuVECA Regulation, managing capital on behalf of 250+ LPs. Revenue is generated through traditional VC fund economics — management fees on committed/invested capital and carried interest on fund profits. The exact fee/carry split is not publicly disclosed.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

NAP is a Berlin-based European venture capital fund (NAP Investment Management GmbH, formerly Cavalry Ventures) that invests pre-seed and seed equity of €1–3M (plus follow-on) into expert founders building vertical AI for high-stakes industries such as advanced manufacturing, energy, logistics, compliance, construction, and healthcare. The fund is led as a Europe-only vehicle by a deliberately small team and supplements capital with operator-network support from 250+ LPs.

Product overview

NAP (NAP Investment Management GmbH) is a venture capital firm — described as "The Expert Founder Fund" — rather than a software product company. Its core offering is the NAP Fund itself: a Europe-focused pre-seed and seed vehicle that writes €1–3M initial checks (with follow-on capacity) into expert founders building vertical AI for high-stakes industries such as advanced manufacturing, energy, logistics, compliance, construction, and healthcare. Around this core fund, NAP operates a small set of supporting offerings: the Big Bets on Cheap Chairs podcast, the NAP Log Substack newsletter, the Automate VC community, and a proprietary internal sourcing tool (sourcing.nap.vc) used to identify investment targets. The portfolio of backed companies — including Aleph Alpha, Usercentrics, PlanRadar, Deltia, SPREAD, Logistica OS, VoiceLine, be-Sirius, Verna, Grand, and UniteLabs — represents the realized output of the fund rather than separate NAP products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Expert Founder Fund: Brand positioning used alongside the NAP name ('NAP – The Expert Founder Fund') to describe the firm's strategy of backing domain-insider founders building vertical AI.
• Big Bets on Cheap Chairs (BBoCC)
• NAP Log
• Automate VC

Products and services

• NAP Pre-Seed and Seed Venture Capital Fund Europe-focused pre-seed and seed equity investment vehicle writing €1–3M initial checks plus follow-on capital into expert founders building vertical AI in high-stakes industries; primarily leads rounds, with daily investment committee and term sheets possible within days.

Quantifiable outcome

• €1–3M initial check plus follow-on at pre-seed/seed
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Earlybird Venture Capital: Berlin-based early-stage European VC with deep-tech and enterprise focus across multiple funds. Comparable to NAP in stage band, geography, and Berlin-rooted German industrial network, though much larger AUM and broader sector mandate.
• Speedinvest: Vienna-headquartered European pre-seed/seed investor with sector-specialized funds (fintech, industrial tech, deep tech). Closest direct peer to NAP on stage, geography, and sector-specific fund structure, including thematic vertical mandates.
• Cherry Ventures: Berlin-based pre-seed/seed fund with concentrated bets on European technical founders. Comparable to NAP in stage, geography, and operator-led partnership model, though without NAP's vertical-AI thematic focus.
• Point Nine Capital: Berlin-based early-stage SaaS investor writing initial checks into European founders. Direct peer on stage, geography, and check size, with overlap on backing portfolio companies that may also fit NAP's vertical-AI thesis.
• Project A: Berlin-based early-stage VC with an in-house operational platform team. Comparable to NAP on stage, geography, and German industrial network, but contrasts with NAP's deliberately small/no-platform model.
• Creandum: Nordic-European early-stage VC backing tech founders from seed onwards. Comparable stage band and European geography; less overlap on vertical-AI industrial focus but similar founder-led approach.
• HV Capital: Munich-based early- to growth-stage European investor with a long German track record. Comparable geography and pre-seed-to-growth band; relevant peer for cross-stage co-investment dynamics with NAP portfolio.
• La Famiglia: Berlin/Munich-based early-stage fund focused on European founders with industrial-DNA. Closely comparable to NAP on stage, geography, and operator-network thesis (La Famiglia's LP base is similarly industry-operator heavy).

Broad incumbents

• Index Ventures: Global multi-stage VC with strong European roots and active participation in NAP portfolio follow-on rounds. Broad incumbent rather than direct peer on stage, but the most relevant downstream co-investor for NAP winners.
• Atomico: London-based European technology investor founded by Skype's Niklas Zennström. Operates as a broader incumbent with later-stage capability than NAP, but a relevant peer given its pan-European stage-inclusive mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NAP_vc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/napvc

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments112 records

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

Frequently asked questions about NAP