What Fly Ventures does

Fly Ventures is a Berlin-headquartered seed-stage venture capital firm operating as Fly Ventures Management GmbH, structured as a German alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) under the Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch (KAGB). The firm manages three successive fund vehicles — Fly Ventures Fund I and Fund II (legacy Article 6 SFDR vehicles) and Fly Ventures Fund III (the current Article 8 SFDR vehicle, established December 15, 2023) — and positions itself as the "first check VC for technical founders across Europe," typically being the first institutional investor in pre-seed and seed rounds. Its stated thesis is to back technically deep, contrarian founders across AI, developer tools and infrastructure, industrial automation, and TechBio, with a portfolio exceeding 50 companies including Wayve (seed 2017), 9fin, Orbital, Lakera, GitGuardian, GitButler, carbmee, Elea, Neuralk-AI, and Zymtrace. The firm is operationally led by Managing Directors Gabriel Matuschka (Berlin) and Fredrik Bergenlid (Zurich), supported by a six-person team spread across Berlin, Zurich, London, and San Francisco that provides direct founder engagement and operating support via an Operating Partner role.

The firm monetizes through standard VC fund economics — periodic management fees on committed and invested capital across its fund vehicles and carried interest on fund profits — backed institutionally by InnovFin Equity under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). Distribution is community- and event-led rather than paid acquisition: deal flow is sourced via the partner network and portfolio referrals, while brand visibility is amplified through tier-1 earned media coverage (Fortune, FT, Bloomberg, a16z News) of portfolio funding milestones. Per the firm's own disclosures, portfolio companies have raised in excess of USD 3 billion in follow-on funding and more than 60% of the portfolio has gone on to raise a follow-on round from US or tier-1 European VCs, with the most significant realized return to date being the September 2025 acquisition of portfolio company Lakera by Check Point Software Technologies for USD 300 million.

The firm is registered at Monbijouplatz 2, 10178 Berlin (Local Court of Charlottenburg HRB 172105 B), operates fly.vc as its owned web surface, and is GDPR-compliant with the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection as supervisory authority. Fly Ventures' product surface consists entirely of its three fund vehicles; the firm itself does not develop proprietary software products and its technology footprint is limited to standard corporate systems, with no disclosed API, SDK, or AI tooling beyond portfolio investments.

Name

Fly Ventures

Legal name

Fly Ventures Management GmbH

Website

https://fly.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Fly Ventures is a Berlin-based European seed-stage venture capital firm providing first-check institutional capital to technical founders across AI, developer tools, industrial automation, and TechBio, operating Fund III with a 50+ company portfolio and a pan-European/US team.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early-Stage Venture Capital

NAICS

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

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Venture capital funding
• Seed stage investment
• Pre-seed investing
• Startup funding
• Early stage capital

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, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Fund management and carried interest (inferred): Fly Ventures operates as a regulated alternative investment fund manager under the German KAGB, running venture capital funds (Fly Ventures Fund I, Fund II, Fund III — GmbH & Co. KG structures). Standard VC revenue model comprising periodic management fees on committed/invested capital and carried interest on fund profits. Explicit revenue mechanics are not disclosed in the public sources provided.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Fly Ventures is a Berlin-based seed-stage venture capital firm that provides first-check institutional equity capital to technical founders across Europe. The firm deploys capital through three successive fund vehicles (Fly Ventures Fund I, II, and III GmbH & Co. KG), typically leading or co-leading pre-seed and seed rounds in AI, developer tools and infrastructure, industrial automation, and TechBio companies, and supporting portfolio founders toward tier-1 follow-on financings.

Product overview

Fly Ventures is a Berlin-based European seed-stage venture capital firm (Fly Ventures Management GmbH) operating as a fund platform rather than a software product company. The firm positions itself as a "first check VC for technical founders across Europe," providing pre-seed and seed investment to technology companies. Its offering is delivered through three successive fund vehicles — Fly Ventures Fund I, Fly Ventures Fund II (both legacy Article 6 funds), and the current Fly Ventures Fund III (an Article 8 SFDR-classified fund) — which together back the portfolio of companies surfaced on fly.vc (Wayve, 9fin, Orbital, Zymtrace, Lakera, GitButler, Elea, Carbmee, Neuralk, xmemory, GitGuardian, TimeTrace Labs, Tangent Robotics, Pear Bio, and others). Fly Ventures Fund III constitutes the active investment product, while Funds I and II remain as legacy vehicles. The firm reports that more than 60% of portfolio companies raise follow-on funding from US or tier-1 European VCs, with portfolio follow-on funding exceeding USD 3B in aggregate.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fly Ventures Fund III GmbH & Co. KG Fly Ventures' current Article 8 SFDR-classified venture capital fund, focused on pre-seed and seed equity investments in European technology companies across AI, developer tools and infrastructure, industrial automation, and TechBio. Structured as a German GmbH & Co. KG and offered to institutional limited partners.
• Fly Ventures Fund II GmbH & Co. KG Legacy Fly Ventures venture capital fund classified under Article 6 SFDR (LEI: 894500TT70WVF0FJ4E36), held as a prior-generation investment vehicle.
• Fly Ventures Fund I GmbH & Co. KG Legacy Fly Ventures venture capital fund classified under Article 6 SFDR (LEI: 894500LH8ZXRXSOVHU51), the firm's first institutional fund vehicle.

Quantifiable outcome

• Portfolio companies have raised in excess of USD 3 billion in follow-on funding from world-class VCs
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• LocalGlobe: London-based seed-stage VC backing founders from idea to Series A. Direct peer given shared pre-seed/seed positioning, European focus, and reputation for early entry into technical UK/EU companies.
• Earlybird Venture Capital: Berlin-headquartered European early-stage VC investing across seed and growth stages. Direct peer given shared Berlin base, European technical-founder focus, and multi-fund platform model similar to Fly's Fund I/II/III structure.
• Point Nine Capital: Berlin-based seed-stage VC focused on B2B SaaS and marketplace businesses across Europe. Direct peer: same geography, similar pre-seed/seed cheque size, and similar emphasis on becoming the first institutional investor.
• Speedinvest: Vienna-based European early-stage VC with sector-focused funds (deep tech, fintech, industrial). Direct peer: comparable Fund I–III+ structure, pan-European sourcing, and similar technical/founder-first investment thesis.
• Cherry Ventures: Berlin-based pre-seed and seed VC backing European technical founders. Direct peer given shared Berlin HQ, pre-seed/seed ticket sizes, and portfolio construction around European AI, dev tools, and infrastructure themes.
• Seedcamp: London-based early-stage VC investing across Europe from pre-seed to Series A. Direct peer given shared European scope, first-check positioning, and portfolio across developer tools, fintech, and AI infrastructure.
• Project A Ventures: Berlin-based European early-stage VC with operational support platform. Direct peer given shared Berlin base, early-stage European focus, and similar emphasis on operating support for technical founders.

Broad incumbents

• Atomico: London-based European late-stage VC founded by Niklas Zennström. Broad incumbent: larger fund sizes, growth-stage focus, but a known Fly co-investor (led Lakera's $20M Series A), so directly comparable on deal overlap if not on stage.
• Index Ventures: London/San Francisco/Geneva-based multi-stage VC investing across seed to growth in Europe and the US. Broad incumbent: broader stage range and larger fund sizes than Fly, but overlapping themes in developer tools, AI, and fintech.

Regional players

• Creandum: Stockholm-based early-stage VC focused on the Nordic and broader European tech ecosystem. Regional peer given similar pre-seed/seed European technical-founder thesis, but narrower geographic focus on Nordics compared to Fly's pan-European remit.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments104 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Fly Ventures