Deeptech fund Kembara has announced a first close of €750m towards its fundraising target of €1bn.
Drawing on investment from VC firm Mundi Ventures, the Spain-based fund has secured commitments from tier-one European investors and is now actively looking to invest in breakthrough European deeptech.
Founded in 2023 by Yann de Vries, former partner at VC firm Atomico, and Javier Santiso, CEO of VC firm Mundi Ventures, Kembara is led by a suite of veteran deeptech investors across firms such as IP Group, Khazanah and Promus.
These include Pierre Festal, partner at VC Promus Ventures and Siraj Khaliq, founder of deeptech startup The Climate Corporation, who joins as senior strategic advisor.
“One of the biggest challenges of deeptech in Europe right now, isn’t a lack of innovation or a lack of startups, but a lack of scale-up capital” de Vries tells Sifted. “This is what we want to address head on with this new fund.”
Kembara has also won the backing of the European Investment Fund (EIF), one of the biggest backers of VC funds in Europe, with a €350m anchor and hopes to ensure the continent's breakthrough innovations scale into global category leaders.
Pooling talent
According to Dealroom’s 2025 European deeptech report, the technology represents 28% of all European venture investment, yet 97% of deeptech funds remain below €300m, an amount too little to lead the rounds these capital-intensive companies require to scale.
Only 3% of European deep tech companies successfully raise Series B or C rounds, despite Europe producing 28% of global deep tech innovation, according to the same report.
The fund arrives at a crucial inflection point for Europe, de Vries says, as the world’s biggest problems will not be solved by software alone. “We are facing one of the biggest waves of innovation we've ever seen with the convergence of AI, quantum computing and robotics.
“These companies usually crack very global problems. You're not going to solve climate change with software for example. If these companies succeed they can become trillion dollar outcomes like Nvidia or or SpaceX,” he says.
“We cannot afford to have teams like Google Deepmind, who were Europeans but had to sell early because there was no growth financing available.”
European deeptech companies raised €13bn in funding in 2025, according to Sifted data, while robotics continues to lead the charge with €1.6bn raised across companies such as Norwegian startup 1X and German company Neura Robotics.
Through Kembara, investors are hoping startups like these will remain and grow on the continent rather than being acquired prematurely or relocated abroad.
“It's very hard for European founders today to navigate this ecosystem,” de Vries adds. “Instead of reinventing the wheel in every country, we need to pool together our best talent and resources to compete on a global stage.”
