Mundi Ventures closes €750 million deal for Kembara, its largest deep tech and climate fund

Europe is investing billions in early-stage climate startups, only to watch many of them fail in Series B, according to a Latest report. But new funds are being raised to fill this gap, and Kembara Fund I, the latest fund from Spain-based Mundi Ventures, is one such fund.

After securing a A commitment of 350 million euros From the European Investment Fund under European Technology Champions Initiative In 2024, Mundi Ventures has just completed its first close of €750 million He travelsIt is its fifth and largest fund to date.

Regulatory filing from Spain It reveals that the fund – which focuses on deep technology – could extend its final close to €1.25 billion. But according to Kembara’s co-founder and general partner, Jan de Vries, raising €750 million in two years as a debut fund in this environment “wasn’t easy.”

Kembara is managed by a dedicated team at Mundi Ventures, with offices in Madrid, London, Barcelona and Paris. Mundi Ventures founder Javier Santiso is now also a co-founder and general partner of the Kembara Fund, which has now revealed the full list of its top partners.

Alongside De Vries and Santiso, climate technology VC Robert Trezona and VC Pierre Festal have also joined as general partners, as well as former Atomico partner Siraj Khaleq as senior strategic advisor.

Their individual track records helped them raise money from institutional backers, and they recognized the need for European growth capital that could transform Many companies emerged from the university In large companies with industrial synergies. But it also gave them a front-row seat to the broader growing pains of the European climate and deep-tech startups — especially de Vries.

A veteran venture capitalist who founded Redpoint eVentures Brazil and later became a partner at Atomico, de Vries moved to the other side of the table to Join German electric aircraft startup Lilium -Only for the company Stop operations In 2024 after raising more than $1 billion and going public via SPAC.

In de Vries’ view, Lilium went bankrupt because it could not find the capital needed to grow, but this “traumatic experience” also had a silver lining. “I saw a lot of great teams in Europe that were going through the same journey,” he said. “(Europe) doesn’t have an innovation problem. It doesn’t have a start-up problem. The problem it has is a scaling up problem.”

Kembara’s sweet spot will be its Series B and C rounds, with plans to write seed checks ranging from €15 million to €40 million in about 20 companies. But the size of the fund leaves room for follow-on to help portfolio startups scale manufacturing and expand globally, and total investments can reach €100 million per company.

This is larger than the full size of many European funds, although this may change: Deep tech venture capital firm Elaia has teamed up with asset manager Lazard to form… LEC (Lazard Elaia Capital), whose initial investments will range between €20 million and €60 million per company, while the operator-led fund collection And it is said New financing raised up to 1 billion euros.

However, the capital-intensive nature of most growth-stage companies in climate and deep tech means that even large venture capital checks can only go so far. One lesson de Vries learned from Lilium is that raising capital alone is very difficult, and even puts companies in a difficult position later. This inspired Kimbara to take a different approach to finance.

“Many of us have suffered from this, and what we want to do now is produce non-dilutive financing for deep tech founders to help them de-risk their future financing and optimize the capital structure to reduce dilution. We are bringing in (limited partners) who (…) not only want to invest in the fund, but also want to co-invest in these winners,” De Vries said.

For these LPs, geopolitics also plays a role in the desire to provide growth capital and venture debt to growth-stage European startups. “There will be a lot of support from sovereign wealth funds in Europe, from government, from companies, to push and push towards building these European champions in deep tech outside of Europe,” De Vries predicted.

These geopolitical undertones are also reflected in the focus of the Kimbara sector, which includes dual-use and defense technology “to protect European sovereignty,” according to a press release. However, De Vries disputed the idea that Kimbara simply replaces capital that European companies could later raise abroad.

“There are a lot of under-the-radar gems in Europe, who could go on to become world champions, who are not achieving their full potential.” DeepMind is a relevant example, “where they lost that growth capital and were sold too early,” he said. (Google acquired the company for More than $500 million in 2014but its value is now estimated in the billions.)

Keeping European companies in Europe has gained urgency in several sectors that overlap with Kimbara’s thesis, such as quantum computing, semiconductors, and space technology. But its goal is to promote global champions who cross borders. Coincidentally, Kembara means “wandering” in Malay (although the team has the phrase “humble path to excellence” as an older meaning).

Beyond the name, Kimbara has Malaysian connections. Santiso is also the former European CEO of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazana. Doors could open as many countries consider their exposure to the United States. “In the second lockdown, we will be looking for global investors, because we want global access to markets, but also global access to the supply chain,” De Vries said.