Cloudberry Ventures raises €50 million DeepTech fund
Former Google X (now simply X) moonshot advisor has launched a new €50 million fund, Cloudberry Ventures, with a sharp focus on early-stage DeepTech startups. The move comes as investors reassess their exposure to traditional software businesses in what many are calling a “SaaSpocalypse” — a period marked by compressed valuations and slower growth across the SaaS landscape.
Backing frontier technologies over pure-play SaaS
Cloudberry Ventures will concentrate on European and selectively global companies building defensible technologies in areas such as AI algorithms, robotics, advanced materials, quantum computing, and industrial automation. Rather than backing incremental software tools, the fund is targeting startups that combine deep scientific research with scalable business models.
According to the founding partner, an ex-advisor to Google’s Moonshot Factory, the current downturn in classic SaaS creates a window for capital to pivot toward harder-to-build but more durable technology platforms. Investors are seeking assets with genuine technical moats, patentable IP, and long-term resilience, instead of short-lived advantages in sales-led software categories.
Positioning in a changing venture capital market
The €50 million vehicle will typically invest from pre-seed to Series A, leading or co-leading rounds and reserving follow-on capital for the most promising portfolio companies. The team behind Cloudberry Ventures argues that DeepTech is less exposed to short-term cycles in startup hype and more aligned with long-horizon value creation in sectors like climate tech, semiconductors, and next-generation infrastructure.
The launch of Cloudberry Ventures underscores a broader shift in the European venture capital ecosystem: as easy growth in SaaS stalls, specialist funds are emerging to support founders tackling fundamental scientific and engineering problems. For entrepreneurs building complex technologies that require patient capital, the new fund represents an additional, highly focused source of financing and strategic support.
Implications for founders and investors
For founders, the rise of DeepTech-focused investors like Cloudberry Ventures signals growing appetite for capital-intensive, research-driven innovation. For LPs and co-investors, it reflects a belief that the next wave of outsized returns may come from breakthroughs in physical and computational technologies, rather than from yet another SaaS workflow tool.