Earlybird

Earlybird Venture Capital is one of Europe's longest-standing and most active venture firms, founded in Berlin in 1997 by Hendrik Brandis and Christian Nagel. It manages roughly €2.5bn across two active platforms — the flagship Earlybird technology fund (Fund VIII closed at €360M in 2026, its largest to date) and Earlybird Health (€173M second fund, 2024) — from offices in Berlin, Munich and London. Earlybird writes initial tickets up to €12M, concentrated at pre-seed and seed with follow-on into Series A and beyond.

The firm targets Western Europe — Germany, the UK, France, Italy, the Nordics, Austria and Switzerland — with CEE coverage via a dedicated venture partner. Its focus has shifted toward AI and foundation models, software infrastructure and deep tech (space, fusion, photonics, quantum), alongside its independent health platform. LPs include the European Investment Fund, sovereign wealth funds, global pension funds and British Patient Capital.

Across 29 years Earlybird has produced landmark outcomes including Peak Games (sold to Zynga for ~$1.85bn, 2020), UiPath (NYSE IPO 2021, from the Digital East franchise that later spun out as Bek Ventures), Trendyol (Alibaba, 2018) and ImCheck Therapeutics (up to €1bn, 2025), and counts N26, Aleph Alpha, Isar Aerospace, Aiven, Payhawk and Wefox among its portfolio. In 2026 it introduced a perpetual active-ownership governance model keeping ownership with active partners.