Wingman Ventures debuts new name and $120 million Fund II

Founded by Swiss unicorn GetYourGuide co-founder Pascal Mathis, former Switzerland Lead at Creathor Ventures Alex Stöckl, and EAT.ch co-founder Lukas Weder, Founderful (formerly Wingman Ventures) was established with the goal of backing local, pre-seed startups in their first financing round with hands-on, founder-focused funding. The firm supports founders in the B2B software and industrial technology space, ranging from robotics and industrial automation to artificial intelligence and machine learning, computer vision technologies and material sciences innovations in cleantech, climate tech, and construction tech.

Since its launching in 2019, Founderful has played a key role in many startups’ fundraising journeys, helping them establish an international market presence. With Fund I, the firm invested $60 million in 40 startups in just three years, which represents 109 founders who scaled to create 1,093 jobs. Notably, Wingtra (survey drones) has scaled to 200 employees and an annual revenue of over $20m. DePoly has been recognized globally for its revolutionary plastics recycling technology and raised a $15m seed round, while Corintis (sustainable computing) is working with global big tech and enterprise businesses. The startups have further raised almost 6x additional funding of over $350m in just 3 years, some of which from leading international venture firms. “We are very proud to have a 100 percent graduation rate from our portfolio,” said Stöckl.

Building on this success, Founderful launched Fund II, seeking to raise $120 million. During the first closing, the firm secured $85 million from a range of institutions, family offices, and founders who have successfully scaled their startups into global unicorns such as Duolingo, Climeworks, GetYourGuide, Delivery Hero, and Scandit.

Aiming to invest in 8-10 startups per year, Founderful has already invested in eight startups from this fund in 2023. These include Chiral Nano (alternative silicon chips), Nala Earth (ESG reporting), Ascento (security robotics), SAEKI (manufacturing robotics), Anthropos (workplace skills), Isospec Analytics (biomolecular analysis), Eightinks (lithium-ion batteries) and Faive Robotics (humanoid robotics).

“Our fresh identity as Founderful reflects our purpose as a venture capital business to have the deepest understanding of founders and give them the highest level of support. We were once founders ourselves and know what it takes to succeed. We are redefining founder-friendliness beyond just the term sheet through sharing advice, granting insights, and investing courageously. We bring light-heartedness and empathy to serious topics and remain calm in the face of adversity. We try to be the honest companion we would have wanted by our side when we built our own companies,” commented Stöckl on the rebranding.

Besides being in tech, eligible for the funds are startups with a mission-driven team, with a founder-market-fit – that is a company’s founder brings industry experience for the problem they are solving or has done extensive research on the field through their studies. Alongside having a strong ambition to become a global player or technology enabler, the Founderful team is looking for startups with a realistic solution.

(Press release/RAN)