Uplift Ventures launches €100m deep-tech fund for Europe's Series A gap
Christian Noske's new €100m fund writes late-seed and Series A cheques into up to 20 European physical AI, energy and logistics companies.
Uplift Ventures, the German deep-tech investor founded in 2025 by Christian Noske, announced a €100 million fund on 2 September 2026. The vehicle targets late-seed and Series A rounds and will back up to 20 startups alongside a selection of deep-tech funds, investing primarily in Europe with selective exposure to the United States.
The stated focus is physical AI, energy, enterprise AI and logistics. The thesis is the financing gap European deep-tech companies hit between a working prototype and industrial scale, the point at which generalist software investors tend to step back and growth funds are not yet comfortable.
Jungheinrich, the Hamburg intralogistics group, is named as an anchor limited partner with a long-term commitment. “Deep Tech requires patient capital and partners who understand both industrial challenges and entrepreneurial ambition,” said Dr Lars Brzoska, chief executive of Jungheinrich. A strategic industrial LP of that profile brings something a purely financial LP base does not: reference customers and pilot sites.
Noske previously led European investments at NGP Capital and was a founding partner at BMW i Ventures and Alliance Ventures. He is joined by Kerk Wichmann, Christina Hammes and Maike Steding, with an investment team of Katharina Schild, Lukas Böttcher, Susan Suzart and Helge Jelinski. Uplift has already built the compliance-automation company turnus.ai in-house and has committed to several European deep-tech funds. First direct investments are planned for 2026.
Why it matters for AgTech founders: the Series A gap Uplift is targeting is the same wall ag-robotics and farm-equipment companies hit after their first commercial season. Physical AI and logistics are broad enough to cover autonomous field machinery, post-harvest handling and traceability hardware, and a fund with an industrial anchor LP is structurally better suited to hardware timelines than a generalist software fund. European hardware teams raising between €3m and €10m over the next twelve months should have this one on the list.
Uplift Ventures launches €100m deep-tech fund for Europe's Series A gap
Christian Noske's firm will write late-seed and Series A cheques into up to 20 physical-AI, energy, enterprise-AI and logistics companies, anchored by intralogistics group Jungheinrich.
Uplift Ventures, the German deep-tech investor founded in 2025 by Christian Noske, announced a €100 million fund on 2 September 2026. The vehicle targets late-seed and Series A rounds and will back up to 20 startups alongside a selection of deep-tech funds, investing primarily in Europe with selective exposure to the United States.
The stated focus is physical AI, energy, enterprise AI and logistics. The thesis is the financing gap European deep-tech companies hit between a working prototype and industrial scale, the point at which generalist software investors tend to step back and growth funds are not yet comfortable.
Jungheinrich, the Hamburg intralogistics group, is named as an anchor limited partner with a long-term commitment. “Deep Tech requires patient capital and partners who understand both industrial challenges and entrepreneurial ambition,” said Dr Lars Brzoska, chief executive of Jungheinrich. A strategic industrial LP of that profile brings something a purely financial LP base does not: reference customers and pilot sites.
Noske previously led European investments at NGP Capital and was a founding partner at BMW i Ventures and Alliance Ventures. He is joined by Kerk Wichmann, Christina Hammes and Maike Steding, with an investment team of Katharina Schild, Lukas Böttcher, Susan Suzart and Helge Jelinski. Uplift has already built the compliance-automation company turnus.ai in-house and has committed to several European deep-tech funds. First direct investments are planned for 2026.
Why it matters for AgTech founders: the Series A gap Uplift is targeting is the same wall ag-robotics and farm-equipment companies hit after their first commercial season. Physical AI and logistics are broad enough to cover autonomous field machinery, post-harvest handling and traceability hardware, and a fund with an industrial anchor LP is structurally better suited to hardware timelines than a generalist software fund. European hardware teams raising between €3m and €10m over the next twelve months should have this one on the list.
