Industrial Transformation

Backed 3 is the third investment vehicle of Backed VC, closing at approximately $100 million. The fund marks a milestone as Backed VC makes its 100th investment into European deep‑tech and frontier technology companies.The strategy is to back ambitious, early‑stage founders building globally significant companies in three core verticals: AI‑native therapeutics; blockchain and banking infrastructure; and industrial/manufacturing automation. Ticket sizes are set at $500,000 to $5 million, targeting pre‑seed and seed rounds, and the firm is increasing its presence in the U.S. to source transatlantic founders and support follow‑on capital.Limited partners comprise a mix of institutional allocators (including fund‑of‑funds) and over 50 family offices and founder‑LPs, with nearly half the fund coming from institutions. Through its community‑driven model, Backed VC aims to leverage its network of events and founder‑LP recycling to accelerate deal flow, syndication and talent mobility between Europe and the U.S.By focusing on frontier technology sectors and providing long‑horizon capital to founders with global ambition, Backed 3 positions itself to help unlock Europe’s next generation of platform companies — building with a mindset to compete at the highest level rather than settling for convenience plays.

Compass Group Fund III has closed at a hard cap of $408 million, representing the firm’s second fundraising effort in the past two years. The fund focuses on thematic research and investment in the lower middle market, specifically targeting subsectors within niche manufacturing & distribution and business & consumer services industries. The geographical focus of the fund is the Mid-America “Between the Mountain Ranges,” with a strategic emphasis on the Midwestern region. The fund seeks to invest in historically successful entrepreneur and family-owned companies that exhibit characteristics such as EBITDA between $2 million and $15 million, enterprise values of $20 million to $200 million, and strong margin and cash flow generation. Compass Group aims to provide long-term capital and strategic support to small-to-medium sized private companies with revenues between $20-$100 million, typically investing $10-$30 million in control positions. The firm prioritizes partnering with businesses that have reached an inflection point for growth and are seeking continued participation and partnership, especially those without prior institutional capital. Additionally, Compass Group looks for niche markets with $100M+ potential that are highly fragmented with no clear leader or category disruption, further demonstrating the fund’s strategic focus on specific sectors and types of businesses.

FORWARD.one Fund III is a €200 million industrial technology venture fund aiming to back Europe’s next generation of breakthrough hardware and deeptech companies. With a hard cap set at €250 million, the fund will deploy initial tickets in the range of €1–3 million, reserving additional capital for follow‑on financing. The fund intends to build a concentrated portfolio of 25–30 early‑stage companies, focusing on domains such as semiconductors, robotics, sensors, advanced automation, climate tech, and industrial innovation. Its geographic focus includes the Benelux, Germany/Austria/Switzerland (DACH), the Nordics, and other European innovation hubs. FORWARD.one brings a hands‑on, commercialization‑oriented investment style. Its value proposition is rooted in bridging the “deeptech gap” by combining technical domain expertise, rapid execution, and industry networks to help founders transform advanced research into scalable products for real markets. The fund also builds on FORWARD.one’s performance track record: Fund I (launched ~2018) delivered a net IRR of ~41 % and 2× DPI, with exits such as Sensorfact (acquired by ABB) and Mayht (acquired by Sonos). Fund II (launched ~2021, ~€145 million) is mid‑deployment, targeting similar sectors. With Fund III, the firm aims to scale its backing of Europe’s industrial tech champions and deliver strong returns for LPs.

Matter Venture Partners has raised a $300 million first fund with a focus on ""hard tech"" investments. The fund aims to invest in companies that contribute to foundational technologies and trends that are built on hard tech. With backing from Kleiner Perkins and Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, Matter Venture Partners invests at the large seed rounds, Series A and Series B. This venture capital fund focuses on six sectors: semiconductors, robotization, generative AI, manufacturing on-shoring and friend-shoring, energy building blocks, and life science automation. Within these sectors, the fund aims to invest in companies that provide the ""picks and shovels"" for these trends, as well as contribute to new innovations and technologies. Matter Venture Partners is looking to invest in between 15 and 20 companies with the new fund, with a goal to support portfolio companies across several rounds. The firm believes that the oversubscription of the fund is due to the increased realization of the importance of foundational hard tech technologies in today's society. The fund also prides itself on having operating partners, including Mel Tang, who provides expertise in operations, supply chain management, and manufacturing unit economics to support hard tech startups.