UVC Partners launches €150M growth fund with €77M first close
What's the deal? Munich-based venture capital firm UVC Partners has raised €77 million in a first close for a new growth fund, targeting a total of €150 million by the end of the summer 2026. The fund marks UVC's first move into multi-stage investing — meaning it will now back companies at later stages of growth, not just at the start.
The new fund will write initial cheques of up to €15 million into new companies and follow on into existing portfolio companies, including nuclear fusion startup Proxima Fusion, which recently announced plans to raise €2 billion to build a test facility in GermanyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
Why now? UVC has been investing for 15 years and raised a €250 million flagship fund in 2024. Its first fund has returned more than 2x to investors, giving the firm the track record needed to expand into a new strategy.
The timing also reflects a broader gap: Europe's deeptech startups are maturing, but homegrown growth capital to back them at scale remains scarce.
What could go wrong? Moving from early-stage to multi-stage investing is a meaningful strategic shift. Growth investing requires different skills, different deal dynamics, and different return expectations. UVC is entering a segment where it has less of a track record — and where it will compete with larger, more established growth funds.
The signal: UVC is not alone. German growth investor DTCPDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → recently launched a €500 million defence fundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and the European CommissionDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → is preparing a €5 billion Scaleup Europe FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → for spring 2026. The pattern is clear: Europe is trying to build the infrastructure to keep its best deeptech companies funded at home, rather than relying on US capital for later-stage rounds.
Managing partner Johannes von BorriesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → frames it partly as a geopolitical issue. For defence and dual-use companies, he argues, a more balanced mix of European and American capital is preferable. He also hints at bigger ambitions: the next growth fund, he says, will likely be a multi-stage vehicle in the €500 million to €1 billion range — though that is still a few years away.
Sources:
UVC Partners
Handelsblatt
Sifted
Seb Johnson's LinkedIn post
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UVC Partners
J.V.
