ZOHO.VC achieves first closing with 70 percent of the target volume

ZOHO.VC, the newly founded venture capital arm of the ZOLLHOF - Tech Incubator, has completed the first closing of its first fund. Around ten months before the planned final closing, 70 percent of the targeted fund volume has already been subscribed. Parallel to the fundraising, the team has already made five investments.

New fund with close ties to the ZOLLHOF ecosystem

ZOHO.VC is managed by Dennis Kirpensteijn, Benjamin Bauer and Nicolas Sievers. The team is supported in investment decisions by Dr. Judit Klein, Head of Startups at ZOLLHOF - Tech Incubator.

The fund focuses on early-stage financing of technology-driven startups and utilizes the close integration with the ZOLLHOF ecosystem. ZOLLHOF was recently recognized as a Startup Factory by the German government.

Focus on DeepTech and university spin-offs

ZOHO.VC's investment strategy combines two approaches: On the one hand, the fund invests in startups from its own incubation program; on the other hand, it participates in technologically sophisticated co-investments from the existing investor network.

A particular focus is on deep tech companies and university spin-offs, both in the software and hardware sectors.

First investments already realized

Independently of the ongoing fundraising, ZOHO.VC has already added five start-ups to its portfolio. The investments include Merge Labs, a startup from Sam Altman and FAU alumnus Alex Blania, whose financing round was led by the OpenAI Startup Fund.

The early realization of several investments underlines the fund's active investment approach.

Investor structure and outlook

According to ZOHO.VC, the limited partners include entrepreneurial families and various startup founders. In a still challenging market environment for venture capital, the early achievement of a large part of the target volume represents an important milestone for the new fund.

The current fund volume is just under EUR 7 million. Due to investor demand and the existing deal flow, the team plans to increase the fund volume beyond the original target volume in the course of 2026. The aim is to support further technology-oriented start-up teams at an early stage.