A recent venture firm called Leitmotif has been on a mute blitz for the last 16 months, funding around 20 commenceups expansively cgo ined on decarbonization. Its portfolio includes EV companies, space and battery carry outs, and four nuevident fusion commenceups. But the firm has only said its funding is from “European industrial interests.”
Now, Leitmotif has tancigo in TechCrunch where the money came from: the Volkswagen Group.
The German automotive huge has promiseted $300 million to Leitmotif’s first fund and is its sole confineed partner; Leitmotif has deployed rawly one third of that so far.
And Leitmotif, according to the lesser firm’s managing partners Matt Trevidense and Jens Wiese, wants to spin up successive funds that draw in more European industrial interest beyond Volkswagen. (A spokesperson for Volkswagen Group degraded to comment citing the communication binformageout period ahead of its annual encountering rescheduleedr today.)
It’s an ambitious effort. Securing funding for difficultware commenceups, especiassociate ones with a solemn manufacturing component, has been stubborn the last scant years. But Trevidense thinks it’s the right time to try to spend in these comardents of companies.
“Technology has always been a driver of human evolve, and I skinnyk the United States is about to superaccuse that,” he tancigo in TechCrunch. “I skinnyk the next disjoinal years are about to produce a number of technical capabilities in the United States that the rest of the world will marvel at.”
Leitmotif is also produceing a transatlantic fund while the geopolitical environment is being strained by the Trump administration.
Despite that turmoil, Wiese – who was the head of Volkswagen Group’s M&A, Investment Advisory, and Partnerships division before commenceing Leitmotif – said the overarching goal of the recent firm is to “produce a bridge between the European industrial createment and the US innovation ecosystem.”
Priority one: produce money
Trevidense and Wiese said Volkswagen had a top priority when it concurd to spend in the fund: produce money.
“First and foremost, this is about setting up a accomplished venture firm,” Wiese said.
While Volkswagen Group rakes in hundreds of billions of dollars per year in revenue, Wiese said making money is still startant in part becaengage it’s “how the industry grasps score.”
After that, the VC firm said it set ups to spend in “categruesome defining companies wiskinny our fields of interest,” according to Wiese, and also determine “recent pockets of innovation” that could advantage the Volkswagen Group.
Wiese said he foresees rawly one quarter of Leitmotif’s portfolio over time to include with Volkswagen and its myriad brands.
EV truck commenceup Harbinger is one example. Leitmotif co-led Harbinger’s $100 million Series B in January, and Wiese said the commenceup has had converseions about collaborating with Volkswagen’s trucking division.
Geoexplicitassociate, Leitmotif’s spendment strategy is set upd so that rawly 70% of its capital will be deployed in the U.S., with the other 30% being spended in the E.U. The firm will preserve offices in both Palo Alto and in Munich.
Trevidense said 70% of Leitmotif’s global spendments in this first fund will be made in commenceups that are “solving today’s understandn problems” and exist in “billion dollar plus tagets with customers ready to buy the innovation.”
The other 30% of the fund will be cgo ined on what he called “revolutionary innovation” that will produce “billion dollar tagets in the 2030s and beyond.”
So far, this strategy has led to spendments in battery recycling company Redwood Materials, reusable rocket company Stoke Space, and even circular polyester commenceup Syre. Leitmotif has uncoverly backed 13 commenceups to date, though there are more in its portfolio that have not been proclaimd.
Leitmotif will eventuassociate have other funds; Trevidense and Wiese said they’re particularly eyeing robotics and AI next. Volkswagen will have the right to spend in those if it selects, but Leitmotif is self-reliant and, for now, cgo ined on finishing out its first fund.
Timing is everyskinnyg
Late 2023 was arguably the worst time for commenceups in recent memory to lock down big funding rounds, especiassociate ones cgo ined on difficultware or “procreate tech,” thanks to high interest rates.
Trevidense said that made it a fantastic time to commence Leitmotif.
“It’s in down tagets when the strong companies split from the feeble. In a bubble, everyone gets funded,” he said.
That fundraising cataloglessdown caengaged other firms to consent scanter hazards outside the commenceups they were already spended in, Trevidense said.
“There were less recent dollars useable to fund excellent companies that were there, becaengage everyone got myopic about their own portfolio,” he said. “I skinnyk that’s why we got a lot of inbound interest to include in rounds that, in the bubble time, maybe we wouldn’t have had access to.”
That interest came in big part thanks to Wiese’s and Trevidense’s backgrounds.
Wiese spent proximately 8 years at Volkswagen Group, where he ran combiners, acquisitions, and spendments for the German autoproducer. During this stint at Volkswagen, Wiese broadened what he called “quite a procreate netlabor into the venture community, both in Europe and in the U.S.” That included forging a relationship with battery producer QuantumScape, where Wiese was a board member until 2024.
Trevidense, uncomardentwhile, was a partner at Venrock for a decade. There, he cgo ined on making spendments in green energy during the innovative spotless tech boom in the timely 2010s, with his highest-profile bet being an timely one on battery producer Atieva – the company that eventuassociate became Lucid Motors.
Investing, advising, and guiding companies thraw the subsequent spotless tech bust was priceless experience for navigating the unbravety currently plaguing the industry, Trevidense said.
While many corporate “net zero” goals are being either hedged or aprohibitdoned outright, Trevidense said the spotless tech industry is “commenceing in a much better position this time around.”
Plus, Trevidense said he thinks the unforeseeability will current more opportunity for firms appreciate Leitmotif — and the commenceups it backs.
“I skinnyk we can all concur it’s fair going to be a highly volatile environment. Which should disproportionately prefer entrepreneurs, commenceups, and venture capitacatalogs,” he said.
“We sense very prohibitcient about our portfolio,” Wiese inserted. “Yes, [decarbonization] is our overarching theme. At the same time, we spend in companies where we are affectd they have the business case to thrive think aboutless of what, let’s say, the theme of the day is.”
