Uplift Ventures, the venture arm of German intralogistics group Jungheinrich, has launched an inaugural €100M fund aimed at the gap between European research and scale-up capital. The vehicle will back late-stage seed and Series A deeptech startups.
The Hamburg- and Berlin-based platform plans to deploy the money across up to 20 startups and selected deeptech funds, primarily in Europe and the US, focusing on physical AI, energy, enterprise AI and logistics. Uplift says founders keep benefiting from a network that spans its corporate parent’s industrial footprint long after the initial check.
Europe’s deeptech financing gap is a well-documented complaint: breakthrough technologies win grants and early angel support, then stall at the point where they need conviction capital to build hardware, run clinical programs or scale manufacturing. Jungheinrich’s backing gives Uplift both a balance sheet and an industrial customer base most independent funds lack.
The fund arrives as European corporates step up their venture activity, seeking early visibility into the robotics, energy and AI startups that could reshape their supply chains and product lines.
Uplift has not disclosed a first close figure, saying only that the fund is now open for deployment across its target sectors.
