Press release
Noctua Science Ventures completes €14M First Closing and begins investing
Noctua Science Ventures, the specialised pre-seed fund for research-driven deep tech spin-offs from Austria, has successfully completed its First Closing at €14 million and is now beginning its investment activity. The fund plans a Second Closing before the end of 2026 and is targeting a total volume of up to €25 million. In a strong signal for the ecosystem, the shareholder circle now comprises — alongside Speedinvest — five of Austria's leading technical universities.
Closing the gap between world-class research and the market
Austria is among Europe's most research-intensive countries, yet a significant share of the intellectual property created at its universities and research institutions goes unused, and the number of successful spin-offs remains low by EU comparison. A key cause is the lack of specialised financing instruments at the earliest stage. This is precisely where Noctua steps in: the fund finances promising technologies already at pre-seed and helps translate excellent science into scalable companies early — creating value, innovation and highly qualified jobs in the country.
A broad consortium of institutional and private investors
The fund is backed by a strong group of capital providers. Alongside institutional investors such as Allocator One, Erste Bank, aws (Austria Wirtschaftsservice) and VERBUND X Ventures, they include a number of renowned deep tech entrepreneurs. Speedinvest acts as the regulated Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) for the fund. This broad consortium gives portfolio companies access to capital, know-how and a Europe-wide network.
Austria's technical universities pulling together
Founded as a joint venture of Speedinvest and TU Wien, the shareholder circle has now been expanded to include further leading technical universities. TU Wien, TU Graz, Montanuniversität Leoben, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (“BOKU”) and Johannes Kepler University Linz are now part of the operating company behind Noctua, anchoring the fund deeply and institutionally within the Austrian research system.
Philipp Stangl, Investment Lead at Noctua Science Ventures, noted that world-class research only realises its full value once it reaches the market — and that private financing for high-risk deep tech projects is often missing. With the First Closing, he said, the fund moves into exactly that gap, supporting the next generation of spin-offs from their very first financing round.
Investment strategy: early, focused, and as lead
Noctua plans up to ten investments per year and can provide up to €500,000 per spin-off as lead investor already in the first financing round — a structure designed to optimally leverage research grants and set up durable foundations from the start. Particular emphasis is placed on an early, well-considered tech-transfer and IP strategy, on complementing sciencepreneurs with experienced founders, and on a future-proof cap-table structure.
The fund invests technology-agnostically at pre-seed into the most promising spin-off teams Austria-wide — explicitly including spin-offs from institutions beyond the shareholder circle. Further selection criteria are scalability and market size, as well as defensibility.
Lukas Rippitsch, Portfolio Lead at Noctua Science Ventures, added that spin-off founders frequently face a host of new, often structural challenges — and that Noctua aims to provide targeted support so founders can focus on their core work.
About Noctua Science Ventures
Noctua Science Ventures is a specialised pre-seed fund that finances and supports research-driven deep tech spin-offs from Austrian universities and research institutions at the earliest stage. As a joint venture of Speedinvest and TU Austria, Noctua combines the investment expertise of one of Europe's largest seed investors with the scientific strength and network of leading research institutions. Beyond pure capital, Noctua supports founders with technology transfer, team building and scaling — from the first financing round onward. The fund is based in Vienna.