Meet the new VC company secretly supported by Volkswagen

A new risk company called Leitmotif For the past 16 months, he has been on a quiet blitz, funding about 20 start -ups, focusing widely on decarbonisation. Its portfolio includes EV companies, space and batteries and four start -ups for nuclear synthesis. But the company only said that its funding is from “European Industrial Interests”.

Now Leitmotif told TechCrunch where the money came from: The Volkswagen Group.

The German car giant has made $ 300 million at the first Leitmotif fund and is its only limited partner; Leitmotif has expanded approximately one -third of this so far. During a conference on Tuesday, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Bloom said that Leitmotif investment can help reduce the carbon footprint of the car manufacturer and develop a “circular economy inside and outside the company”.

“Volkswagen’s culture is a team culture,” he said.

Leitmotif wants to go even more, according to the ruling partners of young company Matt Trevitic and Jens Weiz. They hope to complete consistent funds that attract more European industrial interest beyond Volkswagen.

This is an ambitious effort. Providing funding for start -ups, especially those with a serious production component, has been difficult in the last few years. But Trevitic believes it’s the right time to try to invest in this type of companies.

“Technology has always been the engine of human progress and I think the United States is about to charge it,” he told TechCrunch. “I think the next few years are about to produce a number of technical capabilities in the United States, which will be amazed at the rest of the world.”

Leitmotif also builds a transatlantic fund, while the geopolitical environment is tightened by the Trump administration.

However, a concussion, Wiese – who was the head of the M&A department, investment consultations and partnerships at Volkswagen Group, before starting Leitmotif – said the comprehensive goal of the new company was to “create a bridge between the European industrial establishment and the American ecosystem for innovation.”

Priority 1: Make money

Trevithick and Wiese said Volkswagen has a top priority when he agreed to invest in the fund: to make money.

“First of all, it’s about creating a successful risk company,” Weiz said.

While the Volkswagen Group is raising hundreds of billions of dollars a year, Wiese said making money is still important partly because “how the industry maintains the result.”

The VC company then said it plans to invest in a “category determining companies within our fields of interest”, according to Wiese, and also identify “new pockets of innovation” that could benefit from the Volkswagen group.

Wiese said he expects approximately a quarter of Leitmotif’s portfolio in time to interact with Volkswagen and his countless brands.

EV Startup Harbinger is one example. Leitmotif is the leader of $ 100 million on Harbinger Serie B in JanuaryAnd Wiese said the launch had discussions about cooperation with the Volkswagen Carriage Department.

A geographical, Leitmotif investment strategy is structured so that approximately 70% of its capital is implemented in the United States, with the remaining 30% invested in the EU, the company will maintain offices in both Palo Alto and Munich.

Trevithick said 70% of Leitmotif global investment in this first fund will be made in start -ups that “solve today’s known problems” and exist on a billion dollars plus customer markets ready to buy the innovation.

The remaining 30% of the fund will be focused on what he called a “revolutionary innovation”, which will create “billions of dollars markets in the 2030s and after.”

So far, this strategy has led to investments in the Redwood Materials battery recycling company, a reusable missile Space and even Circular Polyester Startup Syre. Leitmotif has publicly supported 13 start -ups so far, although there are more in its portfolio that have not been announced.

Leitmotif will eventually have other means; Trevithick and Wiese said they were particularly watching robotics and AI afterwards. Volkswagen will have the right to invest in those if he decides, but Leitmotif is independent and has focused on completing his first fund so far.

Time is all

At the end of 2023, it was perhaps the worst time for start -ups in recent memory to lock large funding circles, especially those focused on hardware or “deep technology”, thanks to high interest rates.

Trevitic said it was a great time to start Leitmotif.

“This is in the markets when strong companies are separated from the weak. Everyone is funded in the balloon, “he said.

This delay in raising funds has led other companies to take less risks outside the start -up companies that have already been invested, Trevitic said.

“There were less new dollars to finance good companies that were there because everyone became my short -sightedness for their own portfolio,” he said. “I think that is why we have shown a lot of incoming interest in participating in circles where we may not have access to bubbles during the bubbles.”

This interest emerged largely thanks to the origin of Wiese and Trevithick.

Wiese spent nearly 8 years in Volkswagen Group, where he runs mergers, acquisitions and investments for the German automobile manufacturer. During this stay at Volkswagen, Wiese has developed what he called “a rather deep network in the risk community, both in Europe and in the United States,” which includes connecting with the Quantumscape battery manufacturer, where Wiese is a member of the board by 2024.

Meanwhile, Trevithick has been a partner in Venrock for a decade. There he focused on creating green energy investment during the original Clean Tech Boom in early 2010, with his highest bet injured by the ATIEVA-Company battery manufacturer, which eventually became the Lucid Motors.

Investing, consulting and directing companies through the subsequent bust of clean technology has been a valuable attempt to navigate the uncertainty that the industry is currently struck, Trevitic said.

While many corporate goals “net zero” are either hedged or abandoned straight, Trevitic said the clean technology industry “starts in a much better position this time.”

Plus, Trevitic said he believes that unpredictability will present more opportunities for companies such as Leitmotif – and the startups he supports.

“I think we can all agree that it will just be a highly variable environment. Which should disproportionately promote entrepreneurs, start -ups and risky capitalists, “he said.

“We feel very confident in our portfolio,” Weiz added. “Yes, (decarbonisation) is our comprehensive topic. At the same time, we invest in companies where we are convinced that they have a business case to succeed, no matter what, say, the topic of the day is. “

This story has been updated with comments from Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Bloom.