Ex-Google Moonshot X advisor launches €50 million Cloudberry Ventures DeepTech fund amid “SaaSpocalypse”
**New €50 Million DeepTech Fund Launched to Bolster European AI Infrastructure** A new €50 million venture fund, Cloudberry Ventures, has been launched by Mahir Sahin, a former senior executive at Google and Alphabet's Moonshot X Factory. The fund aims to invest in European DeepTech advancements, specifically focusing on the foundational physical infrastructure that underpins current and future AI capabilities. This initiative addresses concerns that the rapid growth of AI is outstripping the capacity of its physical supply chain, potentially leading to unsustainable bottlenecks. Cloudberry Ventures will target Seed to Series A stage investments, providing €1-2 million in funding per company. The firm's focus areas include industrial infrastructure, compute infrastructure, and financial infrastructure. Sahin highlights a critical need for investment in "deep tech that powers AI—the physical substrate," warning that without it, the entire AI project risks hitting a wall. This move is particularly relevant given recent reports of unprecedented bottlenecks faced by major cloud providers, a situation Sahin describes as the "SaaSpocalypse." The fund's creation is also driven by a desire to counter what Sahin calls the "IP strip-mining" of European innovation by US investors who acquire European DeepTech at a significant discount. Cloudberry Ventures seeks to support European innovators with capital and expertise, enabling them to scale their breakthroughs into global enterprises. The firm's investment thesis centers on backing teams with defensible moats, such as data-driven software and patented hardware, which are essential building blocks for societal and economic infrastructure. The fund has already made its first investment in Xavveo, a photonics radar startup based in Berlin.
Curated and translated by Europe Digital for our multilingual European audience.
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