Auxxo, a Berlin-based venture capital firm dedicated to backing teams with at least one female founder, has announced the final closing of its Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund II at €33.3 million, surpassing its prior fund by more than 75%.
The VC firm announced the first close of Female Catalyst Fund II at €26 million in July 2025, with the European Investment Fund (EIF) as the anchor investor. Besides the EIF, the fund has seen new investors including Aurum Impact, EnBW New Ventures, Cherry Ventures and Speedinvest, together with a number of family offices, business angels and founders from across Europe. The firm highlights that more than 50% of investors are women.
“We are incredibly proud of the trust placed in us by the EIF and our other LPs, investors who understand that diversity drives returns. Our network is growing not only in size but also in influence and impact. The fact that more than half of our LPs are women shows that the industry is moving towards the future we have always envisioned,” said Bettine Schmitz, co-founder and General Partner at Auxxo.
Founded in 2021 by Schmitz and Dr. Gesa Miczaika, following the earlier founding of Auxxo Beteiligungen GmbH with Fabiola Hochkirchen in 2019, Auxxo co-invests at pre-Seed and Seed stages across Europe in companies with at least one female founder holding a minimum of 20% of founder shares.
The FCF II has backed 11 companies to date. Emidat, a climate data infrastructure provider for the construction industry; Resolutiion, an AI platform that helps identify and reduce losses from commercial disputes; and Stanhope.ai, which builds more adaptable, interpretable autonomous systems for robots and drones using a neuroscience-driven approach, were announced at the first closing.
Since then, the portfolio has grown to include Marble Imaging, a developer of Earth observation satellites and AI-powered analysis tools for defence and infrastructure; Delta Labs, an AI platform that helps companies build market intelligence through synthetic customer simulations; and Radiogenesis, which uses AI to design new radiopharmaceuticals for cancer treatment.
While the fund has closed comfortably ahead of the €19 million raised for Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund I, the high point is the fact that more than half of the fund’s limited partners are women. This comes on the back of a stark reality where female-founded companies receive a disproportionately small share of European venture capital, just 16.5% of deal activity in 2025.
“We are glad to be continuing the drive for greater gender diversity in European venture capital alongside Auxxo. Diversity and financial return can go hand in hand – and we look forward to this new fund making exactly that a reality,” said Marjut Falkstedt, Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund.
Alongside the close, the firm has launched a pan-European Founder Matchmaking Platform designed to help ambitious women find co-founders and build diverse teams from the ground up. This new initiative aims to close the “co-founder gap” for women by connecting solo founders, experienced operators and capital-seeking teams.
The platform focuses on three user groups of any gender: solo founders looking for a technical or operational “missing piece”, experienced operators ready to take the leap into entrepreneurship, and teams seeking capital, for whom Auxxo provides direct access to pre-Seed and Seed investment expertise.
Dr. Miczaika, co-founder and General Partner at Auxxo, said, “We have always seen ourselves as a bridge. With this platform, we are building the foundation of that bridge. We want to ensure that more women found startups – not someday, but now.”
The platform, now live on Auxxo’s website, is built on Auxxo’s extensive European network, including successful entrepreneurs, business angel networks, and an LP base, of which over 50% are women.
Source: EU-Startups
