Ex-Google Exec Launches £43m AI Venture Fund

Why It Matters

By providing capital fluent in science and scale, the fund protects European IP and fuels the hardware layer essential for AI, strengthening Europe’s competitive edge in the global AI race.

Key Takeaways

• Cloudberry Ventures raises €50m for European deep tech.
• Fund targets seed to Series A, £860k‑£1.73m per deal.
• Aims to curb US IP strip‑mining of European innovations.
• Focus areas: industrial infrastructure, compute, quantum, photonics, blockchain.
• Founder Mahir Sahin spent two decades at Google.

Pulse Analysis

Europe has long struggled to match the United States in the capital‑intensive arena of deep‑tech, especially where hardware underpins artificial‑intelligence breakthroughs. Venture capitalists from Silicon Valley often acquire promising European patents at steep discounts, a practice Sahin describes as “IP strip‑mining.” This dynamic not only drains local innovation pipelines but also forces European engineers to relocate to U.S. labs where funding is more abundant. As AI models become larger and more compute‑hungry, the need for home‑grown chip design, quantum processors, and photonic interconnects has never been more urgent.

Cloudberry Ventures enters the market with a €50 million war chest, targeting seed to Series A rounds with checks ranging from £860 k to £1.73 million. The fund’s thesis centers on the physical substrate of AI—advanced industrial infrastructure, high‑performance compute, quantum and photonic technologies, and blockchain‑enabled financial systems. Sahin’s two‑decade tenure at Google gives him insider knowledge of scaling complex engineering teams, a skill set he plans to embed in portfolio companies. The timing aligns with the £1.5 billion funding round secured by UK hyperscaler Nscale, signaling investor appetite for European AI infrastructure.

If Cloudberry can successfully retain and scale European deep‑tech ventures, the continent could reduce its reliance on imported AI hardware and capture a larger share of the multibillion‑dollar AI value chain. Localized funding also encourages talent to stay, fostering ecosystems where academia, industry, and government collaborate on next‑generation chips and quantum processors. In the longer term, a robust European hardware base may lower AI training costs for startups, accelerate product‑to‑market cycles, and reshape competitive dynamics with the United States and China. The fund therefore represents both a defensive shield and a growth catalyst for Europe’s AI future.

Deal Summary

Former Google senior executive Mahir Sahin has launched Cloudberry Ventures, a new €50m (£43.3m) venture fund focused on European deep‑tech and AI. The fund will target seed to Series A companies in sectors such as energy, robotics, quantum, photonics and blockchain, with investments ranging from £860k to £1.73m.