Samaipata closes €70M first tranche of €110M Fund III for AI-native startups
Madrid-based pan-European VC firm Samaipata has launched Fund III with a €110M target, holding its first close at €70M. The fund will back 25–30 early-stage AI-native B2B startups across Europe, deploying up to €10M per company over time.
Anchor investors include Germany's KfW and Spain's SETT, alongside Spanish family offices and founders from the firm's first two funds reinvesting.
AI is moving from experimentation into real business infrastructure — and Samaipata is betting on the application layer. The firm, which manages around €250M in assets and has backed 44 startups since 2016, sees a window to back teams building AI systems from the ground up for complex B2B markets.
Growing state-level conviction is also clear: the involvement of KfW and SETT signals that European governments are actively funding dedicated early-stage AI vehicles as US and Chinese development accelerates.
European AI startups have historically struggled to match US counterparts on valuations and velocity, weighed down by fragmented regulation and a thinner institutional investor base.
At €110M, Fund III is a relatively modest vehicle — fine for seed and pre-seed, but potentially limiting if portfolio companies need follow-on capital at pace. The fund is also still €40M short of its target, with the final close timeline undisclosed.
Fund III marks a deliberate shift in Samaipata's thesis — from digital platforms with network effects to AI-native businesses built for a generative world.
Founders will get access to operating partners with experience at Anthropic, Google, Airbnb, Spotify, and N26, plus commercial partnerships with Nvidia, Microsoft Azure, and Google Gemini. That kind of infrastructure around a fund reflects a broader trend: the VCs winning early-stage AI deals aren't just writing cheques, they're competing on operational value.
Samaipata's track record lends credibility — 80% of Fund I companies reached Series A, with follow-on backing from Accel, Creandum, and Index Ventures.
Sources:
Tech.eu
EU Startups
The Next Web
Tech Funding News
Capital Riesgo
Image credit:
Samaipata
J.V.
