Founderful is a Swiss pre-seed venture fund. Its own site states it is 'a venture fund based in Switzerland' that partners with Swiss startups and offers 'companionship and support as the first institutional investor'. Its November 2024 Fund II release describes it as 'Switzerland's leading pre-seed fund, backing founder teams building tech companies with the potential to become global market leaders'. At the February 2024 rebrand the firm said it would continue to 'double down on Switzerland, investing in the 10 most ambitious founder teams each year as their lead investor'. The firm's rebrand release lists its investment areas as robotics, industrial automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision and materials sciences including clean tech, climate tech and construction tech. It operates from Zurich (Founderful AG) with a Luxembourg entity, Founderful Sàrl, and runs a separate non-profit student programme, Founderful Campus.
AUM61/100 Power Score™2019 FoundedZurich, Switzerland
Wingman AG is entered in the Swiss commercial register on 24 June 2016 under UID CHE-492.933.597, at Badenerstrasse 60, 8004 Zurich.
2019
The firm is founded as Wingman Ventures by GetYourGuide co-founder Pascal Mathis, former Creathor Ventures Switzerland Lead Alex Stöckl, and EAT.ch co-founder Lukas Weder.
2020
The firm raises its first fund of $90 million; Alex Stöckl states it was Switzerland's first independent venture capital firm to invest only at the pre-seed stage.
2024
On 13 February 2024 Wingman Ventures rebrands as Founderful, announcing $85 million raised toward a $120 million Fund II target.
2024
The legal entity Wingman AG is renamed Founderful AG in the Swiss commercial register on 1 March 2024.
2024
The student programme Wingman Campus Fund is renamed Founderful Campus.
2024
On 14 November 2024 Founderful announces the close of an oversubscribed $140 million Fund II.