Yann de Vries

Co-founder and Partner at Kembara · Joined 2023

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Biography

Yann de Vries is co-founder and partner of Kembara, which he started with Javier Santiso to back European deep tech companies at Series B and C. He spent about four years as a Partner at Atomico in London, where he led investments in Teralytics, GoEuro and Jobandtalent and worked on Lilium's Series A and Series B rounds. He then joined Lilium itself as VP Corporate Development in 2018, responsible for long-term partnerships and investor relations. Earlier he co-founded and was a managing director of Redpoint e.ventures in Brazil, where he led investments in Farfetch and Gympass, and before that led corporate development for Cisco across EMEA and Latin America. He holds an MSEE from ETH Zurich and an MBA from Harvard Business School. The Kembara site lists Lilium, SpaceX, OpenAI, Groq and Anduril among his investments.

Education

Previous Experience

Notable Investments

Quantum MotionLiliumSpaceXOpenAIGroqAnduril

Career Timeline

2014
Joined Atomico in London as a Partner, leading investments in Teralytics, GoEuro and Jobandtalent.
2018
Left Atomico to join Lilium as VP Corporate Development, covering partnerships and investor relations.
2023
Co-founded Kembara with Javier Santiso.
2026
Co-led Quantum Motion's $160M Series C alongside DCVC, Kembara's first major investment.

Sources & References

Kembara team section, kembara.vc ↗TechCrunch on de Vries leaving Atomico for Lilium (background and education) ↗Silicon Republic on Kembara's Quantum Motion investment, quoting de Vries ↗Sifted on Kembara's €750M close ↗