German VC Firm Auxxo Announces €26M First Close Of Its Second Fund

Auxxo launched its first €19M fund in 2021 to support more women-led ventures. Despite progress, female founders still received just 12% of VC funding in Europe in 2024.

Half of the fund's backers are women, including members of Encourage Ventures and VCs like Miki Yokoyama of Aurum Impact. Other key investors include the European Investment Fund, Speedinvest, Cherry Ventures, and Capnamic Ventures’ GPs.

“Women need capital and network. What they need is to raise the funds to create the big companies of the next generation, and then it will be a flywheel,” says Miczaika.

Auxxo’s first fund supported startups like Dude Chem (green chemicals), AnyBill (digital receipts), and Flexa (flexible job platform).

With the new fund, Auxxo plans to invest in around 30 early-stage startups across Europe. Each company must have at least one female founder who owns at least 20% of the founder shares.

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Initial investments will range from €350K to €800K in exchange for a 3–8% equity stake.

Auxxo has increased the ownership it takes in startups (with the last fund, it took 3-5%) as founders want the firm to co-lead rounds, say Auxxo’s GPs.

“That’s why this fund is a lot bigger than the old fund — we now have firepower for follow-on tickets,” says Miczaika.

Auxxo launched its first fund in 2021, during a period of strong startup momentum and abundant capital, when there was growing interest in making European tech more diverse.

“It was so easy because everyone had capital,” says Schmitz, adding that this time around, it was much harder to raise.

“The timing was bad, but the second thing was that our topic of diversity was the uncoolest kid on the block.”

Despite challenging conditions, firms backing female founders have still secured strong funding in 2025. In February, Austrian early-stage VC Fund F closed a €28M fund—well above its €20M target.

“It’s been an entrepreneurial experience and we had to learn and it was really tough, but no founder can tell us we don’t know how to fundraise,” says Schmitz. “We really had to make a proper project out of it.”

Auxxo works to bridge female-founded startups with established VC firms that can support them in securing lead investors or follow-on funding.

“We build the bridge between the very male-dominated VC world and diverse teams. We need the men, otherwise we’re never going to reach some kind of balance,” says Schmitz. “The magic is in the collaboration.”

With its new fund, Auxxo has already backed three startups: Emidat, providing climate data infrastructure for construction; Resolution, an AI-driven platform tackling commercial legal disputes; and Stanhope.ai, which uses neuroscience to build human-like AI for robots.

About Auxxo

Founded in 2019, the Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund co-invests in top female-founded pre-seed and seed startups across Europe. It champions gender equity in venture capital by supporting women as both founders and investors, leveraging a strong network, deep experience and a mission-driven approach.