Scalehouse Capital

Scalehouse’s venture-partner network — six named operators and a sponsor base of 25+ investors who built billion-euro companies — functions as an embedded sourcing and diligence engine. The firm explicitly targets founders who need commercial access to the German Mittelstand, and its venture partners often provide that first enterprise reference customer or distribution channel. This operator-syndicate model gives it reach into industrial, logistics, and food-service verticals where cold inbound would be less effective.

Scalehouse writes initial checks of up to €1.5M and states it typically leads or joins seed rounds. Its portfolio includes companies that have subsequently raised Series A rounds — VoiceLine (€10M, February 2026) and Foodforecast (€8M, February 2026) — indicating it often serves as an early institutional entry point before larger funds come in. The firm targets six to ten new positions per year, consistent with a concentrated, high-conviction seed approach.

The firm’s portfolio and stated thesis show a strong preference for AI-first B2B software. It does not list any consumer, hardware, deep-tech, or life-sciences investments. The negative signal is clear: no non-software, no non-B2B, and no startups that treat AI as a feature rather than the core product architecture. All disclosed portfolio companies are software platforms selling to enterprises or SMEs.

Scalehouse is not a corporate venture arm, but its structural relationship with the Mittelstand is central. The firm’s 25+ backers and venture partners include individuals who built or backed billion-euro companies in Germany’s industrial base. This allows Scalehouse to offer portfolio companies warm introductions to mid-market enterprises that are otherwise difficult for young software startups to access, effectively acting as a commercial accelerator alongside a financial investor.

Jesse Jeng and Manuel Böhringer are the Co-Founders and Managing Partners, forming the core investment committee. Johann Rottmann serves as Investment Manager and Marc Rott as Associate for Finance & Operations. The venture-partner group, which includes Jens Bormann, Christoph Grimme, Catrin Graf, Jens Rassloff, Henry Walkenhorst, and Thomas Hanke, does not appear to have independent check-writing authority but contributes heavily to deal evaluation and portfolio support.