Venture studio investor & builder

Merantix Capital is an early-stage AI investor and venture studio backing ambitious AI founders across Europe.

Our roots lie in the Merantix Venture Studio, where we have been supporting and building AI-native companies since 2016 - from idea validation and co-founder matching to first customers, team building and follow-on financing. Today, we combine this company-building DNA with a dedicated early-stage AI fund, investing in outstanding AI pre-seed companies. 

We are part of the Merantix Group, one of Europe’s leading AI platforms, including the AI Campus in Berlin, Merantix Momentum, the AI House Davos and a deep network of founders, engineers, industry partners, investors and AI experts.

Our ambition is to be more than a capital provider: we help founders validate ideas, build teams, access customers, refine their product and go-to-market strategy, and scale AI companies from day one.

We are looking for an exceptional individual to join Merantix Capital as an investor focused on our venture studio activities.

In this role, you will work as part of the Merantix investment team to identify, attract and invest in technical founders at the earliest stage - in most cases before a company, product or team is fully formed. You will work closely with venture studio founders throughout the ideation and validation process, helping them pressure-test, reshape and refine their ideas into investable AI company concepts.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Sourcing exceptional founder talent and venture opportunities across Europe’s AI ecosystem, with the goal of helping launch and invest in four to five high-potential AI companies per year

• Developing original investment themes and company-building theses in AI, based on market research, stakeholder conversations, portfolio insights and emerging technology shifts

• Working hands-on with venture studio founders as a strategic sparring partner to validate, challenge and sharpen new venture ideas - from market selection and customer discovery to AI use-case validation, product direction and GTM  strategy

• Helping turn promising ideas into fundable AI ventures by challenging and sparring with founders on problem definition, wedge selection, commercial validation and the company-building roadmap

• Leveraging the Merantix ecosystem to accelerate company formation - including co-founder matching, access to AI engineering and product talent, introductions to first customers, and connections to relevant investors and industry partners

• Positioning Merantix Capital as the leading AI venture studio platform in Europe among founders, engineers, operators, VCs, LPs and corporate partners

Required:

• Multiple years of experience building AI/ML products - as a technical founder, early engineer, or senior ML/Product lead in an AI-first startup

• Deep ML expertise: you have not only trained models, but brought them into production

• 0-to-1 product experience: you have helped take products from initial customer discovery to first paying users

• Strong technical background at MSc or PhD level, ideally in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field

Strong plus:

• Prior founder experience - including ventures that did not succeed

• Deep domain expertise in an area relevant to us, including but not limited to Industrial AI, Healthcare, Robotics, or FinTech

• Experience coaching or mentoring younger technical founders

Personal profile:

• High tolerance for parallel context switching: you can spend the morning discussing an architectural challenge and the afternoon helping an industrial customer scale a pilot

• Intellectually honest: you tell founders the uncomfortable truths early, instead of letting them learn them late and expensively

• Low ego: you are successful when the founders are successful - not when your idea wins

We offer attractive compensation, including carry participation in our AI fund, and the opportunity to take on a high-ownership role at the intersection of AI company building, venture studio work and early-stage investing.

You will work hands-on with exceptional founders from the earliest idea stage through validation, launch and financing readiness, while benefiting from the broader Merantix ecosystem of founders, AI engineers, operators, industry partners, investors and the AI Campus.

At Merantix, we value ownership, intellectual honesty, low ego and high ambition. You will be encouraged to bring your own ideas, test them quickly, and refine them through close collaboration with experienced founders, operators, investors and external experts.

Due to the volume of applications we receive, warm introductions are helpful but not required. We review all applications carefully.