Where is Exist's headquarters located?

Exist's headquarters is located in Berlin (Germany).

How big is Exist's investment team?

Exist has a team of 19, including 5 partners.

How many companies has Exist invested in?

Exist has invested in 17 companies, including Stackfuel & GEMESYS.

Which companies has Exist invested in lately?

Minerva Carbon & GEMESYS are the latest investments by Exist.

How many exits has Exist been involved in?

Exist's portfolio has seen 2 acquisitions.

Exist - 2026 Investor Profile, Portfolio, Team & Investment Trends

Exist, an accelerator and incubator program founded in 1998, is based in Berlin, Germany. With a presence in 1 country, it has supported around 17 startups in sectors like Enterprise Applications, High Tech. As of Oct 2026, Exist has witnessed 2 portfolio exits. Most notable companies in its portfolio include Stackfuel, GEMESYS and Adnymics. The program is backed by a team of 19 people who primarily support Grant (prize money) startups based in Germany. Its latest investment was a $2.1M Grant (prize money) round in Minerva Carbon on Aug 27, 2025.

Key Metrics

Founded Year

1998

Location

Berlin, Germany

Portfolio Companies

Stackfuel, GEMESYS & 15 more

Sectors of Investment

Enterprise Applications, High Tech & 10 more

Stages of Investment

Grant (prize money) & Seed

Locations of Investment

Germany

View Exist's full profile

Exist has a portfolio of 17 companies. Their most notable investmentis in Volunteer VisionTheir portfolio spans across and Germany. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, FinTech and 9 other sectors, across stages such as Grant (prize money), Seed stages. Here is the list of top investments by Exist:

1. Stackfuel

Key facts about Stackfuel

Founded Year: 2016
Location: Berlin (Germany)
Stage: Acquired
Total Funding till date: $614K
Employee Count: 98 as on May 31, 2026
Investors: makanta, Europa and 17 Others
Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Jan 01, 2023, $*****
Highlight: Acquired

2. GEMESYS

Developer of AI-hardware focused on edge training and inferencing solutions. The company designs analog chips intended to increase data and energy. The integrated circuits are designed to adapt to the human brain. The companys neural networks enable inference operations.

Key facts about GEMESYS

Founded Year: 2021
Location: Bochum (Germany)
Stage: Seed
Total Funding till date: $9.08M
Employee Count: 15 as on Aug 31, 2026
Investors: Atlantic Labs, Sony Innovation Fund and 4 Others
Latest Funding Round: Seed, Nov 19, 2024, $*****
Highlight: Editors' Pick

3. Adnymics

Cloud based print advertising platform. It is an one-to-one advertising solutions that enable online retailers and fulfillment service providers to produce customized package inserts directly tailored to the customer needs. The system analyses the consumer digital behavior to place customized targeted messages. It enables advertisers to track the performance of the ad campaigns via dynamic coupon codes and QR codes.

Key facts about Adnymics

Founded Year: 2014
Location: Munich (Germany)
Stage: Series A
Employee Count: 10 as on Sep 30, 2026
Investors: Bayern Kapital, TAKKT and 14 Others
Latest Funding Round: Series A, Oct 02, 2018, $*****

4. Volunteer Vision

Cloud-based mentorship platform for performance management. It provides online mentoring software, which includes participant matching, completely automated user management, customizable e-learning content, and comprehensive services. It assists firms in organising and sharing knowledge, as well as managing employee training programmes. It also provides digital mentoring classroom.

Key facts about Volunteer Vision

Founded Year: 2016
Location: Munich (Germany)
Stage: Seed
Employee Count: 11 as on Aug 31, 2026
Investors: BonVenture, Exist and 2 Others
Latest Funding Round: Seed, Nov 08, 2017, $*****

5. energenious

Energenious is a provider of hardware and software solutions for decentralized microgrids. It offers a cloud-based microgrid simulation and optimization platform called MicrogridCreator. The platform is used by microgrid developers for planning, designing, & optimizing decentralized microgrid energy systems.

Key facts about energenious

Location: Berlin (Germany)
Stage: Funding Raised
Employee Count: 5 as on Aug 31, 2026
Investors: Technische Universitat Berlin, Exist and 4 Others
Latest Funding Round: Grant (prize money), Jun 09, 2020, $*****

View the full list of portfolio companies

Exist has invested in 17 companies over the last 17 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 1 investment. Its most recent first time investment was in Minerva Carbon and most recent follow-on round was in Onboard.

Here are Exist's Year-on-Year Investment Trends:

Year	No. of Investments
Year	1^st Round	Follow-on	Total
2026 (YTD)	0	0	0
2025	1	0	1
2024	1	0	1
2023	0	0	0
2022	0	0	0
2021	1	0	1
2020	2	0	2
2019	0	0	0
2018	1	0	1

View all investments by Exist

Exist has made 11 investments in Grant (prize money) stage with an average round size of $2.1M and 3 investments in Seed stage.

Here are Exist's investments by stage:

Stage of entry	No. of Investments
Grant (prize money)	11
Seed	3

Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments

View all investments by Exist

Exist has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Vertical SaaS, Life Sciences and Semiconductors. Notably, it has invested in 10 Tech companies, 9 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 6 Software companies and at least 4 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).

Here are Exist's investments by sector:

Sector	No. of Investments
Enterprise Applications	5
High Tech	4
Vertical SaaS	4
Life Sciences	2
Semiconductors	2
Others	9

Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments

View all investments by Exist

Exist has made most investments in Germany (14).

View all investments by Exist

Exist has not made any investment in 2026 so far.

Here are the most recent investments by Exist:

Filter this list

Date	Company	Location	Round Details	Round Amount	Co-Investors
Aug 27, 2025	Minerva Carbon	Germany	Grant (prize money)	2024	-
Nov 19, 2024	GEMESYS	Germany	Grant (prize money)	8635	-
Sep 01, 2021	TRACK3D	Germany	Grant (prize money)	4089	-
Jun 09, 2020	energenious	Germany	Grant (prize money)	1466	-
2020	MotorSkins	Germany	Grant (prize money)	3709	-

See more recent investments made by Exist

2 companies from Exist's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Stackfuel in Jan 2026 by Multiverse for $*****.

Here are Exist's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:

Filter this list

Company	Acquisition Date	First Invested on	First Round of Investment	Round Size
Stackfuel	Jan 27, 2026	2016	Grant (prize money)	4752
BusyLamp	Sep 28, 2021	Oct 15, 2015	Seed	1714

View all acquired companies in Exist's portfolio

Exist has a team of 19 members including 5 Partners and 5 Principals located in Germany. Exist's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.

Here is a list of top team members in Exist:

Name	Designation	Location	Board Memberships	Contact Details
Jan Bartenbach	Partner	Germany	-	-
Julia Kappeler	Partner	Germany	-	-
Glykeria D	Partner	Germany	-	-
Elodie Keller	Partner	Hamburg	-	-
Marvin Salimi	Partner	Germany	-	-
Tilman Walch	Principal	-	-	-
Munay Zamorano	Principal	Berlin	-	-
Anne Euler	Principal	Hamburg	-	-
Sebastian Bjorn Bauers	Principal	Hamburg	-	-
Clara Arres	Principal	Munich	-	-

View team details of Exist

Over the past 17 years, 19 investors have co-invested in Exist's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.

Invested before Exist: Technische Universitat Berlin has invested before Exist.
Top Co-investors of Exist: 7 investors entered a company along with Exist. These include investors like Atlantic Labs (1 company).
Invested after Exist: A total of 11 investors have invested in Exist's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Europa (2 companies) and Wayra (1 company).