Mundi Ventures is tackling the European growth capital gap by launching Kembara Fund I, its fifth and largest fund, with a first close of €750 million. Europe has invested billions in early-stage climate startups, yet many struggle to scale beyond Series B due to limited funding. The fund had earlier secured a €350 million commitment from the European Investment Fund under the European Tech Champions Initiative in 2024 and regulatory filings indicate the final close could reach €1.25 billion.
Kembara is managed by a dedicated team within Mundi Ventures, with offices in Madrid, London, Barcelona and Paris. Alongside founder Javier Santiso, co-founder and general partner Yann de Vries leads the fund, joined by climate tech VC Robert Trezona, deep tech VC Pierre Festal and former Atomico partner Siraj Khaliq as senior strategic advisor. Their combined experience helped attract institutional backers eager to turn European university spinouts into scalable businesses with industrial synergies.
De Vries brings firsthand insight into the challenges of European growth-stage startups. After founding Redpoint eVentures Brazil and partnering at Atomico, he joined German electric aircraft startup Lilium, which ceased operations in 2024 despite raising over $1 billion and going public via a SPAC. “I saw so many amazing teams in Europe that were going through the same journey,” de Vries said. “Europe doesn’t have an innovation problem. It doesn’t have a startup problem. The problem it has is a scale-up problem.” Kembara aims to address this by focusing on Series B and C rounds, writing initial checks of €15 million to €40 million per company, with the potential to invest up to €100 million to help startups scale globally.
Kembara also plans to use non-dilutive financing to reduce risk for founders and optimize capital structures. De Vries highlighted the role of geopolitics in attracting European growth capital, including support from sovereign wealth funds, governments and corporations. The fund’s sector focus includes climate tech, dual use and defense tech to “protect European sovereignty.” De Vries added, “There are lots of gems that are under the radar in Europe, that could be scaling into global champions and that are not realizing their full potential.” Kembara’s name, meaning “to wander” in Malaysian, reflects its global ambition, supported by Santiso’s past connections with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah.
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