NEW INVESTMENT: Munich-Based ExoMatter Raises €1.7 Million Pre-Seed Round 🚀
We are excited to announce that ZAKA VC participated in the €1.7 million pre-seed funding round for ExoMatter, a pioneer in AI-driven materials research, alongside Vanagon VC, BayernKapital, 212 NexT, Bloomhaus Ventures, and four female super angels from encourageventures.
The Materials R&D platform enables researchers and developers to discover the best materials for any application. The platform, which is powered by material data from a variety of scientific sources and processed through AI, provides access to a wide range of physical, chemical, and engineering properties, as well as sustainability metrics and cost indicators. ExoMatter’s software helps companies cut 90% of material development costs and reduce CO2 emissions by 80%.
ExoMatter leverages AI and quantum chemical modeling to revolutionize materials R&D, enabling companies to discover completely new materials optimized for performance, cost, and sustainability. ExoMatter accelerates the material development process by up to 90%, massively reducing costs and greenhouse gas emissions, also making the process not only faster and more efficient but also significantly more environmentally friendly.
Recent development in AI is opening up opportunities for progress in the materials science sector – a great example how innovation on the software level we can achieve innovation on the physical level. Their platform is solving challenges of finding new types of materials for the industrial, chemical and manufacturing industry. These industries are in ever increasing pressure for finding efficiency on the cost level and environmental impact level. We are proud to be backing the Exomatter team and expanding our deep tech portfolio. Founders Barbara and Josua have proven the value of their platform even in the earliest stages – with customers as Airbus or Infineon.
Andrej Petrus, Partner & Head of Investment Committee at ZAKA VC
Solving a Major Challenge with Global Impact
Materials research faces many challenges: developing new materials can take six years or more and often relies on time-consuming trial-and-error processes. Future regulations are also expected to complicate material development, as these new combinations will have to meet stringent sustainability criteria. Materials today account for more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the scarcity of critical resources such as rare earth elements and minerals poses major obstacles to the energy transition.
ExoMatter taps into the vast potential of unexplored materials—an array greater than the number of stars in the universe. By harnessing AI and quantum-level calculations (DFT), the platform navigates these possibilities and optimizes materials for performance, cost, and sustainability. This helps companies save time, reduce risk, and increase their return on investment.
Experienced Founding Team
The founding team of ExoMatter, composed of Dr. Josua Vieten (CEO) and Barbara Bachus (COO), combines scientific expertise with entrepreneurial know-how. Dr. Vieten, a chemist and materials scientist, and former R&D Coordinator at the Munich-based unicorn Celonis, conceived the idea for ExoMatter during his PhD research and time at Berkeley Lab. Together with Barbara Bachus, they co-founded ExoMatter and brought the concept to life. Barbara brings extensive experience in sales, entrepreneurship, and business management and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology & Management with a minor in Chemistry from Technical University of Munich (TUM) and a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship.
We are thrilled to have successfully closed this funding round in close collaboration with our lead investor Vanagon. With the support of our investors, we will further automate and scale the ExoMatter platform, and we are already in talks for a follow-on funding round next year.
Barbara Bachus, ExoMatter’s co-founder
Future Plans and Market Success
ExoMatter has demonstrated product-market fit with its early product version and is working with several DAX-listed companies, including Airbus and Infineon, as well as other market leaders. The company is already generating significant six-figure revenues and is on a clear growth trajectory. With its strong position as a first mover in Europe and a rapidly growing customer base, ExoMatter is well on its way to becoming the leading digital materials platform in Europe.
ExoMatter addresses one of the greatest challenges of our time: the search for new, more sustainable materials. With its AI-powered platform, the company offers a solution that allows materials to be found for specific applications in record time while minimizing the ecological footprint. This technology not only enhances companies’ innovation capabilities but also prepares them for upcoming regulatory requirements, such as the EU Ecodesign Directive.
Susanne Fromm, co-founder of Vanagon Ventures alongside Sandro Stark and Axel Roitzsch