Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg pushes Rosberg Ventures to close third fund at €86 million

Former F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg is once again accelerating forward – this time not on the track, but in the venture capital world. His firm, Rosberg Ventures, has announced the close of its third fund at €86 million (£75 million), pushing total assets under management to approximately €172 million (£150 million).

In recent years, Rosberg Ventures has expanded its mandate to include direct co-investments in high-growth startups. These include ClickHouse, a real-time data analytics platform, and Ivy, a company building a universal API for instant bank payments – as well as Fuse Energy and Cardino.

“We’ve just closed our $100 million Fund III at Rosberg Ventures, oversubscribed with unprecedented demand, and capped allocations for optimised performance. I’m super humbled by the support we’ve received once again. A heartfelt thank you especially to all our long term partners for the trust,” says Nico Rosberg, Founder of Rosberg Ventures.

In the context of European VC fundraising in 2025, this €86 million close of Rosberg Ventures’ third fund aligns with a broader pattern of mid-sized and specialist VC vehicles securing capital.

Backed VC closed a similarly sized €86m Fund III to continue investing in frontier and DeepTech, while Concept Ventures raised €75 million for a large, Europe-wide pre-Seed vehicle.

At the larger end of the spectrum, Índico Capital Partners launched a €125 million Fund III focused on Southern Europe, and Ventech closed its sixth fund at €175 million to back around 35 European companies.

More specialised strategies have also attracted capital, including Rubio Impact Ventures (€70 million, impact-focused), U2V (€60 million, DeepTech spin-outs), and Catalpa Ventures (€30 million first close, HealthTech).

Taken together, these fundraises represent well over €600 million in committed capital, suggesting sustained LP appetite for European VC platforms that combine diversified exposure, sector focus, and structured fund strategies – placing Rosberg Ventures’ Fund III squarely within an active and competitive fundraising environment rather than as an outlier.

Founded following Rosberg’s surprise retirement from F1 in 2016 – just days after clinching the Formula 1 World Championship from Lewis Hamilton – the London-based venture firm deploys a Fund of Funds model, giving its investors exposure to elite VC outfits globally.

Since its inception, Rosberg Ventures has been active in backing both VC funds and individual startups, writing cheques typically in the range of €1.7 million (£1.5 million) to €4.2 million (£3.7 million).

The fund’s portfolio includes standout names such as SpaceX, Lyft, ClickHouse, and Lilium, among others. In parallel, Rosberg’s personal investment record spans early-stage bets on ventures like Jack & Jill AI, Clyx, Fyxer AI, and Black Forest Labs, all operating across software, AI, and enterprise sectors.

In a public statement, Rosberg also reflected on how calculated risk-taking and preparation – skills honed on the racetrack – are vital in venture capital.

“Here are some learnings from Formula 1 that have helped us progress so rapidly. Take your chances. Sometimes that means even taking those very low odds, 10% chances, but where the upside is enormous. You might be wondering how we can be brave and fully commit when failure is so highly likely?

“Well, everything comes down to preparation. It’s essential to go through all the failure scenarios. Then explore how to make the best of those negative outcomes, or develop a plan to mitigate their negative impact (so that they don’t actually look bad at all). This will give you the confidence to go all in on your opportunity.”

EU-Startups previously covered Rosberg Ventures in 2024, when they announced the close of a new fund of funds of more than €70 million, aimed at giving LPs diversified exposure to leading global venture capital managers rather than backing startups directly.

Since that 2024 fund announcement, Rosberg Ventures has also participated in direct startup investments, including backing Fuse Energy, which raised €59 million in 2025 to scale its UK energy operations, and Cardino, the Berlin-based used-EV marketplace that secured a €4 million Seed round in mid-2024.

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