AI startups are currently taking the world by storm, and the Berlin-based AI venture studio, Merantix, is joining the frenzy by securing an impressive €100m fund to invest in even more of them.

In the past, Merantix focused on developing its own startups, but now they’re switching gears to concentrate on traditional venture investing in existing startups. Co-founder Adrian Locher spilled the beans to Sifted, revealing that the firm is in discussions with current investors such as SoftBank, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Kellogg Foundation to secure the new fund.

This new fund will be the largest one yet for Merantix. Their previous fund, raised in 2020, was €35m, and according to Locher, about two-thirds of it has already been utilized. Merantix, an eight-year-old company, has a lively AI campus in Berlin and has already nurtured 10 successful companies, including groundbreaking startups like Vara, an AI breast cancer detection startup, and Cambrium, an AI-powered designer protein company that recently secured an €8m funding round.

So, what’s the game plan for the new fund? Well, it will be divided into three buckets: €25m for co-investing in external startups, another €25m for investing in incubated startups, and a substantial €50m to support existing investments in those buckets. Merantix is also on the lookout for a new VC investor, with a focus on pre-seed and Series A companies in Europe.

But let’s not kid ourselves, raising €100m is no easy feat, especially with the current landscape of high valuations for AI startups. Newcomers like Adaptive from the Netherlands are seeking $100m valuations with nothing more than a pitch deck, making the competition fierce. And that’s where the real challenge lies for Merantix. Their incubated companies have so far had steady valuations, but now they’ll have to navigate through the unpredictable world of external pricing.

Locher assured that they won’t be making any impulsive decisions just because of FOMO (fear of missing out). “We’re gonna look at things very [thoroughly],” he says. “If we think that just through FOMO the valuation has skyrocketed, then we’ll probably just not do it.”

With the AI startup scene heating up, Merantix’s new fundraise is sure to make waves. And who knows, maybe the next big thing in AI is just around the corner, ready to be funded by the big bucks from Merantix.