Cherry Ventures

Cherry Ventures is a Berlin-based seed firm with a founder-first reputation and one of the strongest networks in European early-stage venture. The firm was set up by operators who had built and exited companies, and that perspective is still embedded in how the team works with portfolio CEOs. For physician AI founders building in Europe, Cherry is a relevant name when the round is genuinely seed-stage and the company has the ambition to become a category leader rather than a niche player.

The thesis is broad across consumer, B2B, fintech, climate, and digital health, with clear interest in AI/ML in healthcare, clinical software, and consumer health platforms. The firm has been an active backer of European digital health for over a decade and has shown willingness to lead seed rounds in regulated sectors when the founder team is credible and the wedge is sharp. Pure life sciences, deep biotech, and hardware-heavy medical devices are less natural fits than software-first or AI-first companies.

Check sizes typically range from one to five million dollars at pre-seed and seed, with Cherry comfortable leading and pricing rounds. They follow on through Series A and beyond, often using their network to bring in top-tier European and US growth investors as the company scales. Geography is European and selectively beyond, with strong activity in Germany, the UK, France, Nordics, and Eastern Europe.

The partner group is operator-heavy, supported by a platform team focused on talent, US expansion, and follow-on fundraising. Diligence at seed is conviction-led and reasonably fast; the firm tends to make a clear yes or no rather than dragging companies through extended processes.

The most reliable way in is through a Cherry portfolio founder, a European operator-investor, or a respected angel in the digital health scene. The team is also visible at conferences and on content, and engages with founders who show up early and credibly. When you reach out, lead with the founder story, the wedge, and the ambition; Cherry consistently backs founders who think bigger than their immediate market. Bring a clear plan for how seed capital takes you to a Series A milestone with metrics that travel internationally. The right time to engage is at the start of a real seed round, when there is enough product and team signal to support conviction but the round is still movable. Founders chasing pre-product cheques without a strong team, or those building incremental clinical tools without ambition or a clear moat, will find better fits elsewhere; founders ready to build a category-defining European digital health company should put Cherry on the list.