Uplift Ventures is a Hamburg- and Berlin-based deep-tech venture capital fund founded in 2025 and backed by Jungheinrich, the German intralogistics company. It operates as an independent limited company outside the Jungheinrich Group, combining entrepreneurial freedom with access to Jungheinrich's industrial network.
Uplift Ventures invests in European (and selectively U.S.) deep-tech startups at late Seed through Series A, with priority focus areas spanning physical AI, energy, enterprise AI, and logistics, building on Jungheinrich's broader innovation search fields of robotics, AI & data, energy and sustainability, and autonomous systems.
Roughly 80% of capital is earmarked for Europe and 20% for the US, leveraging Europe's industrial base.
In September 2026, Uplift Ventures launched a debut $116M fund to back European deep-tech startups, backed by Jungheinrich as long-term strategic investor and sole disclosed LP.
The fund plans to back up to 20 startups plus select deep-tech venture funds, investing as lead, co-lead, or participating investor.
Leadership
Christian Noske is Founding General Partner, bringing more than 10 years of deep-tech investing experience from NGP Capital and as a founding partner at BMW i Ventures and Alliance Ventures, with a prior track record that includes The Exploration Company, ANYbotics, Tekion, Dataloop, and WeRide.
Kerk Wichmann and Christina Hammes are Managing Directors, and Maike Steding is Chief of Staff.
The investment team also includes Katharina Schild, Lukas Böttcher, Susan Suzart, and Helge Jelinski, with combined experience investing in more than 30 startups across technology sectors.
Investment Strategy
Uplift Ventures typically writes checks of roughly $1M–$5M, investing as lead, co-lead, or participating investor, and also backs select deep-tech venture funds such as High-Tech Gründerfonds and Merantix.
Notable Investments
Other
Uplift Ventures is backed by Jungheinrich, a German intralogistics company, as its founding and long-term strategic investor.
Christian Noske — Founding General Partner
Kerk Wichmann — Managing Director
kerk.wichmann@jungheinrich.de
Christina Hammes — Managing Director
christina.hammes@upliftventures.com
Maike Steding — Chief of Staff
maike.steding@upliftventures.com
Bas Bouten — Venture Partner
bas.bouten@upliftventures.com
Germany
