Project A

It was a pleasure to be a judge at UCL AI Foundry’s third Demo Day at Google last week, and see the ambition and creativity of all the teams presenting. Huge congratulations to the winning teams: Deep Convo, Ventrix Labs, and Pawra. Excited to see how your ideas grow from here. 🌟 A big thank you to Simon Levy, Martynas Pocius, and the Foundry team for putting together such a great event, and for having me on the jury.

🇨🇳 Just returned from an intensive week inside 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 – touring upstream and downstream facilities across the secondary metals ecosystem, from aluminium and copper recycling to cutting-edge equipment manufacturing, together with the METYCLE team and board. It’s hard to overstate the scale, pace, and vertical integration we witnessed. For example: 𝐙𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, a so-called “Tier 6 city” with under a million residents, produces 𝐬𝐢𝐱 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 – roughly equivalent to the entire output of Europe! We visited a vertically integrated aluminium cluster, including smelting operations and foil production facilities. Molten aluminium is transported as a liquid (!) by truck to avoid remelting – a striking example of how efficiency is built directly into the supply chain. The infrastructure was spotless, modern, and running at incredible scale. We also toured one of Asia’s largest aluminium recycling smelters, followed by a 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐛𝐨. These are port-scale operations, with integrated logistics, sorting, shredding, melting, and rod casting. Facilities like these are doing 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬. In 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐠, we met with a fast-growing equipment manufacturer that began with rare-earth magnetic sorting tech and has since evolved into a full-suite provider of scrap metal processing hardware. After three site expansions since 2006, they're now even building 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐒-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬. All this to say: it was an eye-opening trip. Seeing secondary metals recycling at this scale – and how METYCLE is positioned right at the center of it — left me leaving 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐢 with even stronger conviction in the business and the future we're building. Huge thanks to Rafael, Sebastian, Harry, and Noah for organising the trip, and great to spend time with the board: Rahul, Max, Jacek, Laurens, and Tom (missed you Alison!). Excited for what’s next as we're scaling to close the loop on smart, transparent end-of-life metal recycling. Let’s go!

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗔 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆’𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 – 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗞𝗜-𝗚𝗶𝗽𝗳𝗲𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱! AI has the potential to transform the German Mittelstand, not just in theory but in day-to-day business. Yet, many leaders are still searching for real-world use cases and actionable next steps. That’s why we’re bringing together 700+ decision-makers and 40+ speakers on July 7 at the 𝘏𝘢𝘶𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘧𝘵 in Stuttgart. 🎯 What to expect: A hands-on summit designed to bridge the gap between strategy and implementation. Real examples. Tangible tools. Honest conversations. No buzzwords. 📍 Deutscher KI-Gipfel 2025 🗓 July 7 | Stuttgart 🔗 Join now: https://lnkd.in/eHJfTajE 🎟 Use code NETWORK99 for discounted tickets

Excited to welcome REMATIQ to the Project A portfolio! REMATIQ is developing an AI-powered platform that reduces regulatory documentation efforts by up to 90%, enabling medical companies to bring products to market significantly faster. We’re looking forward to partnering with you, David Boutellier, Florian Scherer & Team, alongside existing investors Manuel Grossmann from Amino Collective and Rodrigo Martinez from helloworld. Get the full story in our latest insights piece co-authored by myself and Daria Gneusheva ⤵

⏱️ In MedTech, 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹, and how we spend it matters. This week, as we mark 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗮𝘆 (April 7), we’re reminded that one of the biggest challenges in healthcare isn’t just developing better treatments but reducing the administrative burden that slows them down. That’s why we’re excited to back REMATIQ, an AI-native platform that streamlines global compliance, cutting documentation by up to 90%, without compromising safety. By giving R&D teams their time back, REMATIQ helps bring diagnostics, devices, and treatments to patients faster. We’re proud to have led their €5.4M Seed round, with participation from angels Boris Lokschin (Spryker) and industry veteran Timo Fleßner, and continued support from existing investors Amino Collective and helloworld. ⚡ Big mission. Big impact. And we’re just getting started. Get the full story in our latest insights piece from our general partner Anton Waitz and our investment manager Daria Gneusheva ⤵ CC David Boutellier, Florian Scherer

It's a wrap of the Berlin edition of the {Tech: Europe} AI hackathon! Congrats to the winning teams 🎉 🥇 Vladyslav. Korobka and Daniel Montano - Cool Story - AI social language learning app 🥈 Luan Wei - VoiceCo - AI-enabled recruiting 🥉 Mohammad Tomaraei - SketchTrainer - learn to sketch and draw with AI Huge thank you to all the participants, partners, and organizers especially Bela Wiertz for making this happen, and The Delta for hosting the event! Jannic Meyer and I with Project A had a real blast being involved and meeting all the talented participants. distil labs Knowunity

We’re proud to back VESTIGAS as they evolve into the financial operating system for the construction supply chain 👏 Vestigas replaces paper-based delivery notes with a fully digital workflow, covering everything from sign-off to invoice verification. It’s a much-needed step forward for an industry still reliant on manual processes. Adoption is accelerating: industry leaders like STRABAG and GC Gruppe are already rolling out the platform at scale. In 2024 alone, Vestigas has grown 10x and now serves over 80 construction companies and thousands of users. The round was led by us and followed by b2venture, with participation from existing investor Realyze Ventures and angels, including Christian Hülsewig, founder of Schüttflix. Read more about why we invested and what’s ahead for Vestigas in our latest insights piece written by our partner Philipp Werner ⤵ Warm welcome, Vestigas team! 👷♀️ 👷♂️ CC Paul Kaiser, Julian Blum, Nicolas Blum, Yannick Gehring, Ciara Gumsheimer

Partnering with nettle to deliver the future of risk assessment for commercial insurers. Thrilled to be working with Jack Miller, Katya Lait and the team following our investment! 🤝 nettle is set out to make the commercial insurance market more efficient and in the process of doing so preserving institutional risk engineering knowledge. 📋 When we first met Jack and Katya it was clear that their mission to help insurers find profitable growth, beyond increases in premium, is a big one. Together, we believe the market conditions are right and that the technology is ready for the customer and the customer for the technology. 📈 We at Project A couldn't be more excited to join nettle on their journey to transform the insurance industry one risk assessment at a time. I’ve shared my thoughts on this stellar founding duo, the market opportunity and why now is the right time. Link in comments. 🔗

Welcome nettle to the portfolio! 👋 We are thrilled to announce our investment in nettle, leading their £1.45M pre-seed round alongside exceptional angels with deep insurance and AI expertise. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗼𝘄 The risk engineering industry faces a critical challenge: 40% of experts will retire within five years, creating six-month backlogs and billions in lost business. Insurers are increasingly turning away deals simply because risk assessments take too long. 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲'𝘀 𝗔𝗜-𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Nettle's platform is already transforming risk assessments for early partners by: 1️⃣ Identifying critical risks before engineers even arrive on-site 2️⃣ Converting week-long report creation into instant AI-driven insights 3️⃣ Preserving and leveraging 50+ years of expertise to train the next generation 4️⃣ Enabling 5× more risk assessments with existing resources Our partner Malin Posern explores the partnership, market opportunity, and perfect timing in our latest insights piece. Link in comments 👇 We're excited to back Jack Miller, Katya Lait, and the entire nettle team as they tackle this industry-wide challenge. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄. CC Marjorie Lengereau

We’re looking for a 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐭 to join Project A investment team for 6 months with potential to convert full-time 🚀 You will get an opportunity to work on the most exciting AI, ML, Robotics and Deeptech investments end-to-end, meet great founders and support us with due diligence. Location: London/Berlin Link to apply in the comments 👇