CODE University of Applied Sciences // Capital · Vintage 2026
// Fund Live · Vintage 2026 · Pre-Seed · Europe · AI-Native · Deep Tech

We CODE the future.
First check for builder-founders.

CODE Capital is the first-check investor for ventures coming out of the CODE University ecosystem — same paper, same cap, deal by deal. €50–100k at Pre-Seed, decisions in under 14 days, follow-on into qualified priced rounds.

Pitch us → Read the mission →
// Stage
Pre-Seed
// First Check
€50–100k
// Geography
Europe
// Decision
< 14 days
// Thesis · 01

We invest where product-native engineering decides the outcome.

CODE Capital operates from the one place in Europe where interdisciplinary builders are trained by design — rare founders who can compress technology, design and product into a single shipping motion.

Three disciplines, one motion. Multiplied — because if any factor is zero, the product is. Raised to the power of Purpose — because what compounds isn’t speed. It’s direction.

// The CODE Edge
CODE = Technology × Design × Execution^Purpose
A formula, not a slogan. Any zero collapses the product. Purpose isn’t a tagline either — it’s the exponent on the work.
// Thesis · 02

What we back. Where we play. Where we don’t.

// 01 — Focus
//Builder-first. Nerds and Pioneers.

Founders with CODE entrepreneurial DNA — students, alumni, professors, researchers, or lecturers shipping into established industries or carving out entirely new ones. Technology × Design × Execution must sit at the edge of your product — not next to it.

// 02 — Where we play
//The Stack

AI-Native Vertical Software
AI Devtools & Trust Infra
Compute Efficiency
Deep Tech, Quantum & Post-Quantum Security

// 03 — Boundaries
//What we don’t do

No consumer. No horizontal infrastructure competing on scale alone. Nothing outside Europe. Nothing past Pre-Seed — if you’re raising Seed+, we’re not your fund. By design.

// Practice

What you can expect from us.

  • +01Fast decisions — first meeting to term sheet in days when it matters.
  • +02Same paper, same cap, deal by deal. No renegotiation, no grinding on terms.
  • +03Honest feedback, even when it’s uncomfortable.
  • +04Real help where it counts — fundraising strategy, investor intros, operator network.
  • +05Long-term partners — invested in your resilience as much as in your cap table.
// No bullshit

What we will not do.

  • −01No months of unnecessary due diligence.
  • −02No renegotiating after the handshake.
  • −03No consumer plays. No horizontal infra competing on scale alone.
  • −04Nothing outside Europe. Nothing past Pre-Seed.
// Mission

We CODE the future — prosperous & resilient.

We back the founders who build European sovereignty and freedom, and we open space — by structure, not by statement — for those from underrepresented groups.

We maximise for two things at once: Profit and Return on Education. The fund’s carried interest fuels CODE University — our backbone — to educate the next generation of founders, setting a founder-ecosystem flywheel in motion for society.

Self-financing, perpetual, independent of grant cycles or government timing. Better returns become better education. Permanently.

// Democratic access

Entrepreneurial education reaches those without family capital or elite networks — builders by background.

// Self-financing impact

No grants. No government cycles. The fund’s own returns make the mission independent and perpetual.

// Accelerating excellence

Better returns become better education. The flywheel compounds with every vintage.

// Who we are

It takes a village to build a stellar company.

We believe entrepreneurship is one of humanity’s quiet achievements — what lets us live in peace, grow, and build the future together.

CODE Capital is built on the conviction that it is our responsibility to back the next generation of entrepreneurs — and help them outgrow us.

The fund is deeply embedded in the CODE University ecosystem: carried by its trustees, sponsors, supporters, and partners — the people already shaping Germany’s economic and technological future. Our venture team operates at eye level with founders, hands-on by default, anchored by an investment team that started companies before they graduated.

Initiators & Investment Team→ Expert Founders→ Co-Investors→ CODE Ecosystem→
Three CODE students working together on a robotics prototype at a whiteboard Five CODE students collaborating around a MacBook Close-up of code in a dark IDE
// Terms

Simple, fast, on-paper.

Same paper for everyone, deal by deal. Decisions in under 14 days. CLA in days when speed matters.

// Stage
Pre-Seed & Seed often pre-product, pre-revenue
// Check size
€50–100k + follow-on
// Geography
Europe
// Focus
AI-Native Vertical Software · Deep Tech · Quantum & Post-Quantum
// Role
First check — but we follow our winners
// Process
Decision < 14 days CLA in days if needed
// Working on something?

Send us a short paragraph. We read every inbound.

A few lines on what you’re building, who you are, and what you’d do with a first cheque is more than enough.