European founders at the pre-seed and seed stage now have a new name on their radar. Herbert, a Zurich-based early-stage venture firm, launched in 2026 with a clear mandate: find exceptional founders before the category even exists, and back them with conviction.
Herbert Ventures Fund I is a €32.5 million early-stage venture capital fund focused on pre-seed and seed investments across Europe. The fund completed its first close in Q1 2026.
The Team Behind Herbert:
Herbert was founded by Ben Simon and Luis Huber, who combine complementary strengths across company building and investing. Ben Simon is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in Technology (Europe), co-founder and COO of VAY, an ETH spin-off acquired by Nautilus Inc., and an active angel investor across 15 or more startups and multiple venture funds.
Luis Huber brings institutional venture capital experience across multiple European fund structures. He was most recently Senior Partner at QBIT Capital, a Swiss fund focused on university spin-offs, and studied Computer Science and Psychology in Vienna. Together, they bring both operational and institutional perspectives to early-stage investing.
How Herbert Invests:
Herbert writes checks between €500K and €1M and always co-invests with other VCs. The fund backs founder teams only, not individual founders, and looks for relentless drive, operational excellence, and a clear view of how the future will look different.
Herbert’s strategy is intentionally industry-agnostic, avoiding thematic investing and short-term hype cycles. The fund targets approximately 30 investments at the pre-seed and seed stage with a focus on the DACH region.
No Follow-On Capital:
One structural decision sets Herbert apart from most early-stage funds. The fund does not reserve capital for follow-on investments. This single-shot approach eliminates sunk-cost bias and ensures that post-investment, the only objective is to support the company in reaching the next stage.
This approach means Herbert’s incentives stay fully aligned with helping a portfolio company progress, rather than protecting a prior check.
Built on Founder Feedback:
Prior to launching Herbert, the partners conducted over 80 structured interviews with founders, exited entrepreneurs, LPs, and angel investors to validate their strategy. The feedback was consistent: early-stage funds often fall short on speed, transparency, and meaningful support.
That research shaped the fund’s structure, including its LP reporting commitments. The fund is designed for alignment, including a substantial GP commitment, an 8% hurdle rate, and consistent, unfiltered reporting to LPs. Herbert Ventures Fund I is managed through HS Capital AG (Zurich) and structured as a Luxembourg SCSP.
First Bet {DroidRun}:
Herbert’s inaugural investment is DroidRun, a German pre-seed company developing the MCP (Model Context Protocol) orchestration layer for AI agents across mobile applications. The round was led by Merantix. This first bet reflects the fund’s interest in infrastructure-level plays at the intersection of AI and developer tooling, though Herbert’s sector-agnostic stance means future investments could span a broad range of verticals.
Founders building in the DACH region or across Europe who are at the earliest stages can find more about Herbert’s investment approach and submit their deck directly at herbert.vc.
Herbert’s debut reflects a wider shift in European early-stage investing: smaller, more focused funds that prioritize founder quality over sector bets, and structural choices that keep GP incentives fully aligned from day one.
