One year after setting up its startup studio Uplift Ventures, Jungheinrich has closed the studio’s first venture fund. The vehicle carries €100M and targets fast-growing technology firms across Europe, the United States and Asia. Its focus sits where the forklift maker already operates: logistics, energy and artificial intelligence.
From Studio to Fund
Uplift Ventures will not only back individual companies. Part of the capital flows into a curated set of deeptech-focused venture funds, giving Jungheinrich a wider read on early-stage innovation. The team running it includes Christina Hammes as managing director and Christian Noske as the general partner in charge of the fund.
A Long-Horizon Bet
“Deeptech founders need capital placed over the long term and partners who understand both entrepreneurial ambition and industrial challenges,” said CEO Lars Brzoska. The reasoning is straightforward. Early access to promising startups feeds back into the group’s own roadmap, and it builds relationships that are hard to buy later.
Tied to Strategy 2030+
The fund slots into Jungheinrich’s Strategy 2030+ plan. That programme leans on three pillars: scaling warehouse automation, cutting the company’s carbon footprint, and pushing group revenue toward €10Bn by 2030. Venture money is one lever among several. It also signals where the industrial player expects the next decade of value to come from.
Whether a corporate fund can move at startup speed is the open question. Jungheinrich is betting it can.
