Picus Capital

Today marks a significant milestone for our portfolio company, D2X Group, as they officially kick off trading operations. Huge congratulations to Don van der Krogt, Theodore Rozencwajg, Laetitia Grimaud, and the entire team for becoming the first MiFID-regulated exchange for crypto derivatives, operating 7 days a week. We are excited to be part of D2X Group's journey pioneering the next-generation market infrastructure and offering secure trading as well as off-exchange collateral accounts held with a Tier-1 EU credit institution. Find out more in the article below! https://lnkd.in/dh9a79k9

🔒 GenAI is everywhere - but how exactly is AI impacting the way CISOs and security professionals think about the org’s cyber operations?  We may have a few thoughts on that! Florian, Oliver, and Alex have just published a deep dive into the state of modern SOCs, based on conversations with over 50 CISOs and cybersecurity experts. Our research reveals critical challenges facing security teams today: 👉 28% of CISOs see their SOCs overwhelmed by workload demands 👉 90% of current SIEM tools generate excessive noise 👉 50%+ of CISOs see major challenges in providing the right data platform for their teams The game-changer? AI is set to revolutionize how we approach cybersecurity - both from a data and operations perspective, with the global market for AI cyber products projected to grow from $15B to $135B by 2030. Want to understand how AI will reshape cybersecurity? Link to the medium article in the comments below. Reach out to Florian Reichert, Oliver Heinrich, or Alex Rohregger if you are building in this space - or just want to share your thoughts / opinions. A special thanks also goes out to Clementine Gazay and Patrick Hermann for their work in making this piece come to live. #Cybersecurity #AI #SOC #CyberTrends #SecurityInnovation Cc. Christian Beedgen, Kyle Derr, Tom Findling, Alon Yotvat, Mark Kurman, Paul Bleicher, Lucas Masson, Benoît Larroque, Sergej Epp, Renaud Deraison, Imade Elbaraka

Could Enpal’s solar loan-backed bond spark a new era for green investment in Europe? We’re excited to see our portfolio company Enpal launching Europe’s first public bond backed by solar-panel loans last month! This €240 million securitization deal, called Golden Ray 1, will enable investors to support Europe’s renewable energy shift while helping homeowners access affordable solar and home energy solutions. As Europe’s largest residential solar provider, Enpal is paving the way for more sustainable finance models in the region. This bond will not only make renewable energy more accessible but also demonstrate a major step in scaling green finance. Congrats to the Enpal team on this industry-first achievement! Read more in the article by Bloomberg! https://lnkd.in/deFiHz8d  #GreenFinance #RenewableEnergy #Sustainability

We are thrilled to share that our portfolio company Vega just received USD 20 million through their latest Series A investment round. Co-led by Apollo Global Management, Inc. and Motive Partners this funding will support Vega’s mission to transform client services for alternative asset managers. As part of this financing, Apollo Global Management, Inc. has become an enterprise-scale anchor client using Vega’s distribution and client service operating system (“AltOS”) that addresses a critical need in private markets by streamlining processes from product pre-trade, execution, and post-trade client operations, all within one cohesive core engine. This technology is set to reduce the complexity of previously siloed offline processes and boost connectivity between asset managers and their clients, paving the way for more efficient, tech-driven investment solutions. Congrats to Alexis, Alfonso, and the entire Vega team on this achievement! It’s been a pleasure working with you since being Vega’s first investor in 2022. Read more in the article by Bloomberg below.  https://lnkd.in/dTdc4Tud

Exciting news from our portfolio company MoradaUno! They’ve successfully raised their Series A round co-led by Flourish Ventures and COMETA, with support from Clocktower Ventures, Y Combinator, and us. MoradaUno is reshaping the rental market in Latin America by simplifying tenant qualification and equipping real estate brokers with cutting-edge technology. Now active in four Mexican cities, they’re gearing up to expand into additional locations and accelerate their journey. Congratulations to Santiago, Inés, Diego, and the entire MoradaUno team on reaching this milestone! Read more in the following article! https://lnkd.in/eANwUrjk

Welcome back, Lukas! We’re excited to see Lukas returning to join our NYC team as an Investor. Over the past 3.5 years, he developed his strategic skills at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), starting on the firm's Private Equity taskforce, where he deepened his curiosity in Software, GreenTech, and Industrial Automation. Back in the days, Lukas was a professional athlete with the German National Ski Team. During his Bachelor’s studies, he channeled this energy into launching his first company, later joining the founding team at Gronda as Head of Marketing, where he rethought hospitality recruiting. Lukas’ experience includes working for VC funds in San Francisco and Singapore, alongside his studies at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and National University of Singapore. Outside of work, he’s still an avid skier, dedicated photographer, and race bike enthusiast. Here’s to an exciting journey ahead, Lukas!

Picus is now looking for a full-time Analyst/Associate position (0-3 years of work experience) to join our top-tier investment team in Munich! If you're passionate about venture capital, excited about cutting-edge technology trends of our time, and eager to work in a fast-paced & entrepreneurial environment, this could be the perfect opportunity for you to join a firm with the ambition to become a global leader in venture investing throughout the next decade! Furthermore, Picus offers a possible career path to senior roles and even partnership for the most talented individuals. If this sounds interesting, make sure to apply at the link below. We are looking forward to receiving your application! https://lnkd.in/dwj69hky

Very excited to share that Picus Capital has invested in terralayr to build a leading player in energy flexibility. terralayr is offering a unique “energy flexibility-as-a-service” platform, connecting battery asset owners with customers such as renewable energy generators or data centers. To power this platform, terralayr has secured development agreements for over 5 GW, has its first asset operational and several assets in construction. The investment will accelerate the expansion of terralayr's battery storage systems. With its asset virtualization platform, terralayr is introducing a new way of commercializing large-scale battery storage systems to the market. Having identified a gap between the full economic value of battery storage and its conventional business model, terralayr offers “flexibility as a service” through its proprietary cloud-like software platform. Targeting players such as power producers, traders, grid operators and large power consumers such as data centers, terralayr offers flexibility services with durations from 15 minutes to 15 years, allowing customers to gain all the benefits of grid-scale battery storage without the overhead of a physical asset. For grid-scale battery owners, this offers a new way to optimize capacity, generating higher and more stable returns. Read more on terralayr and why we invested in our blog post and in TechCrunch. We are thrilled to continue working with the terralayr team, as well as, our amazing co-investors RIVE Private Investment, Creandum, Earlybird Venture Capital, Norrsken VC Medium: https://lnkd.in/dbQXufQs TechCrunch: https://lnkd.in/dbAWJ4sd

What an incredible evening at our office in NYC during LAVCA Week! 🎉 We had the pleasure of hosting some of the brightest minds and leaders in the VC world focused on Latin America for the second edition of LatAm on the Rocks! Thanks to everyone who made the night a success, especially our co-hosts:  SVB, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Dentons, Miguel Armaza, Andrew Endicott, Miguel Burger-Calderon, Florian Hagenbuch, Izabel Gallera, Rafa de la Guia, Jonathan Whittle, Rafa de Haro, Federico Monsalve Rocha, Begoña Ortiz Ariza, Phillip Trauer, Jeff Weinstein, Matias Barbero, Leon Papu, Daniel Lloreda

We are excited to share that our portfolio company Jam is coming out of stealth today. We led their pre-seed round, investing alongside our friends from 10x Founders and First Momentum Ventures. Jam is building an AI-powered sales training platform that boosts sales performance with role-plays and analytics. Jam finally closes the training gap in sales organizations by onboarding sales reps in no time, enabling managers to provide more training in less time and make training stick with regular practice. We could not be more excited about the vision to build an AI-first operating system for sales enablement. Congrats to Sebastian, Tobias, Clemens and the rest of the team - we are looking forward for the journey ahead!