Bildnachweis: Tangram Family Office.
The US start-up ecosystem is highly dynamic, with capital and talent increasingly spreading beyond Silicon Valley into new hubs, as investor Konstantin Marquardt explains in this interview. Through the family office Tangram, he focuses on applied AI and deep tech, investing in early-stage funds across the US, Europe and Israel.
VC Magazin: How do you assess the current vitality of the American start-up ecosystem, and which hotspots have emerged alongside Silicon Valley?
Marquardt: The US remains the world’s most vibrant start-up market – and if anything, it’s becoming more interesting as capital spreads beyond the Bay Area. Silicon Valley’s share of US venture deals has hit record lows, with cities like Austin, Boston, and the Research Triangle carving out genuine niches in AI, healthtech, and deeptech. Lower costs, strong university pipelines, and a growing density of experienced founders are making these eco-systems increasingly competitive. For the managers we support, this means there is more scope to find outstanding early-stage opportunities, without having to compete for the same overpriced deals.
VC Magazin: Which tech trends are you particularly betting on, and which sectors do you find most compelling?
Marquardt: AI is the obvious answer, but we try to be precise about where we see lasting value. The infrastructure layer – chips, hyperscalers, foundation models – is crowded. We‘re more interested in applied AI and vertical software, where businesses are being rebuilt with genuine technical moats. Alongside that, deeptech is having a real moment: quantum computing, advanced materials, robotics. Defence and dual-use tech has moved from niche to mainstream. And fintech and healthtech remain part of our core thesis – both sectors in which AI is creating entirely new categories rather than just optimising existing ones.
VC Magazin: How will your third fund be structured, and what types of investors are you targeting?
Marquardt: Fund III follows the same model as our first two funds, launched in 2021 and 2023 – a focused fund-of-funds backing between eight and 15 early-stage venture capital managers, primarily at pre-seed and seed. That range gives us meaningful diversification across sectors and geographies without diluting our ability to build real relationships with each manager. The US remains our primary focus, with selective exposure to Europe and Israel. We target private individuals, entrepreneurial families, and family offices – particularly in the DACH region – who want serious exposure to early-stage venture without the operational complexity of running it themselves.
VC Magazin: What is the strategic rationale behind your geographic focus on the US, Europe, and Israel?
Marquardt: The US is our anchor – it’s where the deepest early-stage ecosystem is, where the best managers operate, and where exits happen. Europe and Israel are deliberate additions we’ve built conviction around over our first two funds. Europe is having a genuine moment in deeptech. AI is leading start-up investment there for the first time, and sectors like defencetech, quantum, and biotech are attracting serious capital. The scientific talent has always been there – what’s changed is that the funding infrastructure is finally catching up. Israel is a different proposition entirely. It punches well above its weight for a country of nine million people and consistently ranks among the top global start-up ecosystems. The military intelligence pipeline produces an unusually high density of technical founders with hands-on experience in cybersecurity, AI, and deeptech. That culture of necessity-driven innovation, combined with strong R&D and close ties to US capital markets, creates a founder quality that’s genuinely difficult to find elsewhere. For us, the right way to access that is through specialist local managers.
VC Magazin: Thank you very much.
About the interviewee:
Konstantin Marquardt is Managing Partner at Tangram Family Office, with a strong focus on venture capital and co-responsibility for the firm’s venture capital fund-of-funds. His work sits at the intersection of private markets and early-stage venture, with particular conviction around US technology, deeptech, and AI. Through Tangram’s fund-of-funds, he provides clients with access to a curated selection of leading early-stage venture capital managers globally, while also advising entrepreneurial families on long-term investment strategies.
