KVA - Kakashi Venture Accelerator
Get in touch
© F. Bottino

Building ventures together

When you work with us, you get a research lab, a proprietary AI stack and an operating team. Tell us where you are.

Open calls↓Seven themed calls, plus the general oneWhat we bring↓Research, product, strategy, AI stackHow it works↓From application to proposal in 2-3 weeks

We invest in the technology of the future, in the sectors that matter most to Europe's economies.

We are looking for early-stage startups in validation or MVP, and pre-scaling startups raising up to €1M (seed rounds up to €700K). We have opened seven themed calls in the sectors where AI is changing how people work. On each one we commit €50,000 to €100,000. We invest in startups based in Europe and the United States. The themed calls belong to the 2026 cohort and are open until 31 December 2026.

Why we are not an incubator

Hands-on

We do not mentor by the hour. From day one, our product, engineering and go-to-market team works on your venture too.

Skin in the game

We put in capital and join the cap table. We only gain if the venture grows.

Tech first

Our team includes AI researchers who publish papers. Our agents already run in production on nine of our products. We build the technology with you. We do not judge it from the outside.

Open

AI for banks and financial institutions

We are looking for AI products that improve the work of people who manage capital, savings and assets.

The call is for banks, asset managers, wealth managers and intermediaries. It covers onboarding and KYC, credit and risk, advisory, compliance, operations and customer service.

Our commitment:

Up to €100,000 invested

What we look for:

  • A product a financial institution can already pilot
  • Compliance and security already in place
  • Founders who know how a bank buys
Read the full call →
Open

AI against fraud and cyber threats

We are looking for AI that defends personal and financial data against fraud, tampering and phishing carried out with AI.

Think of detecting deepfakes, identity theft, tampered documents and transactions, and automated phishing and social engineering. The call is for banks, insurers and any company that handles private data and compliance obligations.

Our commitment:

Up to €100,000 invested

What we look for:

  • A product with AI at the heart of the defence
  • A clear buyer in security, fraud prevention or compliance
Read the full call →
Open

Insurtech AI

We are looking for AI that improves claims handling, underwriting and control in insurance.

The call covers claims intake and settlement, fraud detection, underwriting and pricing, distribution, portfolio control and compliance.

Our commitment:

Up to €75,000 invested

What we look for:

  • A product an insurer, a broker or a loss adjuster can pilot
  • Integrations built for the insurance systems already in place
Read the full call →
Open

Agentic AI for professional services

We are looking for agent-first AI workflows for people who sell expertise and time.

The agents prepare filings, read contracts and accounts, and handle compliance deadlines, quotes and clients. The call is for law and accounting firms, consultants and knowledge companies. It also covers plumbers, installers and other tradespeople.

Our commitment:

Up to €75,000 invested

What we look for:

  • Agent-first: the agent does the work, the professional checks it
  • A clear buyer and hours saved you can measure
Read the full call →
Open

AI for industry and manufacturing

We are looking for AI that improves production, quality, maintenance and supply chain in factories.

The call covers production planning, quality control, predictive maintenance, energy, supply chain and plant know-how. The software and agents must work inside the processes of the people who make things.

Our commitment:

Up to €75,000 invested

What we look for:

  • A use case you can measure on the shop floor: cycle time, scrap, downtime, cost
  • Integration with factory systems: MES, ERP, PLC, sensors
Read the full call →
Open

Physical AI and robotics

We are looking for AI that perceives, decides and acts in the physical world.

The call covers robotics, autonomous systems, computer vision, sensors and edge AI. These are machines that work alongside people in warehouses, building sites, fields and infrastructure.

Our commitment:

Up to €50,000 invested

What we look for:

  • A prototype that has already worked outside the lab
  • A first industrial partner ready for a pilot
Read the full call →
Open

AI agents for autonomous research

We are looking for agents that read the literature, generate hypotheses and design experiments.

The call covers biotech, pharma, life sciences, chemistry and materials. The systems should shorten the research cycle. We already work in this field with MAGELLAN. It is our system for generating scientific hypotheses autonomously.

Our commitment:

Up to €75,000 invested

What we look for:

  • A team that combines scientific domain expertise and AI
  • Data or labs to validate the results on
Read the full call →
Open

General call, always open

Is your sector not among the seven calls? Apply to the general call.

We assess startups in all our sectors of interest. The commitment covers capital and the time of our product, engineering and go-to-market team.

Our commitment:

Up to €60,000 in cash and services

No company yet? Is it just an idea for now?

Then apply to Call4Ideas. You bring the problem and we build the venture together.

Go to Call4Ideas

The capabilities it takes to get an idea to market

Every founder who joins us has access to these six capabilities from day one. They are free. They are part of our investment.

Research

Our team includes AI researchers who publish papers and benchmarks. They help technical teams build proprietary technology that can compete. This raises the value of the company and strengthens AI know-how in the region.

Enterprise-grade product

We work with banks and insurers every day. We help you get your product ready for their compliance, security and data residency requirements. We also run AI sovereignty pipelines. With them your AI runs on open models and European cloud, and the data stays in Europe.

Strategy, finance and investor readiness

You work with our strategists, product owners and investor strategists. They help you sharpen your strategy and lower the risk of failure that comes with every new idea. We also work with you on finance and management control, so that the startup's numbers make sense. Finally, we build the equity strategy with you and prepare you to talk to investors.

Tests with large companies

We advise large companies. When the chance arises, we test our startups' technology with these enterprise clients.

Anthropic Ambassador

We are Anthropic Ambassadors and take part in the Claude for Organizations programme. All our venture builders are Claude-certified. Founders who work with us can get certified too.

Full-stack AI

We partner with the main AI vendors and have good agreements with them. Sometimes we supply the Claude, OpenAI and Grok subscriptions ourselves. Other times we help the startup develop its own open models and AI stack. Through our partners, such as Nebius, AWS and Google Cloud, startups can also buy compute.

The capabilities remain ours. What we build together belongs to your company. We become shareholders in it.

Sectors of interest

These are the sectors we know best. We prefer to invest here.

Fintech and financial services
Insurtech
Cybersecurity
Compliance and RegTech
Professional services
Industry and manufacturing
Physical AI, robotics and safety
Biotech, pharma and autonomous research
B2B software and SaaS
eCommerce and retail
Food & beverage tech
Climate tech and disaster management
Gaming
Media and entertainment

If your startup works in another sector, send it to us anyway. We assess every case. We invest with an ethical approach: we want technology to do good and to leave no one behind.

Investment thesis

These are the traits we prefer to find in a startup. They show us where we can be most useful.

Founders who know the sector

At least one founder knows the sector the startup sells into in depth.

A CEO who understands the technology

The CEO knows the core technology and can discuss it with the technical team.

A problem customers already pay for

Today the customer spends time, people or money on the problem the startup solves.

Revenue or verifiable traction

The startup already has revenue, however small, or customers, users or pilots we can verify.

A model that scales

The business model is clear and can grow without costs growing at the same pace.

AI inside the product

AI is part of the product. It is not a feature added at the end.

A sector we know

The startup works in one of our sectors of interest.

At least nine months of activity

The company was founded after 2020 and has been operating for at least nine months.

Selection process

  1. 1

    You apply

    You fill in the form, choose the call and attach your presentation.

  2. 2

    Screening

    Our team assesses the proposal. We also use our own proprietary software for the analysis. We reply within seven working days.

    See our software →
  3. 3

    We meet

    We meet the founders and talk through the business model, the numbers and the roadmap.

  4. 4

    Proposal and partnership

    We agree together how we will work and on what terms.

On average, two to three weeks pass from application to proposal. Even when the answer is no, we reply to everyone.

Submit your venture

Here is how to prepare your application.

  1. 1

    Choose the call

    Choose the call that fits your startup best: one of the seven themed calls or the general one.

  2. 2

    Add your contact details

    Enter your details and your startup's. We use them to get back to you. You can add your co-founders' details in the message.

  3. 3

    Attach a presentation

    Always attach a presentation as a PDF or HTML file. It should explain the problem, the solution, the market, the team, the traction and the round you are raising. A DocSend or Drive link also works.

  4. 4

    Add supporting documents

    We recommend uploading your financial model and the founders' bios. If you are raising a priced round or a Series A, add the proposed terms. You can upload separate files or a single ZIP.

  5. 5

    Tell us what you want from KVA

    Say in the message whether you are looking for co-creation, acceleration, investment or something else.