CV VC is a Swiss-based, global early-stage venture capital firm focused on frontier technologies and runs a renowned accelerator for early-stage startups from across the world. Roughly two-thirds of the firm’s investments come through a 10-week programme designed to make companies fundraising-ready for their seed rounds. That level of in-person interaction with founders before any money moves gives Hannemann a close view of where the process breaks down, and he describes the same mistakes appearing across cohorts.
Investors in 2026 want commercial traction and evidence of execution, not growth narratives. Most founders know this. Fewer have worked out how to respond to it.
Investors Want Traction, Not Perfection
Through its investment product suite and long-standing accelerator programs, CV VC empowers qualified investors to gain exposure to founders and innovation across the digital finance, automation and intelligent B2B sectors. CV VC also runs incubator and accelerator program for third parties, such as Cardano and Steller. Earlier this year, it acquired Abu Dhabi-based Elixir Capital, which powers the Digital Assets Programme at Hub71. Hannemann says the same fundraising mistakes often repeat themselves
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Founders are waiting to perfect their product before approaching the market. Investors have already stopped listening.
Hannemann’s most common observation is a working product that has never been in front of a paying customer.
“We have founders updating us on version 27B of their product stack and X new lines of code. The capital wants to know: have you sold something, do you have a pilot, even if it is not perfect?”
The instinct to build to completion before showing the product to anyone is understandable, though almost always counterproductive. Investors at the seed stage are buying evidence that someone outside the founding team will pay for a solution to the problem the company claims to solve. A couple of pilots with paying customers provide that. A product nobody has bought yet does not, regardless of how polished it is.
“Don’t wait until it is perfect with your product and your solution. Try and find a few pilots and get going.”
The fundamental challenge underneath the product problem: most technology founders are not salespeople
Hannemann is precise about why the version problem persists. Building a startup requires both technical skill and the ability to sell, and the combination in one person is uncommon.
“To have the talent to do both is pretty unique.”
It is a structural challenge, and one that most accelerator programmes take longer to address than they should. Founders who spot early that they need a commercial counterpart tend to move faster than those who expect the product to eventually sell itself.
CV VC combines venture capital investing with ecosystem development across hubs in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the UK, South Africa, Germany, the UAE and Portugal. As part of that work, it regularly publishes research benchmarking fundraising trends and investment activity across both the all-sector & frontier technology arena in the regions where it operates.
Its latest African Blockchain Report highlights the Middle East as one of the world’s fastest-growing investment regions. The report found that total venture funding in the region increased by 76.6% to US$12.2 billion, while its share of global blockchain funding rose from 3.1% to 14.9%.
Hannemann’s most pointed observation is that many founders approaching him for capital probably may not need it.
“These days, more than ever before, think about whether you actually need the money or not, or whether you can bootstrap for longer and prove something longer. And frankly, be fully your own boss and independent for longer. If that means it takes half a year longer to ramp up, maybe that is also fine, depending on the market you are in.”
His advice is about timing. Founders who bootstrap longer arrive at investors with more commercial evidence, a clearer sense of what the capital is for, and more control over what terms they will accept.
When founders do raise, he warned against taking capital from whoever is willing to provide it. Easy access to funding, whether from an angel or an early-stage VC, carries its own costs.
“Easy money always comes at a price, where people are either slowing you down, wanting too much, or not being the right partner.”
Don’t go directly to equity investors without first looking at government grants.
Government or other grant programmes are the most commonly skipped step before a raise, Hannemann said. In Europe and the UK, development grants for critical technology infrastructure are substantial and frequently come alongside a pilot with the granting institution. Governments want critical technology built domestically, and grant budgets reflect that.
Start fundraising 12 months before you need the money. Most founders wait until they have six months of runway left.
Founders who begin raising capital when they are already under financial pressure negotiate from a weak position and make compromises they would not otherwise make.
“Don’t wait until you only have six months. If you want to raise in 12 months, start now with the goal to be finished in three to six months, and raise for 18 months of runway after that.”
The runway target matters as much as the timing. Raising for 18 months of operation after close gives a company enough room to hit the milestones a next round will require, without being back in fundraising mode before the current capital is deployed.
“Choose wisely,” he said. “It is a two-way street.”
While much of Hannemann’s advice focuses on how founders should approach raising capital in 2026, he also has a clear view on where the next wave of innovation is emerging.
Looking ahead
Asked where he sees the next major opportunity for founders, Hannemann points to identity and credentialing infrastructure as the sector with the most room to build over the next several years, and his reasoning runs through both AI and digital assets.
“Knowing your data is going to be super relevant, not just in digital finance but across the whole AI overlap,” he said. It is one of the few areas in digital finance where, in his view, the large incumbents have not yet moved to claim the territory.