The Fund / 01
Backing the important thing everyone else is ignoring.
Off Piste is where the groomed trail ends. We find uncommon ground, backing exceptional founders building breakthrough companies — in artificial intelligence, space infrastructure, defence, and cryptographic proof — before the rest of the market looks their way.
Fund I held its first close in April 2026: a ~€25M-target early-stage vehicle, run by a solo GP, writing ~$2M checks and leading rounds from pre-seed through Series A.
- Vehicle
- Off Piste Fund I
- First close
- April 2026
- Target
- ~€25M ($30M)
- Structure
- Solo GP
- Stage
- Pre-seed → Series A
- Typical check
- ~$2M · Leads
- Base
- Norway
Portfolio / 02
Four routes, no piste.
More to be announced /26
Full portfolio →
01/ Objection — Artificial Intelligence
The AI tribunal of truth.
Visit objection.ai ↗
02/ Beyond Reach Labs — Space Infrastructure
Deployable structures for space infrastructure.
Visit beyondreachlabs.io ↗
03/ Octet — Cryptographic Proof
Cryptographic proof of physical presence.
Visit octetproof.com ↗
04/ Stendr — Defence
AI-native hardware and software for the modern battlefield.
Visit stendr.com ↗The General Partner / 03
A decade off the groomed trail.
Max Samuel spent close to a decade inside Peter Thiel’s private investment office, Thiel Capital, after starting out in investment banking at Credit Suisse and as a technology attorney at Wilson Sonsini. In 2020 he moved to Norway, spending five years as a General Partner at SNÖ Ventures investing across the Nordics and Europe — while keeping the US relationships that define his edge.
In April 2026 he struck out on his own. Off Piste bridges the two worlds: deal flow sourced from the networks he spent a decade inside, carried to founders the Bay Area hasn’t met yet.
PayPal Mafia / Thiel Fellowship / Founders Fund / SpaceX / Palantir / Anduril → Nordic & European founders
News / 04
Signals from off the trail.
29·04·26EU-Startups Former Thiel Capital investor launches Off Piste Capital as Solo GP with €25 million early-stage fund ↗ 17·04·26TechCrunch Objection raises seed round from Peter Thiel, Balaji Srinivasan and Off Piste to build the AI tribunal of truth ↗ 16·04·26Stendr Stendr raises $5.4M to build the Nordics’ next defence prime ↗ 15·04·26Y Combinator Beyond Reach Labs launches on Y Combinator: solar panels in space the size of football fields ↗ Full press index →Contact / 05
Off the
groomed trail.
Building something important where nobody else is looking? We’d like to hear from you.