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German Startups Group VC

KNOW-HOW & NETWORK

WITH OUR EXPERIENCE FROM SEVERAL COMPANY FOUNDATIONS, NUMEROUS ACHIEVEMENTS IN BUILDING UP COMPANIES AND THE CORRESPONDING FINANCING PROCESSES, VARIOUS EXITS AND THREE SUCCESSFUL IPOS, WE GIVE “OUR” ENTREPRENEURS ACCESS TO OUR LONG-STANDING KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, AND CONTACTS.

German Startups Group VC

VENTURE CAPITAL

WE ALLOCATE VENTURE CAPITAL OF 100,000 TO 3 MILLION EUROS IN DIFFERENT STEPS FOR TALENTED FOUNDERS WITH INNOVATIVE IDEAS AND SCALABLE BUSINESS MODELS. UNLIKE MANY VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDS, WE ARE AN EVERGREEN HOLDING COMPANY AND HAVE MUCH HIGHER FLEXIBILITY TO ACT.

German Startups Group VC

OUR MISSION

GERMAN STARTUPS GROUP BUILDS A BRIDGE BETWEEN STARTUPS AND CAPITAL MARKET INVESTORS AIMING TO PROVIDE THE MOST SKILLED AND TALENTED GERMAN ENTREPRENEURS WITH MORE GROWTH CAPITAL AND TO GIVE OUR SHAREHOLDERS ACCESS TO THE HIGH RETURN POTENTIAL OF ‘STARTUPS MADE IN GERMANY’.

German Startups Group VC

DEALFLOW & ANALYSIS

TIGHTLY ENMESHED WITH THE GERMAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM, WE HAVE ACCESS TO INTERESTING BUSINESS IDEAS AND ATTRACTIVE STARTUPS ALREADY IN EXISTENCE, WHICH WE SELECT BASED ON THEIR DISRUPTIVE POTENTIAL, THEIR SCALABILITY, THEIR ENTREPRENEURIAL TALENT, AND THEIR MARKET SUCCESS AND POSITION.

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Our Holdings

German Startups Group VC's holdings of particular significance*

GROWTH STAGE

    • Armedangels - Sustainable Fashion E-Commerce

      Armedangels - Sustainable Fashion E-Commerce

    • AuctionTech - Online livestream technology for auctions

      AuctionTech - Online livestream technology for auctions

    • Chrono24 - The world's leading online market for luxury watches

      Chrono24 - The world's leading online market for luxury watches

    • Delivery Hero – Online Food Delivery Service

      Delivery Hero – Online Food Delivery Service

    • Fiagon - MedTech for ENT Navigation

      Fiagon - MedTech for ENT Navigation

    • Friendsurance – Insurance FinTech

      Friendsurance – Insurance FinTech

    • Fyber - Mobile Advertising Monetization Strategies

      Fyber - Mobile Advertising Monetization Strategies

    • Juniqe - Online Shop for Art, Apparel, and Accessories

      Juniqe - Online Shop for Art, Apparel, and Accessories

    • Mister Spex – Brand Glasses Online

      Mister Spex – Brand Glasses Online

    • Onefootball - Largest online football platform

      Onefootball - Largest online football platform

    • reBuy – The Easy Buy and Sell Platform

      reBuy – The Easy Buy and Sell Platform

    • Remerge - App Retargeting

      Remerge - App Retargeting

    • Scalable Capital - Asset Management Technology

      Scalable Capital - Asset Management Technology

    • Simplesurance – One-Click Online Insurance for Purchases

      Simplesurance – One-Click Online Insurance for Purchases

    • SoundCloud - Social sound platform

      SoundCloud - Social sound platform

    • Wunder Mobility – Mobility technology service provider

      Wunder Mobility – Mobility technology service provider

EARLY STAGE

    • Amorelie - Sensual E-Commerce

      Amorelie - Sensual E-Commerce

    • CRX Markets - Supply chain finance platform

      CRX Markets - Supply chain finance platform

    • Software Solutions for review management

      Software Solutions for review management

    • eWings.com – Platform for Flight Bookings

      eWings.com – Platform for Flight Bookings

    • Finiata - FinTech for Factoring

      Finiata - FinTech for Factoring

    • Pyreg - GreenTec for Carbonisation Machinery

      Pyreg - GreenTec for Carbonisation Machinery

    • realbest - online transaction platform for real estate

      realbest - online transaction platform for real estate

  • Thinksurance - Commercial Insurance Platform

    Thinksurance - Commercial Insurance Platform

*Operationally active companies only (i.e. without special purpose vehicles). We publish investments and hence the shares of companies that are in our portfolio at our sole discretion, if and when the time is thought best by the portfolio company itself and by us. Thus, the following list raises no claim to completeness.

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WHAT WE OFFER


In the first step, we usually invest around 100,000 Euros in the seed stage, and up to 500,000 euros in the early stage, nearly always with other co-investors. Our investments in more mature startups in the growth stage typically range from 500,000 to 2 million euros per financing round. Additionally, we are one of the few market players that also acquires ‘secondary shares’ of more mature startups from founders, business angels, and other early stage investors.


The executive team of German Startups Group consists of an entrepreneur who has experienced the relationship between founders and investors from both perspectives and believes in the necessity of strong, self-dependent, and highly incentivised entrepreneurial teams. Our structure as an operative holding company enables us to act much more flexible and with a more long-term oriented perspective compared to VC funds. For example, our investment decisions are not limited by fund periods, short investment timeframes, prohibition of majority stakes, constraints on ‘primary shares’, or specifically set investment guidelines. Our startups benefit in several respects.


With our experience from several company foundations, numerous achievements in building up companies, the structuring of countless funding rounds, various exits of our own, and one successful IPO as well as two additional ones of our CEO’s former companies, we take an active part in increasing the shareholder value of the companies we invest in. Through our majority stake in the digital agency Exozet, we offer our portfolio companies access to an extensive range of services – from the realisation of complex web, iOS, and Android applications through the development of online marketing campaigns, strategic consulting on brand development, modifying business models, and selecting technology up to blockchain applications and ICO’s. In addition to venture capital, young entrepreneurs can access the theoretical and practical knowledge, wealth of entrepreneurial experience and long-standing contacts that are based on the mutual trust of the team of German Startups Group.

ENTREPRENEURIAL PARTNERSHIP

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PITCH US YOUR IDEA

ARE YOU A PASSIONATE ENTREPRENEUR WITH A HIGHLY SCALABLE, DISRUPTIVE IDEA? CONVINCE US WITH YOUR PITCH!

Contact us pitch@german-startups.com
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WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

THINK BIG

We are looking for talented entrepreneurs with knowledge, courage, and passion, who create a highly scalable company based on a disruptive product or business model. Traction or revenues that are already verifiable are a plus. We also acquire secondary shares of the founders, business angels, and other early investors of more mature companies.

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Our Entrepreneurs

GUNNAR FROH
GUNNAR FROH

GUNNAR FROH
FOUNDER WUNDER MOBILITY

GUNNAR FROH<br /> FOUNDER WUNDER MOBILITY
Gunnar Froh is the founder and CEO at Wunder Mobility Europe’s fastest-growing mobility technology company. Founded in 2014, the company is providing turn-key solutions that enable companies and cities worldwide to provide clean, convenient, and accessible mobility. Gunnar previously worked at Airbnb, where he played a leading role in its international expansion until the end of 2013. Airbnb acquired Accoleo in 2011, a residential marketplace he founded in 2009. Prior to this, Gunnar gained experience as a consultant at McKinsey and founded the non-profit car-sharing organization CampusCar. “Wunder Mobility has benefitted from German Startups Group's support — from seed-funding to today — as we have grown into the global leader in SaaS for new mobility.”
LEA LANGE
LEA LANGE

LEA LANGE
FOUNDER JUNIQE

LEA LANGE<br /> FOUNDER JUNIQE
Lea Lange could not have founded a startup that suits her better since the online shop for affordable art, apparel, and accessories combines three of her strengths: her economic know-how, the experiences she had already gained in this market segment, and, last but not least, her enthusiasm for art and design. She acquired her management and sales expertise during her studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the University of St. Gallen, and the ESADE Business School in Barcelona as well as at the consulting firms Ernst & Young and Roland Berger. Subsequently, at the age of only 24, she was presented with the opportunity to combine her entrepreneurial knowledge with her love for art, and, to top it off, gain valuable experience in the strategic planning of a design e-commerce store: She was appointed Executive Director Strategy & Analytics for the European business of FAB. There Lea Lange discovered that art prints enjoy great popularity with customers; yet require little logistics expenditures and therefore offer high margins. Based on these insights she founded Juniqe, the online shop for affordable art, along with Marc Pohl and Sebastian Hasebrink, which has already expanded into several countries shortly after its foundation.
DIRK GRABER
DIRK GRABER

DIRK GRABER
CEO MISTER SPEX

DIRK GRABER<br /> CEO MISTER SPEX
Dirk Graber knew early on that entrepreneurship would be his calling. During his studies of business administration, which he conducted in Marbug, Leipzig, Moscow, and Hong Kong, he completed internships at eBay and Jamba – still emerging startups at the time. The energetic spirit of the young companies made him take the decision to one day found his own startup. After Dirk Graber had gained further experience as business consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, in 2007 he decided on founding an online optician called Mister Spex. Even though he wears glasses himself, his choice had purely economic reasons: Roughly half of all Germans wear glasses. They are sold at high average prices, and correspondingly at high margins, and require comparably low storage costs. Additionally, online sales presented the possibility of breaking down the extreme price intransparency of the established opticians. The success has proved him right. In its tenth year after its foundation, Mister Spex is the leading online optician in Europe and already active in ten countries, according to their own records.
FRANK ZAHN
FRANK ZAHN

FRANK ZAHN
CEO EXOZET

FRANK ZAHN<br /> CEO EXOZET
Frank Zahn represents the SMEs among the founders. He laid the foundation for his Internet agency Exozet some 18 years ago – before the word “startup” even meant something in Germany. Since then, he has turned his agency for “Creative Technologies” into one of the market leaders in the online, media, and entertainment sector and employs approximately 140 staff. His advice is also coveted by representatives of politics and business, amongst others as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry committee “Digital Economy” and as member of the advisory board of the Investitionsbank and the Berlin Cross Innovation Advisory Board of the Berlin Senate. Not only is he one of the pioneers within the German startup landscape, with Exozet as the first tenant after the reopening, he is also a pioneer of the Berlin Tempelhof Airport. “We have waited for a long time to include an investor, but German Startups Group has convinced us with their entrepreneurial verve.”
LEA-SOPHIE CRAMER
LEA-SOPHIE CRAMER

LEA-SOPHIE CRAMER
CEO AMORELIE

LEA-SOPHIE CRAMER<br /> CEO AMORELIE
Typical for high-potential founders of the digital economy, Lea-Sophie Cramer held several key roles before she took the calculated path towards her own startup. After completing her business studies in Mannheim and her study visit in Japan, she was lured away from the Boston Consulting Group to the incubation giant Rocket Internet, where she was quickly named Vice President for Asia. Subsequently, she shared the responsibility for 1,200 employees in 11 different countries across Asia in a similar role for the discount platform Groupon – at this stage, she was 24. After meticulous analysis of the German e-commerce market, she saw a gap that would garner her buoyant interest from the press: an online lifestyle shop for sensual sex products. She founded the shop at the end of 2012 under the name of Amorelie together with her co-founder Sebastian Pollock. Following strong growth and an extensive TV campaign of the e-commerce company, Lea-Sophie Cramer received the Victress Award as a “female role model in Germany who possesses convincing business ideas and strong vision” and, in addition, has been appointed to the board of administration and advisory board of Conrad Electronics at the beginning of 2014. “Just as cars need fuel, founders need the right investors in order to move forward with the right combination!”
JAN THIEL
JAN THIEL

JAN THIEL
CEO AUCTIONTECH

JAN THIEL<br /> CEO AUCTIONTECH
The founder and CEO of our portfolio company AuctionTech, Jan Thiel, is a real cosmopolitan, not only in his private life. After graduating from high school, he moved to France, England and Spain, where he completed his Masters in Management (ESCP-EAP) and afterwards his MBA (INSEAD). Meanwhile, after various positions as a Business Development Manager at the international mobile phone provider Orange and after 9 years as a Strategy Consultant at McKinsey in London, Jan speaks five languages and has travelled to over 60 different countries. In 2012, this path finally led him to Auctionata, the world’s largest online auction house for art and luxury goods, which he co-founded and managed for five years, where he was instrumental involved in international expansion and building up global partnerships. When the Auctionata Group had to be wound up due to a failed takeover of an US competitor, Jan saw this unfortunate situation as an opportunity to lift Auctionata's unique technical legacy and rebuild it together with its former core team in a new start-up as a pure software provider. With the help of German Startups Group, which bought the technology IP out of the Auctionata insolvency estate, Jan and his team succeeded in founding today's AuctionTech, successfully expanding the former core product of Auctionatas to other segments such as real estate auctions. “When it came to the point of founding a second start-up together with an investor, German Startups Group was at the top of the list! Above all, the entrepreneurial spirit, the outstanding network and the unrestricted and pragmatic support are what distinguish German Startups Group and its team.”

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Our Partners

    • BVK
    • Deutsche Börse Venture Network
    • Deutschland Stipendium
    • German Startups Association

  • ITSA
  • GDACS


  • Andreessen Horowitz
  • Birchmere Ventures
  • Blumberg Capital
  • Capnamic Ventures
  • DN Capital
  • Earlybird
  • Global Founders Capital
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Hasso Plattner Ventures
  • Horizons Ventures
  • Index Ventures
  • Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
  • La Famiglia
  • Piton Capital
  • Point Nine Capital
  • Rakuten
  • Target Partners
  • Thrive Capital
  • Union Square Ventures