We are a leading private investor of venture capital in Germany1, listed as one of only a few, therefore, ‘evergreen’ and providing ‘patient capital’.
In the next stage we want to transform us into an open platform for the entire universe of VC investments in Germany.
1Until composition of survey in July 2016, German Startups Group has been the most active private VC since 2012 (Pitchbook European Venture Report 2Q 2016, CB Insights Germany Venture Capital Overview 2015)
The digital revolution causes profound changes. Young technology companies are the driving force for the future growth of employment, tax revenues, individual wealth, and therefore prosperity.
Due to the Internet’s advance into all areas, startups revolutionize products and value creation processes with their innovative strength, thereby reshaping markets and redistributing entrepreneurial wealth.
Our holdings constitute a stage-agnostic cross-section of, in our view, promising German startups – from the seed stage, in which the product is developed, to the early and then growth stage, in which startups already enjoying success undergo high-speed growth.
GROWTH STAGE
Armedangels generates substantial turnovers, is growing strongly, employs over 90 people and is represented in fourteen countries. In 2018, Armedangels was able to achieve a 100 percent ratio in the use of sustainable raw materials. The company has not yet published its recent positive sales performance, which continues to be positive, so we are committed to confidentiality.
Share 2.8%
On Chrono24, more than 10,000 professional dealers and private sellers from over 90 countries offer more than 250,000 watches. With content in 22 languages, the website attracts more than 350,000 visitors every day. Over 2 million users have already downloaded the Chrono24 apps for iOS and Android.
Share 1.2%
After the acquisitions of its competitor foodpanda in December of 2016 and the restaurant logistics provider Foodora in September of 2015, Delivery Hero processes each month, by their own accounts, orders in the double-digit million range on commission over the Internet, with approximately 270,000 restaurants in more than 40 countries connected to its service. The company has over 6,000 employees in different locations around the world with a staff consisting of approximately 1.000 people working from its Berlin headquarters. Delivery Hero is one of the fastest-growing young tech companies according to The Next Web European Tech5 2015 and listed in the Prime Standard segment of Deutsche Börse since 30 July 2017.
Exozet was founded by CEO Frank Zahn. In 2016, Peter Skulimma joined Exozet as Chief Commercial Officer.
Share 50.8%
Share 2.2%
Currently, the Friendsurance principle can be used for personal liability, householders’, legal, and electronics insurances of renowned providers. Insurances closed directly on www.friendsurance.de already include the Friendsurance principle free of charge.
Friendsurance's vision is to make insurances cheaper for everyone. Currently, approximately 90 employees work for this goal at the company's headquarters in Berlin. Friendsurance cooperates with many insurance providers.
Apart from the German Startups Group, e.ventures and the technology investment fund Horizons Ventures of the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing count among the shareholders.
German Startups Group had an indirect share in Fyber by means of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV). The SPVs sold their shares to a company listed on the stock exchange in October 2014.
The company was founded in 2013 by a team of former managing Casacanda employees in Berlin (Casacanda was acquird by Fab.com in 2012). Juniqe already ships, according to the company, to 13 European countries, is growing dynamically, and achieved a double-digit million revenue already in 2015. In August 2015, Juniqe was ranked first on CB Insights' list of "15 High Momentum German Early Stage Startups". The founders appeared on the Forbes list "30 Under 30" in the area retail and e-commerce in January 2016.
Share 1.7%
In July 2013, Mister Spex acquired the Swedish online eyewear shops Lensstore and Loveyewear and the Norwegian online optician Lensit.no. Mister Spex now operates in ten countries and is Europe's leading online optician with a portfolio of around 9.000 frames. The company dispatches up to 15.000 parcels per day from the 2017 newly established Berlin logistics center.
Share 1.3%
Share 0.25%
German Startups Group is invested in reBuy together with well-known investors such as DuMont Venture, Hasso Plattner Ventures as well as Iris Capital and OP Ventures.
Share 2.4%
CEO Erik Podzuweit previously was Co-CEO of Westing and Executive Director at Goldman Sachs. Scalable Capital is an authorised wealth manager by the BaFin and the FCA. The company is winner of the Angel's Choice Award of the Web Summit 2015 and the FintechGermany Award 2016, was awarded the grade "very good" by the finance magazine Euro am Sonntag, won the Innovation Award for the best automatic online wealth management at the Börsentag 2016, and was named the best robo advisor in Germany by Brokervergleich.de. Scalable Capital is the leading robo advisor in Europe with assets under management of more than 200 million euros. Apart from German Startups Group, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Monk’s Hill Ventures, MPGI, and several buiness angels have invested in Scalable Capital.
EQT Ventures, Target Global, Earlybird, and Rheingau Founders count among the co-investors of Service Partner One.
Share 4.8%
Share 1.6%
EARLY STAGE
The team of founders held key roles before. Lea-Sophie Cramer previously was Vice President Asia of both Rocket Internet and Groupon, while Sebastian Pollok was an analyst at e.ventures in San Francisco and an entrepreneur also at Rocket Internet.
German Startups Group invested together with well-known co-investors, such as SevenVentures, TA Ventures, Paua Ventures, Otto Capital, and Cherry Ventures, alongside whom it sold its shares to 7Commerce GmbH, the strategic investment arm of ProSiebenSat.1 Media, in March 2015.
Share 23,4%
CRX Markets won the FintechGermany Award in 2016. Founder and manager Moritz von der Linden and supervisory board member Carlo Kölzer are the founders of the highly successful foreign exchange trading online platform 360T, which was acquired by Deutsche Börse in 2015.
Share 1.9%
eWings was founded in August 2013 by Thilo Hardt, co-founder of Mister Spex and Entrepreneur in Residence of DN Capital London. In August 2015, eWings was ranked among CB Insights' "15 High Momentum German Early Stage Startups". Apart from German Startups Group, DN Capital and Kima Ventures invested in eWings.
Share 1.7%
Pyreg is committed to climate protection and its high-quality machines is not only known for its economical but also its ecological sustainability. A single Pyreg 500 unit – for the production of biochar for instance – effectively sequesters the annual CO2 emissions of up to 500 motor vehicles per year.
Pyreg was nominated in 2016 by the German Institute for Invention for the, according to the institute, oldest innovation award in the world, the Dieselmedaille, as the most sustainable innovation.
German Startups Group has invested in Pyreg along with different holding companies, including Skion GmbH of Quandt heiress Susanne Klatten, and knowledgeable business angels.
Co-investors include Obotritia Capital from Rolf Elgeti, Ventech as well as Immotech ventures from the property developer Marius Marschall von Bieberstein.
Share 1,34%
Wunder is still considered the world's leading urban P2P ridesharing provider, while, over the years, also being able to develop its services into an own platform, which now even has its own operating system, the Wunder Mobility OS. In addition to its former core business, Wunder Mobility now offers complementary products such as Wunder Carpool, Wunder Shuttle or Wunder Fleet which serve as the technology for providers of connected cars, urban mobility solutions such as car parks or shuttles and even ride sharing providers of bicycles and e-scooters. In 2019, Wunder Mobility, in cooperation with the City of Hamburg, launched the first nationwide project for extensive digital documentation, analysis and planning of new mobility services. This exclusive direct connection to the city's traffic and mobility system gives Wunder Mobility a long-term competitive advantage through a more comprehensive data network.
Gunnar Froh, founder and CEO of Wunder, previously was operations manager at Airbnb. German Startups Group is invested in the mobility startup alongside with Partech Ventures, amongst other venture capital providers, as well as a group of renowned business angels.
Share 0.40%
*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.
Christoph Gerlinger has gained over 20 years of management experience in the Internet industry, in which he has founded a number of businesses, experiencing all the accompanying highs and lows. One of the businesses he founded is Frogster Interactive Pictures AG, which he took public and managed as CEO for seven years. Prior to that, he was Head of German operations for Infogrames/Atari and CFO of CDV Software Entertainment, which he took public as well. Christoph was named one of the 50 most interesting founders by the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, was appointed external expert of the discussion group “Digitalisation” and member of the digital commission by the national board of the CDU. The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy has also appointed Christoph as an advisory board member of “Young Digital Economy” in 2020. Christoph is alumnus of Singularity University’s Executive Program class of 2017, holds a graduate degree in Business Administration, and is a qualified banker. Christoph occasionally releases own articles and gives interviews in various publications.
