Jonathan Uthe-Spencker

Germany-based venture capital fund Robin Capital closed its Robin Fund One at 13 million euros (about $13.6 million). #venturecapital #veteranventures

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Three biggest learnings from a fundraising journey. Shared by Rainer Märkle, General Partner at HV Capital at EUVC 1/ Have a time box with a deadline attached. Have a defined horizon & create a clear plan. Have some urgency to get things done at some point. Execute very transparently and reliably. 2/ Stick to your narrative. But don't do it blindly. Tweak it when necessary. Adapt it. Don't let yourself be surprised by major changes. Keep focusing on delivering according to your strategy & plan. 3/ Fundraising is a marathon with many sprints. There are moments when you'll ask yourself - Why do I do this? Is it gonna work out? But don't get too negative during the down phases. Adapting and pivoting is part of our job. As it is for the founder of a company. How about you? What fundraising lessons have you learned? Join the conversation. 🔽 #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupfunding #europe

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Startup Insider has released the German "Investoren-Report 2024," featuring an interview with EQT Ventures. 🇩🇪 Link in comments. What's your top advice for startup founders currently fundraising or aspiring VC investors? Doreen Huber, Partner EQT Ventures: "Stay resilient, cultivate relationships, and prioritize delivering tangible value. Adopt a learning mindset, welcome feedback, and glean insights from setbacks. Furthermore, build a diverse team that both strengthens and challenges your abilities. Remember to prioritize your well-being and stay connected to your purpose, as it will guide you through challenging times."  💪

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Proud to be one of the first believers with Climate Founders in kolum.earth! Carbon pricing like the European Trading System (EU-ETS) and supply chain pressure are in my opinion the two most powerful approaches for decarbonization. Cross boarder adjustment mechanisms (CBAMs) are the link to combine those approaches. The limitations of the EU-ETS are the regional limitation, that just a few industries are involved and the prices are not high enough yet. CBAM solves the first limitation in my opinion entirely, as it includes all suppliers from Non-European countries into the system. This is a huge step und creates pressure in the supply chain. Last year I was looking for a startup working in this field, as I believe it sits in a very important position in the supply chains of carbon heavy industries and can enable many other impactful solutions. Very glad that Helge Wieggrefe and Marius Sprenger decided to join our Climate Founders program and start Kolum. With their speed and know-how they instantly convinced me to be the best team in this space. Let‘s rock this together! Also very happy to work with fantastic investors like Christian Guba, Nicolaus Norden, Anna Alex, Thomas Gottheil, Markus Linder, Andrei Podlesnyi, Christian Peters and many others. https://lnkd.in/gmihdUJ5

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#fundingalert 💼Company: Langdock 💰Funding: $3Million ⚡Round: Seed 👥Investors: General Catalyst and La Famiglia, Y Combinator, Rolf Schroemgens, Hanno Renner, Johannes Reck, Erik Muttersbach Langdock, Maintain complete control on your data while enabling your staff with LLMs. Build personalised assistants, automate whole workflows, and have conversations with your internal experts. The money will be used by the business to grow both its operations and growth initiatives. Under the direction of CEO Lennard Schmidt, Langdock offers a platform with enterprise-grade security, on-premises and cloud-based solutions, and a chat interface that lets coworkers access LLMs from different departments. Tobias Kemkes, Nono Konopka, Niklas Hoelterhoff, Justus Tölle, Thomas Plattner, Karl Richter   Read more - https://lnkd.in/gaHs-B6f To share your startup story write us on - [email protected] #Langdock #security #business #growth #funding #fundingnews #startupnews #news #startuprise

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Zeitgeist is changing and we need to adapt or to encounter. When we started Climate Founders 4.5 years ago, we had a perfect Product Zeitgeist Fit (explained by a16z: https://lnkd.in/ePtBRVD3) in 2018 and 2019 activist groups like Fridays for Future played an important role to make the societies aware that we are in a climate crisis and need to act, with the beginning of the new decade announcement after announcement was made: politics made important changes from regulation to investment programs, more people than usual voted for green politics, the climate crisis got relevant media coverage, thousands of companies world-wide set decarbonization goals, huge asset managers implemented ESG and decarbonization strategies, billionaires pledged for the climate, hundreds of climatetech fund were established, serial entrepreneurs went into climate topics, Covid made many poeple think about contributing to a better world … in general you could feel change to make this decade to what it is in fact, the decisive decade for humanity. Even with beginning of the Russian war, there was a positive thinking that renewables are the solution to solve energy, industry and dependence problems, even climate chrisis deniers called them „freedom energies“. In 2023 we saw some Zeitgeist changes, the climate crisis seemed not to be a main topic anymore, in the media, in the politics, in companies and the society in general. Ambitious politicians understand that the society is not ready to change, some media work heavily against climate politics, companies realize how hard it is to decarbonize and partly drop their goals, asset managers start to drop ESG and decarbonization goals, investors and entrepreneurs look more at AI, politics goes right and populistic. Regarding Climatetech im still very optimistic: The 2018-2022 Zeitgeist helped to build a massive ecosystem, which is still growing. The current Zeitgeist is not in favor for Climatetech, but it will come back for sure, as unfortunately the climate crisis will hit us harder every year and we always had this typical left-right cycles in politics and societies. Due to our expanded activies our dealflow is still growing, but in general we have the impression that less new founders entered the space in the last 12-18 months and also hear from some other VCs that they see less climatetech teams. We take it as a challenge and re-focus on co-founder matching to make it easier to enter the space for founders. Especially scientists and serial entrepreneurs are our target group for our co-founder matching. Take the world’s biggest challenge as your personal opportunity and apply here: https://lnkd.in/egvTQApi

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A milestone worth celebrating! Five years ago, our Index Ventures team launched #NotOptional alongside more than 500 CEOs and founders to improve stock options and conditions for employee ownership at European startups. A lot has changed since we started in 2019: The most celebrated win so far goes to Germany 🇩🇪, one of the biggest economies in the world that used to have one of the worst stock options policy in Europe. Last year, the German Parliament voted to turn their failing policy into one of the best in the world. 10 other countries also updated their stock options legislation: the UK 🇬🇧, Portugal 🇵🇹, France 🇫🇷, Austria 🇦🇹, Czechia 🇨🇿, Spain 🇪🇸, Latvia 🇱🇻, Lithuania 🇱🇹, Greece 🇬🇷, and the Netherlands 🇳🇱. 7 countries now have policies that match or exceed the US: Germany, France, Portugal, the UK, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Only one, Estonia 🇪🇪, already had a policy better than the US in 2019. That includes Europe’s three largest economies and the largest VC hubs. There’s still a long way to go for some countries. Finland 🇫🇮, Switzerland 🇨🇭 and Norway 🇳🇴 have the worst policies, followed by the Netherlands (even with updated legislation already), Belgium 🇧🇪 and Denmark 🇩🇰. These are countries with strong tech credentials where the tech innovation flywheel is being hampered. With the help of European entrepreneurs everywhere, we will keep pushing until every single European country’s options policy is at least as attractive as the US! There is no reason why they can’t be. We are also working on taking it to the next level: standardization at the EU level through a single corporate entity. The “EU Inc.” initiative launched earlier this month and builds on the success of #NotOptional at Andreas Klinger European Accelerationism. Thankfully, the challenges European startups face are more in the spotlight than ever because of Mario Draghi’s report to the European Commission in September, which emphasized that innovative startups should have the opportunity to adopt a new EU-wide legal statute. Already, the European Commission has established a Stock Options Working Group, the European Securities and Markets Authority has urged the Commission to consider a dedicated EU-wide framework for ESOPs, and commission president Ursula von der Leyen appointed the first-ever commissioner for startups. Every improvement makes it easier for startups to attract and retain talent and makes it more likely that the next tech giant will come out of Europe. To everyone involved in this fight, congratulations on five years of progress. Now let’s keep going!

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Attention NRW Tech Startups! 🌟 Want to know what it takes to get the attention of top VCs? Dive into the latest insights from industry giants like Realyze Ventures, coparion, Cusp Capital, Simon Capital , and neoteq ventures. Discover the key ingredients they're looking for in the vibrant NRW startup ecosystem in our latest "One question - five answers" VC edition. These investment experts reveal the unique criteria they consider when evaluating tech startups in our region. From the importance of local talent to embracing the Mittelstand ethos, this is your chance to get an inside look of what makes a NRW startup stand out to investors. Find out what specific criteria they look for when evaluating a NRW tech startup. Kai Panitzki, Realyze Ventures: “When it comes to location, we're open-minded. However, we are very happy to invest in startups from the region and have good experience with investments from local university and research institutions. We also definitely have something in common, if you are a fan of carnival.” Tom Hackenberg, coparion: “NRW offers a unique environment with some of the best universities, medium-sized family businesses and talent we have in Europe. A startup's ability to leverage this environment and collaborate with stakeholders in this ecosystem can be one of its greatest assets. Jan Sessenhausen, Cusp Capital: We invest in companies all over Europe, however, our home turf NRW holds a very special place in our hearts. Therefore, we’re eager to contribute to and further develop the local ecosystem. Jan Leicht, Simon Capital : "As a fund based in NRW, one of the Germany’s key industrial heartlands, we appreciate the region's robust ecosystem and its broad German Mittelstand heritage. When assessing NRW-based startups, we look for their ability to cater, serve and leverage these regional resources by tapping into local talent pools and forging meaningful relationships with the Mittelstand to the benefit of all parties." B.J. Park, neoteq ventures: “Location is not the most important factor for the success of a startup. Nevertheless, there are many good general conditions for young technology companies in NRW.” Stay tuned for more and don’t miss out, when we announce our TOP 24 in 2024 tomorrow. **The OOTB.NRW award was initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Industrie, Klimaschutz und Energie des Landes NRW MWIKE) and is proudly hosted by Founders Foundation gGmbH .**  #outoftheboxnrw #whatvcssay #ootbgoeshinterland

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Thank you, ZyCrypto and Krypto News Deutschland, for including us in your recent list of "10 Fast-Rising Crypto VCs Shaping the World of Web3" together with our esteemed VC colleagues from all around the world. And yes, "it does take a village to raise a startup" but nothing beats working with obsessed founders on a mission! Recall, Trever, River Platform Company, OpenQ, KINO https://lnkd.in/en3SvQ5t #blockchainfounderscapital #zycrypto #venturecapital #blockchain #crypto #startups

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Capmont Technology raises €100m fund to back early-stage B2B startups in Europe and the US Munich-based VC Capmont Technology has closed its first fund of €100m, to back B2B tech startups across Europe and the US. But the firm, previously known as DI Technology, isn’t a total newbie. Founded in 2016, the VC has already been making investments on a deal-by-deal basis into startups working in enterprise SaaS and industrial tech — in fields including robotics, industrial automation, manufacturing, IoT and supply chain and procurement. Its portfolio includes Konux, which optimises railway operations using AI, and ProGlove, an industrial IoT firm acquired by private equity investor Nordic Capital in 2022 for an undisclosed amount. The fresh €100m brings the total raised by the firm since its founding to €300m.  Fund strategy Capmont Technology invests in late seed stage to Series B startups that have proven traction and customer demand. With the new fund, it will write cheques of between €2-5m into 15-16 startups. It plans to reserve 40% of the €100m for follow-ons — however, it has “additional soft commitments from LPs” which allows the fund to make co-investments in addition to those from the fund, especially at the later stages, says Dr Torsten Kreindl, managing partner at Capmont Technology. The firm has already made seven investments from the new fund including Celus, a design platform offering solutions for electronic designers and component suppliers, and Arch Systems, an industry-4.0 machine data and AI platform for electronics and discrete manufacturers. Kreindl says that the firm is keen to back more companies using AI to improve industrial processes, saying that Europe is a good place to build these companies “due to its substantial industrial-related customer base”. LPs in the new fund include institutional investors, family offices and ultra high net worth individuals, such as entrepreneurs and C-level executives at enterprises in the DACH region, which Capmont declined to name. #economy #Bangladesh #World #economic #US #Bank #startup #UK #growing #investment #USA #investors #Europe #WorldBank #business #News #fund

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Great to see what Jan Thomas and his team at Startup Insider did with the new Investors Report 2024 for the DACH region! Anyone who wants to learn more about the German #venturecapital ecosystem and its investors, go get the report: https://lnkd.in/ehiVqmX6

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Germany’s venture market saw a rebound in Q3, with deal value reaching its highest peak in two years. Private equity, on the other hand, saw the reverse as value almost halved from Q2, according to PitchBook’s Q3 2024 Germany Market Snapshot. Growth for the country’s economy overall has been weak this year in terms of GDP, but Q3 did see an uptick. Germany’s main index, the DAX 40, beat both the FTSE 100 and CAC 40 YTD, with the financials segment seeing strong performance.

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After closing a Series A funding round, companies enter a pivotal phase where the right approaches significantly influence their journey toward Series B. In brutkasten, Jan Lozek and I recently shed light on the critical strategies companies should adopt after securing Series A funding. 👉🏻 Here are the more top priorities companies should focus on post-fundraise: 📈 Optimize cash flow:  Investors are particularly interested in startups that efficiently manage their cash flow, maximizing growth and revenue while keeping expenses in check. 💰 Show them the money: Show investors how exactly you are making money: real customers, real sales, economies of scale. In other words, show you have a plan and that the plan is working. To outline flexible sales models, and exchange various key parameters, will also be a win. 🚀 Partner up, big time: Leverage your existing networks instead of spending more capital. Corporates can be great partners at this stage and could vouch for your startup. Be it for accessing a market or for increasing your sales, it always pays off to have the right partners. What additional tips would you add for companies navigating this crucial transition? 💡 #SeriesA #Funding #StartupGrowth

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Honoured to be featured in the latest Tech Funding News article discussing Germany’s role as a leading tech hub. 🚀 I’m also proud to see standout companies from the Earlybird Venture Capital portfolio—N26, Marvel Fusion, Isar Aerospace, and others—highlighted alongside my alma mater, Technical University of Munich, which is another key driver of innovation in the country. While Germany is often dubbed the ‘Silicon Valley of Europe,’ there’s still much to do, such as overcoming regulatory challenges and channeling more growth funding into promising startups. My advice for those navigating the Central European startup landscape: Leverage government-backed funding, connect with business angels, and build relationships with established companies. Do not wait to build a global network early on. Together we can strengthen this ecosystem so that one day it can truly live up to its nickname. Read more by Sofia Chesnokova here: https://bit.ly/404yyXr Cc: Dr. Hendrik Brandis, Paula Wehmeyer, Mario Kohle, Filip Lukac, Benjamin Berényi, Elisheva Marcus #Innovation #DeepTech #VentureCapital #GermanyTech

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Munich, Germany based VC Vsquared Ventures recently closed its latest early-stage #deeptech fund. 💸 €214 million for Vsquared II, with backing from Novo Holdings, Lombard Odier Investment Managers, NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), European Investment Fund (EIF), KfW Capital, Lingotto, among others. 💡 The fund targets six generational growth themes: #artificialintelligence & next-gen software, #energytransition, new computing and sensing, new space, #robotics and manufacturing and tech-bio. 🌍#Europe 📈 Vsquared manages around €450M in assets. The VC has invested in 30+ start-ups incl. NEURA Robotics, cylib, Quantune Technologies GmbH, Atrandi Biosciences, Dynelectro, Lace Lithography, constellr, among others. 💭 “... we remain dedicated to leveraging not only capital, but also our expertise, extensive partner and network for our founders, with the goal in mind to prove that the next global deep tech leaders can and will be European.” - Vsquared’s GPs 💭 “We believe Vsquared is one of the funds in Europe with the best understanding of deep tech startups, proven by the track record in investing early in some of the current frontrunners in the ecosystem.” - Sören Thinggard Jensen, Senior Partner and Head of Private Equity at Novo Holdings, 🗞️ EU-Startups https://lnkd.in/eUPjJ7e5 👏 For the #AudaciousInvestors unleashing innovation and empowering tomorrow🚀 Lise I Thomas I Herbert I Benedikt I Michael I Patrick I Gina I Jakob I Patrick I Maria I Team Vsquared Ventures … #venturecapital #vc #funds #startups #entrepreneurs #funding #tech #ai #entrepreneurship #technology #innovation #Munich #Germany #venture

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It was a great honor to record this week's Startup Insider podcast together with Dirk Sahlmer. 🚀 🚀 🚀 Dirk is a former intern at our TS Ventures and is now Head of Deal Origination at saas.group. Moreover, he has become one of the most recognized voices on LinkedIn when it comes to SaaS M&A and VC (bashing?), which often leads to - shall I say - inspiring conversations. We talked about bootstrapping vs. hypergrowth in the podcast, about the discrepancy between M&A valuations and the valuations of VC rounds and about the chances of success of startups in the parking sector... 😉 It's impressive what someone who has had nothing to do with the startup scene up to that point can build up in 5 years. Have fun with this podcast episode. Link to the episode as always in the comments. I have also linked Dirk's LinkedIn post, as it contains exciting figures on the SaaS and M&A market. Dirk, keep rocking! Here's to many more podcasts! #saas #ai #startup #vc #venturecapital #businessangel #funding #bootstrapping #exit #podcast #parking

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I'm speaking at SuperVenture 2024 on the 5th of June in Berlin. The topic of the panel is emerging VC managers: time to shine or out of their depth? Are LPs fleeing to established names and those that cut their teeth during previous cycles? Or is now the time for emerging managers to bring something different to the table? Is volatility leading to true innovation and disruption? We’re on track to see approximately 44% of the total LP capital committed to US VC funds since the start of the year go to just two large established VC platforms, according to PitchBook data. While many established VCs maintain their allure, there is a subset of LPs who are making a deliberate choice to increase their allocations to specialist emerging VC managers - managers who have spun out from established funds and have an attributable track record, founders with deep operational experience turned funders or academics with deep domain expertise. There is non-trivial added complexity when it comes to emerging VC selection – given the large number of funds needed to be screened and the more complicated referencing and DD process. Data highlights how important it is for GPs to identify & back ‘big winners’ early on to drive fund returns. Typically, ~5% of invested capital in a few winners drives most of the return (>50%). The VC model is built around investing in early-stage companies each with the potential to more than return the whole fund. Who has the right to win? Who will the best founders (and LPs) decide to partner with? #SuperVenture #VC SuperReturn

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☀️ Summer Update: Freshly announced VC funds - €4bn+ since April! ☀️ The VC market is back, great time to build great companies in Europe! 🚀 Due to PitchBook, "The venture capital market (globally) has already bottomed out, with signs that a gradual rebound is underway." (https://lnkd.in/e7G6cQEH) "The venture industry is more active than any time pre-2021. Q2 venture capital investment in Europe is up 14% on Q1, and 12% year on year, and European startups raised $15.6B in Q2 2024." Dealroom.co (https://lnkd.in/egYHgkNg) Here are a bunch of fresh funds: <100m Funds: 💰 Carbon Equity 🇳🇱 - €60m (https://lnkd.in/e6trwJup) 💰 BlackWood 🇩🇰 - €15m (https://lnkd.in/ed__M4Np) 💰 Italian Founders Fund 🇮🇹 - €50m (https://lnkd.in/ehfZpuF8) 💰 Kfund 🇪🇸 - €70m (https://lnkd.in/eWVGi-xE) 💰 Dreamcraft Ventures 🇩🇰 - €66m (https://lnkd.in/eYaRm7WT) 💰 identity.vc I Backing LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurs 🇩🇪 - €15m (https://lnkd.in/eKTSVPXa) 💰 Openseed VC 🇬🇧 - €9m (https://lnkd.in/e_hPphrY) 💰 Pitchdrive | Early-stage VC 🚀 🇳🇱 - €40m (https://lnkd.in/e6r49mMz) 💰 14Peaks Capital 🇨🇭 - €28m (https://lnkd.in/eBSjW-cw) 💰 Elevator Ventures 🇦🇹 - €70m (https://lnkd.in/eahGkeXM) 💰 BOOOM💥🇩🇪 - €17m (https://lnkd.in/eJqWt2MH) >100m Funds: 💰 13books Capital 🇬🇧 - ￡121 (https://lnkd.in/eXhaydg9) 💰 MiddleGame Ventures 🇱🇺 - €150m (https://lnkd.in/eGd69gSx) 💰 Wind 🇫🇷 - €130m (https://lnkd.in/eeaNHZJm) 💰 Vsquared Ventures 🇩🇪 - €214m (https://lnkd.in/eNFj9rGf) 💰 Suma Capital 🇪🇸 - €125m (https://lnkd.in/efk7QJGk) 💰 Creandum 🇸🇪 - €500m (https://lnkd.in/e7ztHAU9) 💰 ETF Partners 🇬🇧 - €285m (https://lnkd.in/eKPdGPkJ) 💰 Norrsken VC 🇸🇪 - €320m (https://lnkd.in/ewxTh7zD) 💰 Alpine Space Ventures 🇩🇪 - €170m (https://lnkd.in/e3SQQwwf) 💰 Accel 🇬🇧 - €600m (https://lnkd.in/eYewqRqj) 💰 imec.xpand 🇧🇪 - €300m (https://lnkd.in/e-S-TyhW) 💰 Lakestar Early+Growth 🇨🇭- €560m (https://lnkd.in/e_SeFicE) 💰 Armira Growth 🇩🇪 - €200m (https://lnkd.in/efVRktgx) 💰 Index Ventures 🇬🇧 - $2.3bn (https://lnkd.in/eVzF5ncE) Forgot one? Feel free to comment! 👇 Link to Dealroom.co's Q2 Report: https://lnkd.in/eAVxFHGx

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The European VC fundraising scene is showing a clear trend: experience matters. Let's unpack some data on this from The State of European Fundraising Report. 1/ Why track record matters. In a cautious market, LPs (investors) are prioritizing established funds with a proven history of success. Experienced firms captured 54.5% of the capital raised in 2023. 2/ New opportunities for LPs. This market shift presents a golden opportunity for LPs to build relationships with top-tier VC firms. Firms they might not have accessed before. 3/ Focus on creating value. Investors are seeking firms that prioritize building real value, not just hype. This is a great long-term trend for the industry. If you are en emerging fund manager, the time to build a strong reputation and track record is now. Focus on building a compelling value proposition and demonstrating a clear path to success to attract investors. Learn how to navigate the effects of the #TechReset. Get insights from The State of European Fundraising Report. ➡️ buff.ly/4aYglgi Delivered to you by EUVC | Isomer Capital | Floww. #EUVC #fundraising #venturecapital #industryreport

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