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About

We are a European early-stage, SME Tech first-cheque writer.

We initially invest EUR 100K to EUR 1M in start-ups at the pre-seed & seed stage that are primarily located in the DACH & UK.

We focus on vertical, embedded and Trifecta solutions (combining marketplaces with SaaS and Payment). We shy away from horizontal stand-alone solutions.

We look for SME Tech industry and category leaders who can sell to enterprise at some point.

Aside of LTV:CAC ratios, we love to see upmarket potential, in other words SME-first startups moving upmarket by selling to enterprises.

Similar companies

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Notion Capital

We invest at an early stage in exceptional SaaS and Cloud founders who are at the point of product market fit and are ready to grow fast and go far. If you have the ambition to lead your category or create a new one, and your product solves critical business issues with signs of real market potential, then we can support your journey. Deep SaaS and Cloud expertise. There’s never been a better time to invest in European SaaS and Cloud. We’re open to investment opportunities of any category, but we specialise in these areas: Cloud Computing The future won't be powered on technologies of the past – and it certainly won't be on-premise. The cloud is more widely used and continues to grow its capability and penetrate deeper layers of the enterprise. Computing Cloud companies provide enabling technologies and help their customers harness opportunities in front of them, often hidden in dense data and fragmented systems scattered across digital and physical locations. They’re often developer-first and product-led. Keywords: Datalakes, OSS, DataOps, MLOps, Dev Tools, API, Virtualisation, Containers, Encryption, Decentralisation, Kubernetes, NoSQL, Search Technologies, Serverless, Headless, Deep Tech, AI Portfolio examples: Element, FiveAI, Forest Admin, Scortex & Wercker. Modern Enterprise Modern enterprises want to innovate and deliver on digital transformation to stay relevant and remain market leaders. This requires continuous innovation to become more agile and efficient. Modern enterprise solutions are a critical layer of operational functionality which deliver better experiences to customers. Keywords: RPA, CX, WFH/WFA, BI, Cyber, Low code/no code, Mobile Portfolio examples: Acin, Apperio, BRYTER, Claimsforce, Dixa, Glofox, HeyJobs, NewVoiceMedia, Panaseer, TestGorilla, Topia, Tradeshift, Triptease, Upvest, Vizolution, Vortexa & Workable Industry OS Business leaders don't have time to waste on complex or dated software. They want to do everything in a single, OS-like solution along with a marketplace of partner apps to further grow and customise functionalities and embed payments. And users of those tools expect the software to be beautiful like their everyday consumer platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Uber. Keywords: Vertical Saas, T-shaped SaaS, Subscription + Payments, Passion Economy, B2B2C, D2C, Disintermediation of commerce Portfolio examples: Adfenix, Avrios, Brightpearl, Easol, Glofox and Mews. Future Finance The financial playing field is evening out as incumbents struggle to innovate and initiatives such as Open Banking and PSD2 enter the scene. We see a new wave of financial services and insurance products emerge to offer great user experiences and a new generation of products. Keywords: Payments, InsurTech, FinTech, DeFi, Open Banking, RegTech, Anti-Fraud, KYC, Compliance Portfolio examples: Currencycloud, Claimsforce, Dealflo, Demyst, Futrli, GoCardless, Paddle, Stable, Upvest and YuLife. Fulfil your potential. We strive to give founders what they need to succeed. We provide a platform of insights, networks and expertise that nurtures leadership, promotes talent and shares knowledge and learnings from across our portfolio to support founders on their extraordinary journeys. Founder-friendly principles. We believe how we behave is as important as what we do. Our team follows a set of guiding principles to keep everyone focused on the destination while having fun on the journey. Have fun, make money: For us there is no point in one without the other. We’re friendly and informal, but driven by a relentless hunger to win. We intend to deliver tremendous returns to our investors but have fun while we’re doing it. Challenge everything: We hold no regard for the status quo. Boundaries are there to be broken. We are open to challenge, and challenge openly, fueled by a belief in a diversity of views and a desire to learn. Do the right thing: We treat everyone the same and aim to show empathy and understanding to all, no matter our differences. We do what we say we will and expect the same in return. (ie Don’t be a dick). Play the long game: We aim to build powerful partnerships, lasting relationships and long term value. We don’t just invest in companies - we invest in people, in relationships and in the overall eco-system for the benefit of all.

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Gemba Capital

Focused on the rising consumption story in India and Indian SaaS companies catering to a global market. CONSUMER TECH Backing tech native businesses for India’s internet users and middle-class. AgriTech EdTech HealthTech SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SAAS) Backing product-led SaaS startups that can reach a global scale. Automation, Collaboration and Intelligence Vertical SaaS SaaS enabled marketplaces FINTECH Backing companies which manage finances in the most tech efficient way Vertical neo banks, lending Embedded Finance, infra APIs Insurtech Alternative investing DEEPTECH Backing companies solving deep engineering problems Artificial Intelligence Robotics / Drones Space tech and Semiconductors OUR APPROACH We invest in people rather than companies. From great entrepreneurs emerge great brands and companies. We are good listeners and that is a trait needed in our profession to grow. We have a non-intrusive approach and we completely believe in the entrepreneurs we have backed. An entrepreneur can think of us more as a resource and a sounding board. WHAT WE LOOK FORWe prefer to invest in mission driven founders who have relevant work experience and domain expertise Significant growth potential over the next 3 to 5 years. We prefer backing founders with at least 4-5 years of prior experience. Differentiated products or services that have strong ‘moats’ built around it. HOW WE INVESTWe invest in pre-seed and seed rounds. We invest ~US$ 250K per startup in the first round and then in follow-on rounds We are open to investing through convertible structures and instruments, however, we prefer straight equity. We generally prefer to co-invest along with other VC funds and micro VC funds In a larger round of fundraising – we co-invest with our select Limited Partners.

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Mosaic

We founded Mosaic as optimists who see technology as a force for good, and believe that the startup ecosystem will positively impact society. Our passion is to partner early with inspiring, ambitious tech founders: renegades who reimagine the world and shape it their way. We also believe in Europe. Breakthrough businesses are starting and scaling here with increasing frequency, powered by unparalleled engineering talent across the region. Our Promise to Founders We are excited to join your journey as an ally. We recognize that venture capital would not exist without entrepreneurs like you, who put everything on the line. We are thrilled when you choose to work with us, and honored to support your dream coming to fruition. As your partner, you can expect the following:‍ Trust: We have faith in you, and commit to supporting the business for the entire journey with intellectual honesty and unbiased counsel. Long term perspective: Success is not built overnight; we are in it for the long haul. Venture capital is a business that rewards patience on all levels.‍ Boutique service:We are a small, highly collaborative team who all pitch in to help across the portfolio. We typically make just 5-10 new investments per year, and every relationship matters. Growth mindset:We are humble, curious, open and straightforward -- having learned from both mistakes and successes. As independent thinkers we often take a different view from the herd. We don’t claim to know everything, and our approach is inquisitive rather than prescriptive. Low friction:We appreciate the value of your time and commit to simple, transparent business and quick turnarounds. Thesis-driven Since the 1990s, we’ve enjoyed a privileged ringside seat alongside hundreds of tech startups in many industries and geographies. Some have been successful, a number super-successful and inevitably, others didn’t work out. From these experiences, we have developed a thesis-driven approach to investing, where we try to imagine how a given market will unfold in the next 5-10 years, and then look for certain horizontal industry and business characteristics. Momentum is nice but we don’t need to see “traction” or baked KPIs to build conviction. There are general characteristics of businesses we like to invest in: Big, addressable markets and/or uncharted whitespace Distinctive product: love, trust, early customer evangelists Business model innovation, i.e. disrupting the value chain A large potential future moat, beyond pure scale and scope. From network effects, technical leadership, or other sources. This helps us derive the consequent gross margins and unit economics Broad customer (and supplier) distribution, i.e. no concentration immediately adjacent in value chain Long tail of independent adopters. Bonus for bottom-up word-of-mouth We invest in ‘whale-hunting’ too, but typically prefer to invest when there is a handful of customers (or highly relevant sector experience amongst the founders) Capital efficiency. After our first cheque, we are aligned with founders/on their side of the table, so funding pays for people, not inventory/asset Thematic Focus We look to back businesses catalyzed by emerging technology that may create a new market from nothing, or else materially disrupt the status quo. The themes we focus on evolve, as successive waves emerge, grow in force, and eventually ebb away. Historically, this led us to operate and invest in a wide range of web and mobile applications including search, social, and digital media. We are comfortable in both B2C and B2B businesses and particularly drawn to marketplace and SaaS/subscription business models. Our track record includes investing in global category leaders such as Alibaba, Etsy, Squarespace and Transferwise. In our current fund, the themes we are focused on include: Machine Intelligence Future of Money Edge Applications Work OS Open Bazaars Human Empowerment We continue to reflect on the impact of the pandemic. We will feel its reverberations not just in public health, but also in almost every aspect of the wider economy, as it impacts jobs and industries in ways that are still unfolding. We believe it also will become an accelerator for many tech trends and sectors, including health, education, and may have a dramatic impact on retail and real estate. In particular, as new work behaviours emerge and opportunities arise, we are deeply curious to understand what forms of value will be created. Our Story Mosaic was founded by Simon and Toby who first met in the U.S. in 1995 at graduate school. We were lucky enough to work in leading Silicon Valley startups at the dawn of the Internet and since then, have collectively amassed over 50 years working in tech, split equally between operating and investing, across the US and Europe (and approaching half of that time working together!) We set out for Mosaic to bring a focused proposition to early stage investing in Europe, providing unique perspective, culture, and founder experience. In the six years since launch, and now we are proud to have created a firm with a strong operating philosophy and values based in trust, intellectual honesty, and integrity, and an amazing group of talented individuals to deliver on our promise to founders.

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Wellington Access Ventures

WAV invests in early-stage companies developing solutions across a broad set of sectors including vertical SaaS, infrastructure, security, payments, embedded fintech, digital health, consumer marketplaces, typically with tech-enabled applications and solutions.

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G Squared

G Squared is a global venture capital fund manager that deploys a differentiated investment strategy to deliver access and exposure to some of the world’s most exciting growth-stage technology companies. We serve as a transitional capital provider to our portfolio companies and leverage structural inefficiency in an endeavor to methodically construct portfolios that offer elite access to value creation in private markets. Founded in 2011, G Squared is aligned to a fundamental shift: venture-backed companies are staying private longer and longer. As a result, those companies need both primary capital to fund their continuing growth and transitional capital to provide liquidity to early investors, current and former employees, and other shareholders. Positioned at the crux of this liquidity access challenge, G Squared invests in primaries and secondaries, and leads and structures employee tenders – partnering with portfolio companies throughout their lifecycles using a fundamentally different approach to traditional VC firms. We invest in companies that are tackling big problems, shaking up industries, and challenging the status quo. G Squared funds have invested in over 150 companies, including household names like Airbnb, Bombas, Bolt, Coursera, Instacart, Lyft, Spotify, Toast, and Turo, as well as companies which we believe to be the next generation of disruptors including airSlate, Anthropic, Brex, Fanatics, Lambda, Monzo, PandaDoc, Tipalti, and Wiz. G Squared is headquartered in Chicago and has offices in San Francisco, Zurich, and Miami.

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BADideas.fund

At BADideas.fund, we aspire to be the kind of investors we wanted when we were building our startups. We invest €50-€250K tickets in early-stage startups from CEE with global ambitions. BADideas.fund is led by experienced entrepreneurs who have walked the startup building path, have raised funds from investors and can help founders navigate around obstacles they encounter along the way. Among BADideas.fund members are founders and operators, who’ve been building such companies as Vimeo ($450M funding), Printify ($54M), Pandadoc ($51M), Pipedrive ($90M), Bolt ($1.3B funding), Apollo.io ($151M), Bird ($783M funding), Shopify ($122M), Whimsical ($30M), Lokalise ($56M), Deel ($679M), Printful ($130M), Twilio ($614M), Veriff ($192.3M), Wise ($1.3B funding). Since the recent launch, BADideas.fund has invested in five startups already, among which: Breezit (Lithuania), Recruitlab (Estonia), Lande (Latvia), Fuel Finance (Ukraine) , Rapidworks (Estonia).