aws Gründerfonds

Gründerfonds Ruhr is a venture capital fund based in Essen, which invests in early stage startups that drive innovation and change. Our foundation was laid in 2017 with the launch of our first fund. Since then, Gründerfonds Ruhr has been an investor partner for startups, providing financial capital to ambitious founding teams from various industries. In October 2024, we closed our second fund, Gründerfonds Ruhr II, with an initial fund volume of €31M to back the next generation of founders from the Ruhr region and beyond. We invest in seed stage B2B startups that have the potential to become market leaders in their market segment. We are active across Germany with a focus on the Ruhr region and we are not only providing financial capital, but also our entrepreneurial expertise and access to the industry through a leading network of international corporations.

The fund partners have been friends for 10+ years and back in the day started what over years has grown to one of the largest tech founder communities in Eastern Europe. Today our wider community comprises over 350 active founders from around the world, including founders of the fast-growing & established tech unicorns (like Hopin, Miro, UiPath, Intercom, and others), as well as founders of several renowned global VC funds. In 2010, when we were making our first steps as entrepreneurs and future executives, we yearned for ways of sharing knowledge and supporting each other. Three of us settled in a big apartment on Shmitovsky 16 (S16) and opened our doors for regular meetings with like-minded entrepreneurs. That move turned out to be instrumental. We learned through each other, motivated and supported each other, and built lifelong friendships. Our small gatherings grew into a tribe of hundreds of like-minded people. We are certain that this community is the common denominator behind our success. Even though the majority of tribe members are very successful entrepreneurs and executives, the community is united by shared values rather than any kind of material KPIs. These values are: Community, not individual Trust Transparency Intrinsic motivation to help Pay forward Beginner mindset People succeed, not ideas The community has long outgrown its founders and small gatherings at Shmit 16 and evolved into many initiatives driven by different people. Twice a year we help organize the legendary closed business event - Founders for Founders. Our members organize a camp at Burning Man. We try our best to spread our knowledge to a wider audience through our Telegram channel. Whatever we do, s16vc stands for preservation and adherence to our values. And s16vc, being the only commercial endeavor, is no exception. We invest in people who share these values and take money from like-minded LPs, making our tribe stronger with every founder we back and every investor we bring inside the community.

Wir investieren in erfolgsorientierte Gründer, die weltverändernde Technologien einsetzen um disruptive Lösungen zu entwickeln und helfen ihnen durch Kapital, Know-how und Netzwerk zu wachsen. Early-Growth Startups Wir fokussieren uns auf Early-Growth Technologie-Startups vorrangig ab der Series A, die über ein Proof of Concept verfügen und mit einem innovativen Geschäftsmodell erste erfolgsversprechende Traktion im Markt aufzeigen können. Diversifikation Grundsätzlich schauen wir uns eine weite Bandbreite unterschiedlichster Unternehmen an und agieren dabei branchenunabhängig. Ausgenommen sind die Bereiche Pharma und BioTech, die wir aktuell nicht abdecken. DACH Region Wir möchten unseren Startups möglichst nahe sein. Um unser Netzwerk effektiv und zielorientiert einsetzen zu können, fokussieren wir uns mit dem aktuellen Portfolio auf die DACH Region.

Unser Fokus liegt auf jungen Unternehmen, deren technologiefokusierte und skalierbare Produkte in der Markteintrittsphase stehen. Als Partner auf Augenhöhe unterstützten wir ambitionierte Gründer-Teams bei Wachstum und Internationalisierung. Frisches Kapital sowie die bedarfsorientierte wirtschaftliche Beratung in Kooperation mit dem Inkubator tech2b eröffnet Hightech-Startups aus der Region Perspektiven. WO INVESTIERT DER HIGHTECHFONDS?Der OÖ HightechFonds investiert Eigenkapital in regionale, technologisch orientierte Startups. Wir investieren in der Markteintrittsphase, wenn ein "Prototyp" entwickelt ist und erste Kundenumsätze realisiert wurden. Unser Portfolio ist offen für zukunftsweisende, skalier​bare Hardware- und Software-Produkte engagierter Gründer-Teams. WAS ZEICHNET DEN HIGHTECHFONDS AUS?Wir sind für unsere Startups immer da, wenn wir tatsächlich gebraucht werden – aber mischen uns normalerweise nicht ins operative Geschäft ein. Wir stellen uns an die Seite der Gründer und bilden die Brücke zwischen regionalen Business Angels und nationalen und internationalen VC-Fonds. Unser öffentlicher Auftrag lenkt unseren Fokus auf nachhaltiges Wachstum. Das Netzwerk unserer Gesellschafter nutzen wir auch für unsere Beteiligungen.

By co-investing Mozaic Investors is increasing the chances for each stakeholder to gain from being part of the syndicate. Investors gain by diminishing the high risk related with investing in new ventures and by increasing their portfolio diversity by being exposed to high reward opportunities. Startups gain from the opportunity to raise money in underserved markets where venture capital is limited and in very early stages of the company. They also gain from the vast network of experts and successful entrepreneurs that are part of the syndicate thus increasing the potential on the investment with the smart money. Mozaic is a response to a couple of important problems that the startup ecosystem in Moldova and in the region is facing. The Investors Perspective. Lack of startup investing knowledge: Investors, especially in Eastern Europe, are not used to invest high-risk capital with the awareness that they can lose everything invested and the understanding that they have to keep the founders motivated enough because they are the ones developing the products thus investors should take only a small share of equity. High-risk investing alone: Not having a validation process for the startups usually leads to risky bets that investors take. The limited deals they are exposed to, contribute to decisions when they chose only from what they can evaluate. Not knowing other investors that can share the risk with them decrease the performance of their investments, thus not incentivizing the investors to keep investing. Lack of legal framework: The high cost of legal work regarding an investment makes investors to restraining investing in startups. Unclear rules, unprivileged legislation for investors are not something that an investor can change alone. There should be a common action and suggestions made to the legislative body. Lack of startups deal flow: Diversifying the portfolio require an increasing number of investible startups to choose from. An individual investor has no time and means to know all the startups there are in the ecosystem that are looking for investment thus exposing himself only to the direct approaches. The Startups Perspective. Lack of venture capital: By venture capital we are referring to alternative financing when startups are raising capital from private investors where no other financial institution are ready to finance the initial ideas and startups. Traditional financial institutions usually require more financial data, guarants or other indicators that a newly formed entity simply do not have. Thus founders are unable to support the developing teams and launch the products. A venture capital is not a loan and investors are aware that they can lose it. Also the founders are not tied to reimburse it the in case of failure, thus incentivising more founders to work on more ambition and rewarding projects not putting themself and their families in debt. Founders not owning the company: By investing the most of the money or all the money in the startup traditionally is expected the investor to have the majority of the social capital and voting rights on the matters regarding the activity of the company. This fact is not helping the founder to feel that he is in charge of the company thus he is losing motivation and is not engaged enough to achieve the company’s goal. Lack of smart capital: By accessing the capital from investors, founders also gain the access to investors that are experienced entrepreneurs and connected people that can advice or introduce the founders to potential clients. Ethical money: By promoting the highest standards of ethics throughout the investment cycle, the investors must act with integrity and respect while dealing fairly and objectively with the founders. The ambition is to help early stage companies become industry-defining and sustainable businesses. The Ecosystem Perspective. Not fully functional ecosystem: By covering to a good degree the other components of the startup ecosystem like Infrastructure (coworking, prototyping facilities) and Knowledge (know-how, conferences, events) there is a lack in continuity and sinergy in startup creation process. Not having the Capital and Legal components of the startup ecosystem makes the other components unproductive. Startups looking to other countries or even moving to pursue their goals. High levels of uncertainty: Startup world is known by having a high dose of uncertainty, but by adding to this the fact that founders do not know how they will finance their startups or the next steps in scaling, they have anxieties that keep them from starting in the first place.

We are an active venture capital group with a current emphasis on pre-seed, seed, and series A startups. We’re flexible and on occasion, have also invested in late stage and cross over rounds. While Arc is geographically agnostic, to date most of our investments have been based in Israel, Europe and the US (outside of Silicon Valley). Many of our portfolio companies have benefitted from our assistance on strategy, tactics, business development, and even distressed situations.