btov is a European venture capital firm, managing about EUR 510m in institutional funds, partner funds and direct investments of private investors. btov teams in St.Gallen, Berlin, Munich and Luxemburg jointly with seasoned entrepreneurs back Start-ups with teams willing to make the difference.
btov is among the largest and oldest venture capital firms in Europe. Founded in 2000, originally as online matching platform named “BrainsToVentures”, btov has pioneered venture capital investment solutions for private, corporate and institutional investors. We share their risk since we invest significantly in our funds and have “skin in the game”.
Investing in Digital Technology
The digital tech fund invests in B2C- and B2B-oriented businesses in the fields of AI, SaaS, logistics, digital health and marketplaces.
Investing in Industrial Technology
The industrial tech fund places its focus on deep tech, e.g. in industry 4.0, resource efficiency, industrial AI, IoT, enterprise software, cyber security, as well as medtech.
250 extraordinary people at your service
We provide members of our investor network with vetted investment opportunities in early and later stage tech companies from over 25 different industries.
A true partnership for tailor-made venture capital funds
We enable corporations, non-profit organizations and high net worth individuals or family offices to set up tailor-made venture capital funds.
Currently, we are managing EUR 125m in three individual managed partner fund portfolios for the Swiss publishing company Ringier, the Swiss insurance company Helvetia, and for a Swiss family office.
Vision
All btov stakeholders think of and act for the next generation
btov is the first backer of outstanding European entrepreneurs in non-obvious technologies, supporting them with our own expertise and Europe’s strongest network of entrepreneurial private investors.
Mission
We generate top quartile financial as well as non-financial returns to our investors. Among existing and potential LPs, btov has the reputation of being a very successful investor. Among entrepreneurs, btov is known as a reliable and smart sparring partner. To private investors, the firm provides the best data, know-how and network of professionals interested in investing in the most promising European ventures at the right time, and among its employees it is considered as a truly professional and fun place to work.
Purpose and Values
btov acts as a trusted entity to entrepreneurs, investors and startups. btov employees as well as btov Venture Partners act as trustees toward those stakeholders and have committed themselves to the following purpose and values:
- We work at btov with the goal to generate superior financial returns to the millions of people and their representative entities investing in and through btov.
- We are proud of our work because btov invests in entrepreneurs who develop and market disruptive technologies that have the potential to change markets and industries and improve the lives of people. Our investments, and hence our work, serve a greater purpose than just maximizing return on investment.
- Europe is home to exceptional entrepreneurs building extraordinary companies. It is our passion to raise and invest capital in these entrepreneurs, so that they can realize their ideas and visions and create new opportunities for the people on this continent and beyond.
- We are committed to do our best to invest in startups contributing to solve the 17 sustainability goals of the UN. btov as firm regularly defines its own ESG goals and measures them. We include ESG in our upside potential and downside risk analysis and ask startups to define and measure their own ESG goals.
- We know that there is enough financial capital that could be deployed more effectively to generate returns and making the world a better place at the same time. btov builds bridges between financial capital and entrepreneurial potential.
- It is a key concept behind btov’s strategy to connect experienced entrepreneurs acting as investors with outstanding founders and venture capital professionals so that we can learn from each other continuously.
- We believe that it is possible (and necessary) to continuously improve the way we work with limited partners investing in and through btov, with entrepreneurs backed by btov, and within our own team. We therefore encourage our clients, business partners, and team members to bring ideas to us, and we implement new and improved processes on a regular basis.
- We have skin in the game and invest in our funds and, where possible, in the entrepreneurs we back, so that we share the upside and downside risk of our limited partners, our members and investors, and the entrepreneurs we invest in. We have the highest quality demands regarding our work and are measured in the long term by our investment success.
- We, the people who work at btov, do not only follow the principles described above. Every single one of us thinks and acts as if he/she was the sole managing director and sole shareholder of btov, i.e. as if this was our own business. We feel responsible for our company and our team.
The btov Team’s Generational Model
btov’s success depends on us. We are a company living the generational model. We learn and improve based on regular dialogue and feedback between generations.
In times of an even more unstable environment we promise the younger and the elder ones:
- btov has always been and will always be long-term oriented. This long-term orientation stems from our investments, i.e. the minimum investment period is often more than 5 or even 10 years. It also stems from our philosophy to be reliable partners to the founders we invest in, for our clients, and the people who work at btov. Furthermore we aim to build a long lasting company.
- We remind ourselves regularly of our joint long-term effort and mutual development.