Venture Stars

As a "first money in" investor, we support founders in gaining their first momentum. ROCKET FUEL We invest in DACH-based technology-driven B2B startups in pre-seed and early seed rounds. BIZDEV BOOST We catalyze your market entry with our network of more than 100 executives from Scale-ups, mid-sized and large enterprises. FAST-TRACK FUNDRAISING We streamline the communication with other Angel and VC investors for your current and future funding rounds. FAMILY ACCESS We multiply your social capital with access to our community of experienced founders, industry professionals and domain experts.

Marathon Venture Capital is an early-stage investor helping ambitious founders build world-class technology companies. The firm currently manages about €100 million in commitments between two funds. Our portfolio companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from leading global investment firms while catering to customers on the Fortune 500 list or being acquired by them. We invest the first million and roll our sleeves up to help you build a fast-growing,world-class software company.

We are customer-obsessed, relentless about creating winning teams, operators and builders, long-term partners, consistent, and proven. TIA stands for “Thought Into Action” and is the philosophy we live by. Founded in 2014, TIA Ventures is an evolution of the Thought into Action Entrepreneurship Incubator (2009) and our passion for accelerating exceptional entrepreneurs. We are customer-obsessed, relentless about creating winning teams, operators and builders, long-term partners, consistent, and proven.

Investment, expertise and network to help startups develop a repeatable, scalable and profitable sales model. Backing ambitious founders, from Seed to Series ABuilding a B2B software company is a rewarding but often also a challenging journey Even with great technology, the trickiest part is often to develop customer traction We back ambitious founders with capital and expertise to get them to their first million in revenue We support founders withInvestment (typically £200k – £2m) Market analysis Sales playbook development Hands-on sales resources Coaching from experienced entrepreneurs Corporate network to help accelerate sales Strong VC network to help raise Series A The SuperSeed AdvantageWe get founders: We have built software, managed product teams and authored multiple patents. And know firsthand how to build B2B tech companies. We get technology: We have authored multiple patents. If you are looking for a partner who understands deep tech, we can help. We get your customers: We have worked >40 years across B2B software and enterprise tech, and we have an Extensive corporate network which helps accelerate sales process for startups We get enterprise sales: We have delivered more than $100m in sales and revenue for B2B software / tech companies.

As former entrepreneurs and operators, we have been in your shoes. We have founded, built and sold companies; we have recruited and led employees and management teams; and we have tackled many of the challenges that are unique to early-stage companies. With over 100 years of collective experience as founders, operators and board members, we have plenty of scar tissue and insights to help you avoid pitfalls and to optimize your business. We consider every investment to be a long-term partnership and aim to bring much more than just capital to help you build your company. In addition to evaluating every investment on the fundamentals, we are particularly interested in finding opportunities that leverage our experiences and unique resources. We focus only on industry segments that we know extremely well and where we have deep, relevant networks that can be tapped for our companies. We love early-stage technology investing and are energized by working with brilliant entrepreneurial minds. We are excited to share our operational experience and entrepreneurial instincts. We are a small team, which allows us to be responsive and nimble, working at the same clock speed as our entrepreneurial partners. We bring complementary backgrounds and leverage every member of our team for every company.

Lightbird is a Zurich-based VC firm backing entrepreneurs at one of the most intense periods of a company’s life – the early stage (Pre-Seed/Seed/Seed+). We invest in the most ambitious founding teams that use technology to solve real problems for real people and real businesses. The fund invests in B2B software with a particular focus on companies using PLG, Community-led Growth, Bottom-up Saas, NFX, Self-serve etc.. While we’re able to invest globally we will invest most of the money close to home (Europe). We are a rising brand with young, dynamic and driven people that values team work and open communication. We are rebels and want to challenge the status quo in VC by doing things a bit differently - more human. We strongly encourage individual initiatives and diverse perspectives, and enjoy spending time with each other.