Contrary

Relapse Ventures is a dynamic early-stage venture capital firm with a mission to identify, support, and invest in innovative, creative, and disruptive entrepreneurs across North America. We pride ourselves on our collaborative approach, working closely with our partners to help them achieve their goals and bring their vision to life. Our experienced team of investors and advisors brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table, and we work tirelessly to ensure that our partners have the support they need to succeed. We are looking for passionate & talented founders who will shape our futureWhat is venture capital? Venture capital is a type of financing that is provided to early-stage startups and businesses in exchange for equity in the company. Venture capitalists typically invest in companies with high growth potential, and they often provide not only funding but also mentorship, advice, and connections to help the company succeed. How do I know if my startup is a good fit for venture capital funding? Venture capital funding is typically best suited for startups with high growth potential, a scalable business model, and a strong team with a track record of success. If your company fits these criteria and you are seeking significant funding to help you scale your business, venture capital may be a good option for you. What are the benefits of working with Relapse Venture Capital? Working with Relapse Venture Capital can provide your startup with not only funding but also valuable mentorship, advice, and connections to help you grow your business. Venture capitalists often have extensive experience in the industry and can help you navigate the complex world of entrepreneurship. Additionally, having a venture capital firm as a partner can lend credibility to your business and attract additional investors. Funding Venture capital firms invest in early-stage startups and businesses in exchange for equity in the company. Mentorship and advice Many venture capitalists have extensive experience in the industry and can provide valuable mentorship and advice to the startups they invest in. Networking connections These connections can be leveraged to help the startup access new opportunities, partnerships, and customers. Due diligence Before investing in a startup, venture capitalists typically conduct due diligence to ensure that the company is a good investment.

Positive Sum helps founders build their companies and tell their stories. We devote time to meeting the most talented entrepreneurs and investors in the world, and we strategically deploy our network on behalf of our portfolio companies. What we look for in companies The creation of new businesses, especially those fueled by technology, can lead to Positive Sum outcomes: where companies, customers, and investors all win together. Our team searches for such companies, with the following criteria guiding our way. Life’s Work: We look for founders doing their “life’s work.” We always ask how the founding team came upon the problem they are solving and assess the alignment between that problem and their own path in life. We find that these founders tend to be driven and obsessive, they tend to build domain knowledge quickly, and they tend to be disagreeable, with their own clear point of view for how things ought to be. We love these qualities. Ultimately, we find that founders doing their “life’s work” become magnets for talent and have the perseverance necessary to survive and thrive in difficult periods. Synchronized Team: Speed is an unbelievable advantage for young companies. Teams that communicate well ship products faster. We look for smart and efficient team communication, chemistry, and the right mix of business and technical talent. Market Signal: We can evaluate teams directly, but markets help us evaluate products. We look for clear signals from customers that a given idea or product is valuable. We deeply respect a market signal even if we don’t yet understand what is behind it, but then seek to understand the customer’s motivation in a deep way. A Compounding Customer: The question “will customers use this product often, and will the product get better and more valuable as they do?” is at the center of our investigation. Products that get embedded in their user’s lives or workflows tend to be more defensible. Compounding has to start somewhere, and our experience suggests that companies focused on “one thing” early on maximize the odds they can do more things in the future, because the customer grows to love them for the original solution. Profit Persistence: We want to invest in companies that can earn enormous profits over time. The odds of this happening go up when 1) a business demonstrates (or we can foresee) positive unit economics, 2) the business model can scale with demand and 3) the product gets harder for others to copy as it grows. We look for all three components. Timing, Alignment, and Impact: We focus intently on why now is the right time to build this company. New technologies, changes in regulation, cultural shifts, and other enabling factors create opportunities for unnatural growth in a business. We always look for alignment between a company and the world at large. We also want great alignment between our two teams. We hope to have decades-long relationships with the companies we support, so the fit between Positive Sum and the founding team is paramount. We make fewer investments than many comparable funds so that we can be closer with portfolio companies and spend more time with each of them.

The VC next door for your path into the world. We believe that anyone with the right idea, ambition and execution can build a category-defining company. Bringing 'Made in Germany' to the digital age Germany has a longstanding reputation for first-class engineering, for high quality products that have a global impact. We believe that the label 'Made in Germany' needs to arrive in the digital age. We believe that the brands shaping the future will be tech companies. And we believe that some of these tech companies can and must be built here. Since our foundation in 2013, we've been supporting daring entrepreneurs from the German-speaking regions in building global category leaders that will shape the decades to come. Investment focus We get in early - from Pre-Seed to Series A. Our main expertise lies in supporting early-stage tech startups in their first crucial decisions: from setting up a finance department to the first executive hires. With our industry network, hands-on approach and our supporting functions such as marketing and finance, we help to turn a business idea into a fully-fledged company. As a VC firm with people on the ground in Cologne, Berlin, and Munich we have a deep-rooted network in the German tech scene. That’s why we strongly focus our investment activities on Germany and the German-speaking regions. That doesn’t rule out deals elsewhere - but we certainly need extra conviction then. Track record We have supported companies on their journeys from Seed right through to IPO. 44 active Capnamic investments 350 million EUR of capital under management 900 million EUR of funds raised by our portfolio companies We believein entrepreneurs changing the world: But they can’t do it all on their own. That’s why we try to play our part by being sparring partners available at all times, by opening doors, or simply by having your back. in empathetic honesty: We have a ‘Bullshit Buzzer’ in our main meeting room for a reason. We’re going to be completely honest with the founders we work with, and they in turn can depend on our loyalty and support. We won’t leave your side when the first rain drops fall. in team, timing, technology: A strong team is the core of every successful startup. But for an idea to thrive, it also needs the right timing and a defensible technology. If you have the three Ts, there’s a good chance you’re at the start of something big. in making our network your network: Having started as a multi-corporate VC with LPs from some of the biggest national and international corporations, we value a strong network above most other things. in realness not the hype: Not every company that gets massive funding has the substance to last. We always form our own opinion and we even tend to get skeptical when things are hyped. But once we’re convinced of a business idea, we give it everything we’ve got. in sparring not steering: We do our best to be active partners, coaches and mentors on an equal footing. But at the end of the day, nobody knows their product, company and market better than the founders.

We want to invest in solutions to problems which impact a lot of people. If you are simply iterating a market, 7percent is not for you. We seek the 200x winners and pass on the less risky, less ambitious opportunities. We are looking for moonshots. We back the technologies and products that in ten years people will wonder how the world ever lived without - the breakthrough companies and technologies. What's in a name? “A good early stage growth rate is 5-7% a week. If you can hit 10% a week you’re doing exceptionally well, but if you can only manage 1%, it’s a sign you haven’t yet figured out what you’re doing“ Paul Graham - Y Combinator Why take our moneyMaybe don't. Not every entrepreneurial business should take venture funding. The venture capital journey is best for big risk, big outcome businesses. A startup is a company which is different because it is able to g Ex-founder led with Silicon Valley ambition. For >10 years we have been investing at pre-seed and seed as angel investors then VC’s. With experience operating as founders in both the U.K. and U.S. we have the confidence to back you to reach for the stars, with access to the expertise and capital via the three networks we co-founded. Read more here. Our Mantra: to help not hinder your startup. This is a guiding principle in everything we do. Because our Partners are ex-Founders themselves, this helps us empathise. We have a better understanding than many other investors, of the challenges you will experience when building a company from scratch, because we’ve done it ourselves. We have: Founded, grown and sold successful tech startups Founded tech startups and failed Taken angel or VC investment for our own startups and raised it for others Built transatlantic reach across startup ecosystems, from West and Eastern European to North America Backed >150 companies over the past 10 years, as a firm or as angels.

Breega is one of the fastest growing VC funds in Europe with more than €500M AUM. We built Breega to provide founders with the help we wish we’d had. Breega propels pioneering and purpose-driven founders from idea into impact. We closed our first fund in 2015 and now have €500m AUM and 70 trailblazing portfolio companies. Crafted for founders by founders, we built Breega to provide start-ups with the help we wish we'd had. And we’ve created an investment proposition that’s purposefully designed. We call it full stack funding: providing capital and connections, expertise and experience, support and solidarity for entrepreneurs at every step of their journey. We invest across Europe through our 3 offices in Paris, London and Barcelona, focusing on pre-seed to Series B stage. We believe in a future where tech entrepreneurship has catalysed universal prosperity – so we decided to build a different kind of VC. Build by Founders. As entrepreneurs ourselves, we’ve been through the highs and lows of founding, failing, fundraising and flourishing. We built Breega to provide founders with the help we wish we’d had. For Founders. We wanted to “Bridge the Equity and Experience Gap” (hence the name Breega) – and fulfill the lack of operational expertise we saw in VC at that time. Breega began investing in 2015. We now have 70+ trailblazing startups in our portfolio. Our purpose today. To propel pioneering and purpose-driven founders from idea to impact.

As a venture house, our mission is to clear the path for founders who build companies that matter. Our hybrid setup, comprising PSV Foundry, PSV Lab, and two unique venture funds, PSV Tech and PSV Hafnium, sets us free from adhering to a singular method. Rather we rethink existing ways and models to maximise our impact beyond any individual firm or investment. Together, we can punch above our weight.