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June 22, 2006
Famous Founders Join VC Ranks
It looks like a few European serial entrepreneurs have made enough money to start investing in tech ventures in Europe and beyond. We count three sets that are deploying some of their cash on a more formal basis - as opposed to angel investing, which is already quite common.
European VC Attracts Some Famous Founders
There's the European Founders Fund, established by the Samwer brothers in Germany who together co-founded online auction house Alando.de, acquired by eBay and Jamba!, a mobilephone ringtone and content business, acquired by Verisign for €273M). They are investing their own money in early stage ventures, particularly Internet and wireless startups (due to their knowledge of the sectors). We'll be profiling the European Founders Fund soon based on an exclusive interview with Oliver Samwer, the firm's managing partner.
Then there is Amaya, which Red Herring says is currently raising a fund to invest in Europe and India. It's got some famous founders signed on as limited partners, including Brent Hoberman, co-founder of LastMinute.com; Stefan Roever, co-founder of Brokat Technologies, and Morten Lund, an early investor in Skype and co-founder of security software startup Bullguard.
The third worth mentioning is Daniel Aegerter, the Swiss entrepreneur who sold his startup Tradex to Ariba during the bubble for $5.6 billion dollars. Aegerter is one of the anchor investors of the Munich Venture Fund, which recently invested in 10tacle, a German games developer. He is also principle of Armada Investment Group, which keeps a fairly low profile, but has invested in Oanda (fxtrade), Overture Networks, and Skyway, all three are based in North America.
Read- Europe Targets India
Posted on June 22, 2006 09:00 AM | Posted to Venture Capital | Permalink
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