The German VC group, which operated independently with two $1bn funds, now has $322m from Rocket Internet's balance sheet to invest.
David Sainteff, partner, Global Founders Capital. Image courtesy of Global Founders Capital.
Global Founders Capital, the German venture capital firm launched by the co-founders of ecommerce group and startup incubator Rocket Internet, will act as the latter’s subsidiary, TechCrunch reported today.
Formed in 2013 by Rocket Internet co-founders Oliver and Marc Samwer, Global Founders Capital had two $1bn funds that have both been fully deployed. The firm had broad coverage investing in companies across all sectors, stages and geographies.
Global Founders Capital will now exclusively invest from Rocket Internet’s balance sheet, meaning it will be much smaller in size and only has five partners remaining on the team: Fabricio Pettena, Don Stalter, Cedric Asselman, David Sainteff (pictured) and Oliver Samwer.
Its first fund backed unicorn-to-be companies such as human resources management platform Personio and SumUp, which provides payment processing services for small businesses. The second fund’s portfolio included insurance technology developer Seyna and wholesale marketplace Ankorstore.
“Following the deployment of this second fund, we decided not to raise another fund. Instead, we’ll use Rocket Internet’s capital,” Sainteff, one of the partners, told TechCrunch. “We have €300m ($322m) to deploy for venture investments on the balance sheet. We don’t have any fundraising planned.”
While Sainteff did not clarify the reason behind this restructuring, he told TechCrunch it was not the right time to invest or raise another fund. “It wasn’t the best moment to raise funds with [limited partners]. We think it was difficult to have the imperative to deploy capital,” he added.
Under the new arrangement, the unit will focus on early-stage investments and follow-on deals in later rounds from series A and beyond.
