This morning Heilemann Ventures and Early Bird announced that they will join forces to bring their VC-Teams to the next level.
Gründerszene (link is in German) communicated this morning that both companies are looking to raise a 150m EUR fund in the next couple of months, to help drive European digital startups. Both teams will continue under the Brandname Earlybird.
The Heilemann Ventures Team consists of both strong entrepreneurs and investment bankers. Yet what brings both companies even more together is the current lack of technical expertise on the Earlybird team, with Ciarán O’Leary and Jason Whitmire (now Blue Yard) as well as Simon Schmincke (now Creandum) having left the Earlybird team recently.
How Heilemann Ventures describe themselves
Originally established by the DailyDeal founders and serial entrepreneurs Fabian and Ferry Heilemann.
As a complementary team of successful entrepreneurs and like-minded investment bankers we provide seed and early stage funding for European entrepreneurs in the digital industry. We are based in Berlin and well connected in the European start-up and investors landscape. Heilemann Ventures
How Earlybird describe themselves
‘We are optimistic risk-takers who roll up their sleeves. Earlybird is an international venture capital firm that invests across multiple stages. Our companies have the potential to reshape markets and change the world around us.’ (source)
Earlybird Facts (date: 24/04/2016):
- Total capital raised to date: 700m EUR
- Number of funds raised: 5
- Latest fund raised: 2014
- No. of investments since 1997: 111
Our Heilemann Ventures connection
Heilemann Ventures were early stage investors in one of the endeavours of Remco Livain (Founder of GANDT Ventures). Back in 2014, Heilemann Ventures lead the Series-A round for MIFLORA, a Munich-based flower delivery startup (co-founded by Tobias Mazet, Remco Livain and Christopher Hadenfeldt).
The Heilemann brothers have build up a strong portfolio of digital projects and investments over the years and have been a trustworthy strong sparringspartner for the management team of MIFLORA ever since.
We wish the Heilemann Ventures Team and Earlybird all the best for the future and we are sure that this is a big leap forward – and we are certain that a great number of super investments will follow in the coming few months and years.
Our GANDT Ventures Services
If you need any help with your valuation or would like an independent person to look at the valuation that your company was “given” after a due diligence, we offer e-commerce due diligences for early stage startups and SMBs. We would deep dive into your marketing and IT-Setup, and assess the potential of your business based on industry standards where available and/or provide you with valuable input as a sanity check.
Feel free to reach out to us at any time for more information.
