Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners (UVC Partners) is launching its second fund with more than 82 million euros for technology-based B2B startups. With the fresh capital, UVC Partners will build on the strong performance of the first fund and invest in companies from the German-speaking countries in the areas of industrial technologies, enterprise software and mobility. The management team has received a higher interest to provide capital than could be accepted.
With the second fund, too, a broad and mixed investor base - made up of entrepreneurs, family offices, industrial companies and institutional investors such as the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) – is relying on the expertise of the team. The team is led by five Partners, with long experience of more than one hundred venture capital investments, exits, and also their own successful tech startups. "We are very pleased at the trust placed in us by our fund investors. The fact that the fund was in strong demand, and is oversubscribed as a result, can be regarded as a confirmation of our investment strategy so far,” said Dr. Ingo Potthof, Managing Partner of the fund.
The five Partners of the fund (l.r.): Benjamin Erhart, Johannes von Borries, Andreas Unseld, Dr. Ingo Potthof, Dr. Helmut Schönenberger
From FlixBus to KONUX – powerful partners for strong startups
This investor trust in the second fund is also due to the excellent performance of the first one. The portfolio includes such successful companies as FlixBus, Europe's leading provider of long-distance bus travel, or KONUX, which offers industrial IoT solutions made up of smart sensors, intelligent data fusion and artificial intelligence; UVC Partners invested in KONUX together with one of the leading US VCs, New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The startup Carjump, whose app bundles together various car-sharing offers, has already had a first successful exit for UVC Partners with the sale to French car manufacturer Groupe PSA.
UVC Partners - Germany's unique tech fund
What differentiates UVC Partners from other investment companies in Germany is its close connection to UnternehmerTUM, Europe's leading innovation and business creation centre with an interdisciplinary network made up of innovative ideas, projects and prototypes. The ecosystem of UnternehmerTUM includes over one hundred industrial groups as well as startups, investors, foundation partners, and a talent pool of over 40,000 alumni.UnternehmerTUM is currently providing valuable stimuli for startups, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence and mobility, through the initiatives "Digital Hub Mobility" and also "AppliedAI", which is financed by Google. UVC Partners can thus provide its portfolio companies with targeted access to specialist know-how. "No other fund in Germany offers such comprehensive support and broad access to industrial partners," emphasizes Johannes von Borries, partner of the fund. "Nevertheless, we act as an independent investor, so we have complete freedom in our investment strategy."
Consistent expansion of investment strategy
With the second fund, the team is consistently expanding its investment strategy, and has already made five investments since the first closing in 2017. Vimcar (connected car solution for fleet owners), shyftplan (workforce management software), Blickfeld (manufacturer of LiDAR sensors for autonomous driving), 3YOURMIND (software and platform for industrial 3D printing), and FAZUA (manufacturer of an electric drive system for e-bikes) are already part of the portfolio.With the new fund, UVC Partners will begin by typically investing between 0.5 and three million euros in early-phase B2B startups. In further rounds, a total of up to twelve million euros could be made available for successfully growing participations. UVC Partners is thus entering the seed and series A phases as a lead investor.
Webseite: www.uvcpartners.com
