Have you ever heard of Mätch VC? If so, have you You might be wondering what this is or how exactly Mätch VC is connected to the start-up engine. We asked Adrian, Tim and Daniel, three of the seven founders of Mätch VC, about all this:
Hi together, what is Mätch VC and what is your goal with it?
Adrian: Mätch VC is a brand new venture capital fund specialising in technology start-ups in the fields of industrial B2B, sustainable change and climate tech. Mätch VC was created with the intention of being able to offer financing to the most promising start-up teams from the start-up engine. However, the investments should by no means be limited to this. We want to invest in those start-ups that fit in particularly well with our B2B network. This allows us to offer the start-ups valuable access to suitable customers in addition to financing and scaling expertise. At the same time, our fund investors benefit from our deal flow - a real win-win.
Who is behind Mätch VC?
Daniel: Mätch VC is a unique network consisting of leading family businesses, managers, business angels and founders. We are proud that with the first closing we were able to attract experienced business angels such as Ingo Weber, Petra Wörwag (until recently a family entrepreneur), Joachim Drees (ex-MAN CEO) and Dr Michael Bolle (ex-Bosch CDO/CTO) to Mätch VC in addition to outstanding family businesses such as Trumpf, Gemüsering, a shareholder family of the Festo Group, Ritter Sport, Metzger + Co. and Bucher Stahl. A total of 25 investors already believe in Mätch VC. Not all of them want to be named publicly, but all of them will actively contribute to the fund's success. Many of the fund's investors, the so-called Limited Partners (LPs), are rooted in Baden-Württemberg but, as global market leaders, have a global network (currently in over 100 countries on every continent in the world) that will help our portfolio start-ups expand internationally.
With the structure of a venture capital fund, we have found a model in which it is clear that everyone involved will be pulling in the same direction. Our success will soon be clearly measurable through the fund's returns.
Who runs Mätch VC?
Tim: Mätch VC is coordinated and operationally managed by seven people with a long track record in founding and scaling well-known start-ups. Benedikt Ilg is a Venture Partner and founded Germany's fastest growing start-up with Flip in Stuttgart, winning over top international investors (Notion Capital, HV Capital, LEA Partners, Cavalry Ventures). Fabian Silberer from Offenburg is also a Venture Partner and has been an entrepreneur for 10 years. With SevDesk, he automates accounting processes and was able to raise over €50 million in investment funds in his Series B round. He is privately involved as a business angel. Ilg and Silberer have created over 350 jobs in recent years. Two well-known venture partners will support Mätch VC from autumn and will soon be announced in a separate press release. The General Partners are Adrian Thoma, Daniel Dilger and myself. We manage the fund operationally. As a team, we have helped to set up, found and manage companies and initiatives such as Startup Autobahn, STIHL Digital, Gründermotor, Plug and Play Europe, Simpleshow and Startup Camp EMEA over the last 10 years. In these roles and as business angels, the team has already made dozens of investment decisions and proven its ability to recognise lucrative opportunities in the early stages. Examples today include successful start-ups such as Sparetech, Vialytics, Flip, Celus and Mercanis.
How does Mätch VC together with the founder engine?
Adrian: With Gründermotor, we are pursuing the overarching, long-term goal of supporting the next generation of SMEs. For this reason, Gründermotor GmbH is orientated towards the common good: According to the articles of association, profits may be generated but not distributed and the shares in the GmbH may not be sold at a premium. With Mätch VC, however, we are clearly profit-orientated. This is so important because otherwise it would be impossible to raise enough money or put together an experienced management team. This is why Mätch VC decides and acts independently. However, Gründermotor GmbH holds a share in the fund and, in the event of successful performance, a portion of the profits flows back into the public welfare sector. This allows us to combine the best of both worlds.
In conclusion: the first closing has been completed, which now?
Tim: We can now make our first investments and are already holding initial talks. We will also be holding talks with interesting investors for some time to come - so that we can capitalise on our unique advantage: A dense network consisting of the most important family businesses, individuals and institutions in Baden-Württemberg and neighbouring regions.
Here there is even more information about Mätch VC.
Author: Hannah Boltze
