Strategy

A deciding factor for the successful founding of a new company is the selection of suitable and experienced partners, reliable partners who accompany and support the growth of the new firm, thereby helping the company to reach its goal of achieving sustainable returns.

Holtzbrinck Ventures has been participating in young companies in the new media sector since 1998 and has invested in over 60 different companies. It is one of the largest and most successful early stage investors focusing on new media businesses.

We have been a founding investor in roughly half of all the companies that we’ve been involved with. Therefore, we see ourselves as active partners and have our own experience in growth management, which we have gained, in particular, through founding our own companies such as Parship and Experteer or joint ventures such as audible.de and buecher.de. This operative experience allows us to master the challenges together with our partners. We are entrepreneurs too and not just providers of capital!

We are a temporary, exit-oriented investor and can offer not just an equity investment but also other benefits in the form of content, customer connections, brands and access to the Georg von Holtzbrinck network. We place extra value on an independent and strong management that seeks new paths, unrestricted by established media strategies.

As well as synergies with the worldwide publishing group Georg von Holtzbrinck, we also practice tight cooperation and communication between the portfolio companies. Furthermore, we work together with established financial and strategic investors. In this way Holtzbrinck Ventures not only acts a lead investor but also as co-investor. Our typical investment sum is between 1 and 5 million euro.

Through our long-term investment strategy, we have shown ourselves to be a reliable partner. This strategy has paid off. The returns realised to date, have considerably exceeded the investment volume.

An exit to a company belonging to the von Holtzbrink publishing group, at market conditions, is a fundamental option as long as the founder’s interests and those of the co-partners are considered.