VC firm Partech International has finally revealed the opening of a Berlin office, alongside its existing San Francisco and Paris bases. The company focuses primarily on Internet businesses, and more specifically, e-commerce, digital media and infrastructure technology.
Its man on the ground in the German capital, Gabriel Matuschka, has been a presence on the Berlin startup scene for a while now, and the official announcement won’t come as a surprise to many. Indeed, Partech already has a track record of investing successfully in Germany, with successful exits with Qype, which was acquired by Yelp, and brands4friends, acquired by eBay.
With $650 million currently under management, Partech’s investment strategy is to find companies with high potential in the early stages of development. Such investments range from $250,000 to $10 million, and at the moment they have 100 companies in their portfolio.
The Partech office will be at Gipsstrasse 3 in Mitte, close to the core of startups dotted around Rosenthaler Platz, and will house Gabriel – a new senior associate for Partech. He previously worked as a consultant for IBM’s European media and telecommunications practice, and co-founded TripHunter, which was later acquired by brands4friends.
Philippe Collombel, a partner at Partech, said he was looking forward to tapping into Berlin’s potential: “We want to grasp more opportunities in one of Europe’s most vibrant and fastest growing technology hubs and in Germany as a whole. Partech is the first international top-tier venture capital firm to open an office in Berlin and we look forward to becoming even more deeply rooted in the city’s flourishing startup community.”