Two of the Samwer brothers, Oliver and Marc, have teamed up with former DeliveryHero CEO and co-founder Fabian Siegel to launch a new €150M Global Founders Capital fund. Siegel caused a stir earlier this year when he stepped down from his previous role and this latest move has come as something of a surprise.
For the Samwers, meanwhile, it’s a chance to make investments in an entity separate from incubator and investment vehicle Rocket Internet, which they formed with their brother Alexander in 2007. In the launch announcement, GFC was promised to be a “stage agnostic global focused venture fund to support entrepreneurs worldwide in building and scaling their business.”
Global Founders Capital will be headquartered in Munich and will invest at all stages from seed round to growth capital. To maintain the gap between it and Rocket, GFC will not invest in any of the latter’s portfolio companies. Given that the three founders’ experience is rooted in e-commerce, it is quite possible likely that GFC will initially start off on a similar path with the aim of expanding its horizons later.
The money for the new fund has been put up by “various successful Internet entrepreneurs.”
“After having built businesses for more than 13 years it is exciting to now support teams around the world in building their own businesses. Each of us at Global Founders Capital experienced years of hands-on operational success. We know what entrepreneurs need when looking for investors – our vision is to become a valued added part of the team and provide more than just capital. Our pledge to the entrepreneur is to be fast, pragmatic and fair”, said Fabian.
The Samwers invested in companies like Facebook and LinkedIn before gaining a reputation as cloners of successful American startup business models. Their portfolio companies, however, continue to enjoy a high amount of success.