Hasso Plattner Ventures Sells Shares in Fyber, Formerly SponsorPay

By David Knight |

Hasso Plattner Ventures has sold its shares in app monetisation platform Fyber to its previous co-investors. The move – which the Potsdam-based VC said was for “strategic reasons” – comes four years after HPV was part of a $4.6 million (€3.62m at today’s exchange rate) Series A round alongside Point Nine Capital, Kite Ventures and Team Europe, the latter of which had also been involved in an earlier seed round.

Fyber – previously known as SponsorPay – is a Berlin-based supply-side platform which helps app developers monetise their products, with a marketplace function and features which help organise, integrate and optimise all advertising revenue on apps and games.

Founded in 2009 by Janis Zech and Andreas Bodczek, the company now employs 180 people worldwide, including an office in San Francisco.

Yaron Valler, managing partner of Hasso Plattner Ventures, said: “We thank the founders and employees for the successful co-operation in the past few years. We regret that we must bow out of the group of investors for strategic reasons, and wish Fyber all the best for its further expansion.”

The divestment isn’t too much of a surprise, with four years a reasonable amount of time for an early growth stage VC like HPV to keep a company in its portfolio.

Fyber’s most recent investment was a $5m Series A in February 2011 with Nokia Growth Partners.