Cherry Ventures calls on European founders to be bolder
Cherry Ventures has raised 500 million US dollars for its fifth early-stage fund and an opportunity fund. The company plans to invest in startups from Series B and above. The VC plans to co-finance the first European trillion-dollar company.
Spurring Europe to greater things
Cherry Ventures, with offices in Berlin, Stockholm, and London, sees Europe’s competitiveness at risk and calls on founders to be more ambitious. On this occasion, an open letter was written to all European entrepreneurs, stating: “We are ready to co-finance the first trillion-dollar company in Europe.”
The VC criticizes Europe for lagging far behind the USA. The reason for this is not only President Trump’s second term in office, which could bring with it “friendlier” policies for startups, but also the potential for collaboration between political decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and researchers. Now it’s about making “Europe the best place in the world to build a technology company.” Too many founders are currently thinking about moving to the USA.
A $500 million fund
The $500 million that the VC claims to have raised from its investors “within a few months” will flow directly back into the ecosystem. Cherry Ventures claims to have received more investment for the fund than was originally planned – it was oversubscribed twice.
According to the VC, investors from a broad, global base have paid in, including entrepreneurs such as Ilkka Paananen of Supercell, Miki Kusi of Wolt, and Jochan Enghert of Flix. The 500 million will be divided into a flagship fund for early-stage startups and an opportunity fund that will invest in promising portfolio companies at Series B and beyond. However, Cherry wrote in the open letter that the amount raised alone will probably not be enough to build market leaders: “Everyone has to do their part.”
Last early-stage fund from 2022
Cherry launched its last early-stage fund of €300 million in 2022. The funds supported the German-French space company “The Exploration Company”, the delivery startup Flink from Germany, and the logistics unicorn Forto, among others. Further investments were made in the startups Tacto (software), Qualifyze (audit provider), and Planet A Foods (chocolate).
Cherry Ventures is led by five partners: Filip Dames and Christian Meermann – both were part of the Zalando founding team, Sophia Bendz (ex-Spotify communications expert), Dinika Mahtani (ex-Uber manager), and the finance and startup expert Jasper Masemann. Alexander Langholz-Baikousis is on board as an operating partner and Chief Financial Officer – he oversees all Cherry funds and manages the VC’s strategic resources.
