Pre-seed Venture Capital Fund Pioneers Ventures, founded in 2015 by Pioneers and Speedinvest, has a new structure. Following startup300 AG’s recent acquisition of JFDI GmbH, the company behind the Pioneers brand, a reorganization became necessary. As of today, more than thirty of Pioneers Ventures’ existing investments in Business Tech, Consumer Tech, Financial Tech and Health Tech startups are to be taken over by Speedinvest and integrated into the fund’s portfolio. The current Pioneers Ventures management team, comprised of Philipp Stangl and Markus Lang, also moves to Speedinvest and will lead the newly-created pre-seed unit. Pioneers Ventures itself will continue to be operated by Pioneers and its new investment team, which will be further strengthened by startup300 group of experts. As before, it will invest in pre-seed startups, whilst also taking on the existing tech investment portfolio of startup300.
Speedinvest takes over and integrates existing team and portfolio
“To us, Pioneers Ventures is a real success story! The 32 portfolio companies currently employ around 500 persons, have already gained a total of over €20 million in follow-on funding, and many are regarded as technological leaders in their field. For these reasons, it was a logical step to work more closely with the team in the future,” remarks Michael Schuster, Managing Partner at Speedinvest, with regards to the integration.
Pioneers Ventures starts afresh under the startup300 umbrella
Pioneers and startup300 will seamlessly continue the work of Pioneers Ventures as a pre-seed investment vehicle, investing as normal. “Pioneers Ventures is a further professionalization of our investment activities. Soon we will further strengthen the team – probably under the leadership of a prominent name in the business angel scene. Pioneers Ventures portfolio companies will not only continue to enjoy all the benefits that the Pioneers community has to offer, but will also enjoy the advantages of being a member of the startup300 family. Moreover, we’re considering establishing a new Venture Capital fund under Pioneers Ventures to significantly increase our investment performance” says Michael Eisler, chairman of startup300 AG.
“We’re excited to offer to our Pioneers Ventures portfolio companies an even wider scale of added-value support going forward. Besides the direct financial investment and follow-on funding opportunities, the extensive corporate and public sector partners network and events of Pioneers, business scaling consultancy and guaranteed publicity, our portfolio companies will also benefit from access to startup300’s coworking areas,” added Oliver Csendes, CEO of Pioneers.
A strong ecosystem: The common goal of Pioneers, startup300 and Speedinvest
In the future, the three organisations seek to cooperate closely to keep strengthening the Austrian startup ecosystem. “What unites Pioneers, startup300, and Speedinvest is the drive to support outstanding founders from all across Europe with know-how, financial resources and a valuable network. In doing so, they aim to increase the economic and societal impact of young entrepreneurs,” all parties agree.
