German VC firm Hasso Plattner Ventures has launched a new seed fund for
small-ticket, non-equity investments in very early stage companies. Startups
can apply for investments of either €50,000 or €100,000 and will receive a
“yes” or “no” within 24 hours of pitching.
HPV Analyst Lina
Chong, who is responsible for running the new initiative, told us that Germany,
and Berlin in particular, is missing this kind of fund. The selling point is
that startups receive funding quickly without having to prove extensive due
diligence and do not need to give a large chunk of their shares to investors.
Hasso Plattner |
The
new fund is targeting startups that solve “real problems” and can prove that an
investment of either €50,000 or €100,000 will be able to get them to a
“milestone”, Chong told us. This milestone could be an Alpha version or getting
a Series A round. The investment is purely convertible debt – a loan with a low
interest rate that can eventually be converted to shares – she said, though
Chong admits the VC probably won’t see the money again.
The
first recipient of the new seed funding has already been announced – one week
ago VersionEye,
a software library for developers, received €100,000 from HPV. The Berlin and
San Francisco-based B2D startup provides information to make sure developers
are not using unlicensed code.
Read more at VentureVillage
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