Cusp Capital

𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗥𝗪 🟢⚪️🔴 We are pleased to publish our report (in German) on the #VC investor landscape in our home region, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The report provides an overview of the current VC scene in #NRW, its development over the past 25 years, and highlights key players and success factors. Our key takeaways: 🔹Strong #investor landscape: Over 25 years, NRW has built a robust investor ecosystem covering various financing phases, technologies, and industries 🔹Decentralized distribution: Investors spread across NRW foster local startup and investment scenes 🔹Connection is key: Networking among stakeholders enhances NRW's perception as a hotspot alongside Berlin and Munich As a team, we aim to deepen the understanding of the VC sector in NRW, highlight its economic impact, and strengthen the network among local ecosystem players and beyond. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/epjf5Fsk and let us know in the comments, if you would like to receive a print copy and we'll be in touch. Thank you to everyone who has contributed during the process of research and drafting the report: Claas Heise & Thorsten Reuter (NRW.BANK), Ann-Christin Kortenbrede (Gründerfonds Ruhr), Felix Klatt (BRYCK.COM), Marek Willing (RSBG Ventures), Anna-Luisa Korte (Founders Foundation gGmbH), Kai Aichinger (Flossbach von Storch), Elisabeth Spitz-Sanchez (xdeck), Maurice Kügler (HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds), Johannes Velling (Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Industrie, Klimaschutz und Energie des Landes NRW)

𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝘁 VentureESG'𝘀 𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 Next Thursday (September 19), you can connect with our colleagues, Dr. Carolin Althoff and Britta Lenczewski at the first official FRAME conference hosted by our friends and partners VentureESG in London. The event is a community conference for VCs and LPs aiming to inspire more collective engagement around ESG and responsible investing in venture capital. We’re looking forward to seeing Dr. Carolin Althoff on stage in two sessions: 💬 "Unlocking Opportunities as an Investor" ⏰ Thursday, September 19, 2024 1:30pm 👥 Shaun Chaudhuri (The Westly Group) 💬 "Oxford-style debate: Venture Capital needs more ESG" ⏰ Thursday, September 19, 2024 4:15pm 👥 Suzanne Tavill (StepStone Group) and Lyel Resner (Cornell Tech) To find the full agenda, visit the event’s website: https://lnkd.in/e4KA7dyT As steering committee member and official sponsor, we are honored to support VentureESG with their first-time event. Johannes Lenhard, Hannah Leach, Danika Patel

𝗖𝘂𝘀𝗽 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗥𝗪.𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼 𝗗𝗮𝘆 Yesterday's NRW.Venture Portfolio Day in Düsseldorf was a fantastic opportunity learn about the latest investments of their "NRW.Venture IV" fund and connect with the #NRW #startup and #venturecapital community.    Our own Jan Sessenhausen had the honor of presenting our report on the #VC investor landscape in North Rhine-Westphalia. His presentation highlighted the development over the past 25 years and emphasized the pivotal role NRW.BANK and NRW.Ventures play within the ecosystem.    A big thank you to NRW.BANK and NRW.Ventures, especially Christoph Büth, Claas Heise, and Thorsten Reuter for the opportunity to share our insights and our partnership.    Learn more about our report here: https://lnkd.in/epjf5Fsk   Shout-out to B.J. Park for the 📸

𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗙𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 – 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗽 Yesterday evening, we had the pleasure of co-hosting an exclusive dinner with our friends and partners at Simon Capital, bringing together entrepreneurs and investors from the local corporate and family office network, all united by a focus on innovation.   Over the past few months, we’ve deeply explored the venture capital ecosystem here in NRW, particularly the progress of the last 15-25 years. It’s been inspiring to witness the growing engagement of corporates and family offices, increasingly taking on more active roles in this space.   Last night’s dinner was all about building connections within this ecosystem, demonstrating that sometimes the best networking happens over good food and a cold Bitburger! A huge thank you to Simon Capital for partnering with us and everyone who attended and made the event such a success.   Our event was one of the side-events leading up to the highly anticipated Future Tech Fest in Düsseldorf. Big thanks to the digihub - Digital Innovation Hub Düsseldorf/Rheinland GmbH team for the opportunity to host one of the official side events. Best of luck with today’s event—it’s going to be fantastic! Our colleague Jan Sessenhausen will be around and happy to meet you there.

𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 Jan Sessenhausen 𝗮𝘁 Future Tech Fest 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 Next week, you can connect with our colleague Jan Sessenhausen at this year's Future Tech Fest hosted by digihub - Digital Innovation Hub Düsseldorf/Rheinland GmbH in Düsseldorf.   We're excited to see Jan on stage with Simon Schneider from neoteq ventures, Mirko Novakovic from Dash0 and Anna-Lena Kümpel discussing:   💬 "Whats next to invest in? - What comes after LLM in AI, where large and smaller funds see potential to invest " 📍 Start-up Stage ⏰ Thursday, August 22, 2024 11:30 am   He’ll also act as jury member in the pitch competition: 💬 Start-up Pitch Battle Group 2/3  📍 Start-up Stage ⏰ Thursday, August 22, 2024 12:50 am Check out the entire program here: https://lnkd.in/ex4ZemrP, make sure to drop by the two panels and contact Jan to meet up on site.

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝗦𝗚 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝘂𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗩𝗖 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 In a comprehensive article, our friends and partners VentureESG have assembled examples from thirteen funds, across geographies, fund sizes, and sector focus, showcasing the large variety of ways VCs are helping with: 🔹Specific and material ESG lapses identified in due diligence 🔹Compliance with existing and future regulation and reporting requirements 🔹Designing effective action plans and progress management structures to lock ESG into companies' growth Check out their insightful blog article: https://lnkd.in/dT5jEfVt Thank you VentureESG for including Dr. Carolin Althoff representing the Cusp Capital team alongside Peter Hirsch (2150), Rosalind Bazany (Antler), Clara Cohade (blisce), Damien Didier (daphni), Dr. Adrian Fuchs & Claudia Raber (HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds), the team at Kindred Capital VC, Mehdi L. (Lightrock), Mona Saurén (Maki.vc), Grace Savage (Molten Ventures), Emily Matthews (Oxford Science Enterprises), Cecile Blilious, (Pitango) and Anaïs Blarel (Revaia)

🚨Kein Funding für Vertical SaaS Plays!? 🚨 Das war zumindest für lange Zeit die vorherrschende Meinung bei weiten Kreisen der VCs. Insbesondere ein zu kleiner TAM wurde oftmals als tragendes Argument geführt. Michael Kessler und sein Team von HERO Software haben erst vor kurzem 40 Mio. EUR im Rahmen Ihrer Series B eingesammelt (u.a. von Eight Roads und Cusp Capital) und bauen das Operating System für das europäische Handwerk. Mit Ihm habe ich gesprochen über den Stand von Vertical SaaS in Europa, die Vision von Hero für die nächsten Jahre sowie die vielen Vorteile und Potenziale in vertikalen Lösungen: 🚤 Schnelle Entscheidungszyklen Abseits des Enterprise Geschäftes spricht man oft direkt mit den Entscheidern. Hero erzielt somit Sales Cyles kleiner 30 Tagen 📈 Chance auf höhere Marktanteile Vertikale SaaS Player sehen sich oftmals einem geringeren Wettbewerb gegenüber. Excel ist nicht selten der härteste Wettbewerber im Pitch. Dadurch entstehen Chancen deutlich höhere Marktanteile zu erzielen, als in horizontalen Plays 🍚 Hohe Stickiness Mit stetiger Produktentwicklung steigt die Anzahl der Nutzer beim Kunden über Abteilungsgrenzen hinweg. Hohe usage, wenig churn und 130% NRR sind bei Hero das Resultat. 💶 Stetig steigende ARPAs Vertikale SaaS-Unternehmen können ihren durchschnittlichen Umsatz pro Kunde kontinuierlich steigern. Dies geschieht zum Einen durch stetig neue Funktionen, jedoch auch durch neue Produkte, Dienstleistungen oder einem Share an Zahlungstransaktionen. Warum keinen Marktplatz on top schaffen ? Sind wir in Europa bereits gesättigt, was vertikale SaaS Lösungen angeht ? Die Antwort darauf und viele weitere spannende Tipps von Michael gibt es im Pod. Vielen Dank für das super Gespräch. #podcast #arrtist #software

Over the past six months at Cusp Capital I have had the privilege of learning a passionate and thesis-driven approach towards identifying and evaluating early-stage investment opportunities in technology companies that are capable of redefining entire industries. In particular, I would like to thank the entire team for the outstanding internship experience and the great insight into venture capital and the daily life of an early-stage investor derived from numerous meetings with exceptional founders and internal discussions. Beyond that, I would especially like to thank Johannes Behringer and Matteo Stegner for mentoring me throughout the whole internship, teaching me how to evaluate long-term market / technology trends and how to build meaningful relationships with outstanding founders. As I move on to my first full-time position, you have the opportunity to secure yourself one of the best venture capital internships in Germany (https://lnkd.in/emduWaZx). Feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any questions!

𝗖𝘂𝘀𝗽 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘁 VentureESG'𝘀 𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 We are pleased to announce that we are an official sponsor of the FRAME conference, taking place on September 19, 2024, in London. As a Venture ESG Steering Committee member, we are honored to support VentureESG with their first-time event. FRAME is a dedicated ESG-for-VC conference designed to foster collective engagement around ESG and responsible investing within the venture capital community. Our colleague, Dr. Carolin Althoff, will be co-hosting the Investor Due Diligence Session alongside Ingrid Bonde Akerlind from Oxx. They will discuss the critical role ESG factors play in investment decision-making, portfolio management, and long-term value creation. To find more information, view the agenda and secure your ticket, click here: https://lnkd.in/e4KA7dyT

I'm excited to announce that I'll be co-hosting the Investor Due Diligence Session at FRAME alongside Ingrid Bonde Akerlind from Oxx VC. We will discuss which critical role ESG factors play in investment decision-making, portfolio management, and long-term value creation. FRAME is the industry's first dedicated ESG-for-VC conference. FRAME is a community conference for 250 VCs and 50 LPs to inspire more collective engagement around ESG and responsible investing in venture capital. To find out more and register, visit https://lnkd.in/e6fVWbk3. Don't miss this chance to gain insights from industry leaders and explore the evolving role of ESG in venture capital. We look forward to seeing you in London. Hannah Leach Johannes Lenhard Danika Patel VentureESG Cusp Capital