Redalpine expands leadership team amid CHF 1bn-plus fundraise

The firm has expanded its leadership team with the addition of Curtze to support its fundraising and deployment strategies, alongside portfolio growth, it said in an announcement issued today (31 August).

Curtze will actively participate as a member of the firm’s investment committee, leveraging her expertise in venture investing, according to the announcement.

She will also be involved with the firm’s evergreen Summit Fund, which is currently fundraising with a CHF 1bn-plus (ca. EUR 1.04bn) target. The fund, which held a first close in March 2022, is currently seeing “great momentum,” she told Unquote.

The Summit Fund has already made a number of investments in companies “which are changing the way we think about healthcare, mobility, research, financial services, space exploration or the future of work,” she said.

Redalpine has a strong investment pipeline − predominantly in the European technology and biotech industries − further bolstered by the Summit Fund, which is now also able to make later-stage investments. The vehicle has a sector-agnostic investment strategy, with a focus on software and science companies, in line with the overarching investment approach of the firm’s early-stage funds.

Curtze described Redalpine as “conviction-based investors,” noting that the firm’s equity stakes and ticket sizes vary depending on the stage the firm’s targets each time.

Its early-stage allocations are typically at seed to Series A stage. It aims to support founders substantially, meaning that it usually opts for acquiring a significant stake, while reserving some allocation for follow-on investments.

Overall, the Summit Fund is set to provide exposure to more than 100 underlying companies, offering diversification across vintages, stages and number of investments, she said.

With more than EUR 1bn in assets under management, the firm has backed more than 85 companies, including German mobile tax app Taxfix, and French startup Umiami, which specialises in the production of plant-based meat and fish. The companies raised funding rounds of USD 220m and EUR 26.5m respectively, in April 2022, as reported.

The firm is currently fundraising for Redalpine Capital VII, which registered with the Luxembourg Registry in October 2022, according to Unquote Data. The fund is expected to follow the predecessor's strategies and invest in the software and science sectors across Europe.

Summit Fund
The VC’s Summit Fund is continuously adding new investors to its LPs base, she said, noting that quarterly subscriptions are possible, allowing the firm to provide investors with liquidity in addition to the returns generated by exiting portfolio companies.

The rationale for an open-ended fund stems from the frequent need of institutional investors, including insurance companies and pension funds, to generate returns and facilitate redemptions on an ongoing basis to fulfil their commitments to beneficiaries and policy holders, she said.

The Summit Fund provides ongoing reinvestment of capital and the possibility of dispensing periodic distributions as it realizes capital gains, while offering LPs the option to initiate redemptions and hence provides limited liquidity, she added.

“Overall, this structure not only offers more flexibility for investors, but also equips the Summit Fund with the agility to respond to changing market circumstances and adjust its strategy accordingly,” she said. “It also provides a lower reinvestment risk by maintaining investor participation and hence returns tend to compound continuously, which, in turn, can foster greater alignment with the long-term goals of the investors.”

Its LPs base includes pension funds, banks, foundations, family offices and entrepreneurs, spread across multiple geographies, Curtze said. A large number of existing investors from the firm’s closed-end funds have also chosen to invest in the Summit Fund, she added.

“They are essentially our cornerstone investors and going forward, we also expect to see re-ups from existing Summit Fund investors as the structure allows for a staggered entry,” she said.
Redalpine maintains strong historical roots in Switzerland, where ongoing and future fundraising activities focus, while looking to attract international investors as well.

New role
Curtze joins the firm from Berlin-headquartered digital real estate tech company Aviv Group, where she served as CFO, according to an announcement. Aviv is part of the German media group Axel Springer and includes digital real-estate classifieds such as France-based Groupe SeLoger and Belgium-based Immoweb.

She currently serves on the supervisory board of JobRad Holding, a German provider of sustainable and flexible bicycle mobility services, as well as publicly listed German online sports equipment retailer Bike24 Holding, it said.

Prior to that, she was senior vice president of finance and investments at German internet provider Rocket Internet, where she was responsible for corporate finance, investments, capital raising, capital markets transactions, investor relations and communications. She has a background in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and Barclays, according to the announcement.

[Editor's note: The first paragraph under the sub-section New role has been amended to note the correct location and profile of Aviv Group.]

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