Cavalry launches €20m maiden VC fund

The investment firm was launched in the spring of 2016 by six investors and former startup founders. Among them is Rouven Dresselhaus, a former Capnamic investment manager; Claude Ritter, the founder of Book-a-Tiger; and Markus Fuhrmann, the co-founder of Dojo Madness and Delivery Hero.

After six weeks of fundraising, the VC held a soft close on an undisclosed seven-digit sum, aiming to hold the final close by the end of the year. The Germany-based vehicle will have an eight year lifespan, with a 1+1 extension option.

The minimum subscription is €200,000 and placement agents are not involved. Cavalry I will invest €200,000 initially and up to €4m in total per startup. It is targeting 10-12 investments per year. 

Berlin's VC scene has seen a fundraising frenzy in the first half of 2016. Ex-Earlybird partner Ciaran O'Leary kicked off the year with the launch of Blue Yard Capital with a $120m early-stage fund, followed by Cherry Ventures closing its €150m vehicle. In late May, E.Ventures closed its fifth European fund on $150m.

Investors
Cavalry Ventures I's anchor investors are family offices and a trust fund.

The vehicle was also backed by the founders and around 20 business angels, including Amiando-founder Felix Haas; Thomas Bachem, chairman of the German Startup Association; Tilo Bonow, founder of Piabo PR; Constanze Buchheim, founder of iPotentials; Stefan Klemm, founder of Karrieretag Familienunternehmen; Thomas Kretschmar, founder of Hypoport; Nenad Marovac, founder of DN Capital; Myke Näf, founder of Doodle and M&A lawyer Jens Röhrborn.

Investments
Cavalry focuses on pre-seed and seed investments, but reserves capital to financially support successful companies in their later stages. The main geographic focus is DACH, but the fund is able to invest worldwide.

Its target industry is tech, with relevant sub-markets including consumer internet, software-as-a-service, marketplaces, adtech, big data, machine learning, alternative intelligence, enterprise software, mobile, Internet of Things, fintech, legal tech and property tech.

People
Cavalry Ventures – Rouven Dresselhaus (managing partner).

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