Backing start-ups that drive positive change for people and planet

About us

Vorwerk Ventures is an independent € 150m Venture Capital Fund with € 400m under management. We define ourselves through a strong commitment towards startups that drive positive change for the people and the planet. We lead seed rounds within our clearly defined focus areas: Consumer, Food, Health, and Climate.

Our unique experience in addition to an outstanding track record provides added value for forward-thinking tech entrepreneurs. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, we are constantly on the look-out for promising opportunities starting with Seed/Series A investments of €1m to €5m and ensuring continuous support by reserving up to €15m for upcoming financing rounds. An outstanding founding team, a unique product or service addressing a substantial market framed by a strong business model are key requirements to us when it comes to making an investment decision.

Key Facts

2000
Originally established
2000
Relaunched as an independent fund Entity
0 m
Current Fund size
0 m
Assets under management

1 - 10m

Initial Investment

0 m
For follow-on investments

Seed/
Series A

Stage sweetspot

0 +
Funded Companies

Team

Dirk Meurer
Managing Partner
Norbert Muschong
Managing Partner
Sascha Günther
Partner
Dr. Dominik Steinkühler
Partner
Katharina Man
Principal
Peter Schmetz
Principal
Marie-Sophie Ando
Senior Investment Manager
Hanna Villa
Investment Manager
Emanuel Wollersheim
Head of Finance
Julia Hall
Executive Assistant
Paul Meyhoefer
Chief of Staff
Dr. Jörg Neermann
Venture Partner

Portfolio

sqior

Automated workflows through digital assistants for hospitals
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Spot my Energy

Smart energy solutions for installers and their customers
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DEScycle

Revolutionizing critical metal recycling
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sorella

The next generation clinics for women
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Dude Chem

Building a European Green Chemistry Manufacturer
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CarbonPool

In-kind insurance for carbon removals
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Farmless

Decoupling food production from agriculture
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Sourcerie

Community powererd data and AI to power personalised beauty service
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Resourcify

Building the operating system for waste management & recycling
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Rex

Germany´s most modern pet care practices
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nilo health

The space for mental health at work
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Plantura

The sustainable gardening platform
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Better Dairy

Precision fermentation-based dairy
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Tickitto

Global API for tickets
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everdrop

Sustainable D2C household products
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Zapp

On-demand groceries & essentials delivery
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planted foods

Plant-based meat made of natural ingredients only
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Formel Skin

The e-health dermatology provider
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Avi Medical

Germany´s most modern primary care practices
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CoCoach

Online coaching partnership company that empowers fitness & health experts
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Sharpist

Digital education elevating your employees to the next level
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Rebike

Fueling the next generation of e-mobility
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Habyt

Co-living service provider
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Smartfrog

IoT solution for home video surveillance
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Lillydoo

Subscription-based baby care products
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Thermondo

All in one residential heating solutions
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Ottonova

Purely digital health insurance
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Dinner for dogs

High quality pet food delivered to your doorstep
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previous investments

HelloFresh

Leading meal kit delivery service
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Flaschenpost

On demand platform for beverage delivery
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Meinauto

Leading online portal for new vehicle purchase
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Gestigon

Human centric software & natural user interfaces
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Tennispoint

Leading multichannel shop outlet for tennis equipment
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Stylefruits

Leading European style advice platform

Stowa

Iconmic mechanical watches made in Germany
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Dawanda

Leading European marketplace for DIY and vintage products
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Ringana

D2C organic cosmetic & nutritional supplements brand
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Neato Robotics

Leading smart consumer robotics company
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PippaJean

D2C costume jewelery
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Horizn Studios

D2C smart luggage brand
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JUNIQE

Affordable inspiring wall art
» visit

Lesara

Fast fashion e-commerce

Vaniday

Beauty salon booking platform & software

Pauldirect

Shopping club for men
» visit

HelloFreshGo

The innovative micro-market for your office
» visit

Ruuky

Empowering the GenZ to become financially independent
» visit

alpakas

Organic zero-waste grocery delivery
» visit

Aitme

Automated cooking and meal preparation process support
» visit

Mädchenflohmarkt

The secondhand marketplace for women’s fashion
» visit

CrossEngage

Elevating your CRM to the next level
» visit

MedKitDoc

Hardware-enabled remote medical care platform
» visit

sunhero

Custom-built solar panel solutions
» visit

* The investments marked with an asterisk were made by Vorwerk Direct Selling Ventures GmbH. Vorwerk Direct Selling Ventures GmbH is a limited partner (Kommanditistin) of Vorwerk Ventures III GmbH & Co KG. The managing directors of Vorwerk Direct Selling Ventures GmbH are also the managing directors of MM Venture Management GmbH, which acts as managing limited partner (geschäftsführende Kommanditistin) of Vorwerk Ventures III GmbH & Co KG.

MM Venture Management GmbH

Charlottenstr. 43

10117 Berlin

For press inquiries:

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Dirk Meurer

Managing Partner

About

Dirk is a Managing Partner of Vorwerk Ventures which he joined in early 2007 as the second team member. He has more than 25 years of international investment management experience in venture capital and private equity. He has been instrumental for the firm´s investments in Meinauto, HelloFresh, Gestigon and Neato Robotics. Currently he is in charge of the fund´s investments in habyt, Smartfrog, Rebike, Thermondo, Ottonova and many others. Prior to his assignment at Vorwerk Ventures he managed an extensive emerging markets investment portfolio mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa at Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, one of the largest development finance institutes in the world. His career originated in Deutsche Bank´s venture capital arm DVC Deutsche Venture Capital, where he was a Partner with responsibility for investments in digital technology companies. Dirk holds an MBA from ebs European Business School, graduating with distinction.

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Marie-Sophie Ando

Senior Investment Manager

About

Marie-Sophie (Marie to her friends and everyone else) joined Vorwerk Ventures in 2023. Prior she was one of the first team members at Foundamental, a global early-stage construction-tech fund. Marie has worked on investments and built a network across Asia, Europe, and the US. Besides focusing on investments, she built up the internal processes of the fund. Before joining the venture ecosystem, she gained hands on experience and deep industry insights, be it working in business development at Trumpf in Singapore or consultancy roles at the Fraunhofer Institute for production technology. Marie holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and business from RWTH Aachen University. Born in Japan and raised in Germany, food has always been her medium to stay connected to her heritage, which turned into a passion for cooking and exploring foods & culture from across the world.

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Emanuel Wollersheim

Head of Finance

About

Emanuel joined Vorwerk Ventures in 2023 as Head of Finance, in order to support the growing investment team and to keep the company in checks with the increased regulatory and administrative requirements. Before joining Vorwerk Ventures, he was working in a similar position at a large German Venture Fund, equipping him with the necessary skillset and knowledge to build and lead the finance function at Vorwerk Ventures. Prior to working on the backend of Venture Funds, he made his first career steps as an audit professional with EY in Zurich. He studied International Business at Maastricht University and holds a Double Master Degree in International Business and International Management from Maastricht University and Queen’s University (today: Smith School of Business) in Kingston, Canada. Moreover, Emanuel is a certified auditor (eidg. diplomierter Wirtschaftsprüfer) in Switzerland. When not at work, he frees his thoughts at a vast range of sports activities, including football or tennis, as well as outdoor activities such as hiking, snowboarding and sailing.

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Hanna Villa

Analyst

About

Hanna joined Vorwerk Ventures in early 2023. Previously, she was at the Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, investing in female (co)founders building early-stage B2B ventures in Europe. Hanna has worked in the tech ecosystem in Germany and the U.S., be it an accelerator in Berlin and startups in New York and California. Before entering VC and transitioning her passion for the sciences into technology and startups, Hanna did medicine and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School and University of Southern California. Hanna holds a Masters degree in Strategy and Digital Business at ESCP Business School and a Bachelors in Psychology at University of Long Beach in California. Outside of VC, Hanna is an avid tennis player and film and arts enthusiast.

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Dr. Jörg Neermann

Venture Partner

About

Jörg studied Biotechnology at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). He performed his Ph.D. research work in genetic engineering of mammalian cell cultures at the Gesellschaft of Biotechnologische Forschung mbH (GBF) and received his Ph.D. with summa cum laude from TU Braunschweig in 1997. In addition, he studied economics at TU Braunschweig and Harvard Business School.

After a brief stint in management consulting, he started his career in life sciences venture capital in 1996 with Atlas Venture as an associate. In 1998 he joined DVC Deutsche Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, as an investment manager; there he built the Life Science franchise and became Partner in 2000 and Managing Partner in early 2002. In 2007 he joined LSP Life Sciences Partners as a Partner in their Munich office and was Managing Director of LSP’s German subsidiary until 2020. During his time at DVC and LSP he evaluated several hundred life science deals and invested as lead investor in more than 20 biotech companies. Most of them he accompanied as a board member through various financings to an IPO or M&A.  In 2021 and 2022 he served as CEO of the Göttingen based longevity start-up Curexsys. In early 2023 he joined Vorwerk Ventures as a Venture Partner. He also serves on the boards of several biotech companies and invests in selected companies.

 

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Dr. Dominik Steinkühler

Partner

About

Dominik joined Vorwerk Ventures in 2022 as a Partner. He has an extensive background as an operator from small to large scale companies, having founded, scaled and sold Lendico, a Fintech, or working as divisional board member for Commerzbank, a large bank, in charge of its digital transformation and all central functions of the corporate client’s segment such as sales management, financial steering or strategy. Most recently he helped to build FRIDAY, an insurtech, as CFO. In the early years of his career, Dominik worked as an investment banker for Rothschild and as a consultant for BCG. Given this background, Dominik is particularly interested in all things financial services, software to help companies transform the way they do business, and sustainable technologies. He holds a PhD in Economics from RWTH Aachen and a Diploma in Economics from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management.

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Sascha Günther

Partner

About

Before joining Vorwerk Ventures in 2020 Sascha was co-founder and COO of the B2B travel tech startup Yilu which was funded by Lufthansa Group. Being responsible for Operations, Finance and HR, Sascha established the strategy and processes to scale the venture to 65+ employees. Prior to Yilu, Sascha headed the investment activities of Lufthansa Innovation Hub structuring two direct investments of Lufthansa Group into cargo.one and Fleet. Before joining Lufthansa Group, he built-up the investment team and processes at Project A ventures, scouted potential investments and conducted due diligences. In addition, Sascha has some years of experience in management consulting where he started his career. Sascha holds a double Master’s degree in International Management from UCD Dublin and ESADE Business School. In his free time, he enjoys all kind of sports as well as exploring culinary delights as foodist.
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Norbert Muschong

Managing Partner

About

Norbert is a Managing Partner of Vorwerk Ventures since its inception in 2007. He is the initiator and driver of the Corporate Venture Capital activities from the very beginning which culminated in the independent setup of the most recent Fund. He was responsible for the firm´s investments in Flaschenpost, Ringana, Enjo and Tennispoint from identifying the investment opportunity until its exit. Today he is, among other things, responsible for the fund´s investments in Lillydoo, CrossEngage and Dinner for Dogs. Prior to Vorwerk Ventures, Norbert led Project Management at Vorwerk Group and was involved in numerous strategy and M&A-projects. He started out his career at Vorwerk as a trainee in sales followed by growing responsibilities in various field management and sales support management roles. Norbert studied Business Administration in Mannheim and Tübingen, graduating top of his class.

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Constantin Koenigsegg

Investment Manager

About

Constantin joined Vorwerk Ventures in early 2020. Prior, he was part of the investment team at the early stage VC Project A, focusing on early stage B2B topics in Europe and more specifically the Nordics. During his business development time at the digital health startup Careship, he had hands-on operational exposure to growing a business at speed. Before jumping into the startup ecosystem, Constantin gained first experience in finance in Private Banking and Asset Management at LGT Group in Hong Kong and later in M&A at the global construction firm CPB Contractors in Sydney. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Politics and Economics from Zeppelin University. Apart from his VC activities, Constantin is a passionate Alpinist in his home country Austria.

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Julia Hall

Executive Assistant

About

Before joining Vorwerk Ventures as an Executive Assistant early 2020, Julia has held several positions within the Vorwerk Group. After starting off as an Executive Assistant in 2016, she transitioned to the Sustainability Department in order to push the company towards an even greener future. In 2018 Julia supported an internal restructuring program by assisting in drafting new structures and processes as well as a new IT infrastructure. In her last role, she was part of the Vorwerk IT Department as an Executive Assistant. Julia holds a BSc in Psychology from FOM University in Düsseldorf. Besides being the “good soul” in our office, Julia enjoys pampering her two dogs and taking them on runs and hikes.

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Holger Witte

Managing Partner

About

Before joining Vorwerk Ventures as a Partner in late 2019 Holger has been active in Venture Capital for 12+ years. He worked in several high-ranking positions at Project A Ventures being responsible for the fundraising and fund administration, supporting portfolio companies in raising follow-on funding, making new seed and early stage investments as well as generating ideas for incubation projects. Before joining Project A, he was Head of New Business and Online Investment Manager at Bauer Media managing the online portfolio and developing media-related business models. In addition, Holger has several years of experience as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York City and (unsuccessfully) founded his own digital business gaining viable operational experience. In his free time, he enjoys all kinds of sports and came to love the campervan and hiker life during a long sabbatical in 2018/2019.

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Katharina Man

Principal

About

Before joining Vorwerk Ventures early 2020, Katharina gained experiences in the consulting and start-up world in London. To follow her passion for the entrepreneurial space, she joined the fashion-tech start-up Lyst as a Country Manager being responsible for the company’s largest international region. Prior to Lyst, she was a Vice President at AlixPartners, where she advised Private Equity clients and helped them to optimize their portfolio companies to maximize their exit value. Projects have allowed her to work in over 10 countries and thereby experience the beauty of working with a diverse team. She studied Business Administration at WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management and Bocconi University and holds a MSc in Economics & Strategy from Imperial College London. Besides hunting exciting ventures, Katharina is an avid runner and modern art lover. She passionately scuba dives and explores untraveled countries – amongst her favourite trips is a three weeks hike in the Himalayas by herself.

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Peter Schmetz

Principal

About

Peter joined Vorwerk Ventures in 2018 and experienced the company´s development during its CVC stage, helping to relaunch Vorwerk Ventures as an independent fund entity in late 2019. Before joining Vorwerk Ventures, Peter worked in the Treasury Department of the Vorwerk Group in Wuppertal, where he was mainly responsible for foreign currency management and liquidity management besides assisting in managing Vorwerk´s investment fund. Peter holds a BA in Global Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a MA from Bergische Universität Wuppertal in European Studies. He has always enjoyed playing (semi) professional football in his spare time, thus you will most likely find him on a football pitch if not hunting for the next unicorn out there.

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