The Venture Codex

Participated · Series D · Mar 2021

Volocopter develops electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Six weeks after warning it could be forced to consider insolvency, the company announced it had been successfully financed by several existing investors. The company described the transaction as a financial lifeline. Due to ongoing contractual obligations, Volocopter said it could not disclose the investor names or the amount raised. The article did not provide details on the financing instrument, past rounds, future plans, valuation, or operating metrics. Volocopter develops the VoloCity eVTOL passenger air taxi and positions itself as a pioneer in urban air mobility. The company has conducted international tests, including a South Korean test flight in November 2021, and first committed to a Japanese market entry in 2018. Volocopter expects regulatory approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Authority in 2024, and its concurrent type‑certification application to Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau has been accepted. Japanese, Singaporean and U.S. (FAA) regulators are validating its urban air mobility system. The company plans to showcase a full‑size VoloCity replica at an Osaka shopping mall to build public awareness ahead of regional launches. Strategic partners and investors are being used to support certification and commercial rollout plans, including a targeted Japan service date of 2025. Volocopter is a German startup that builds electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, principally the two-seater VoloCity air taxi. It also develops the VoloDrone heavy-lift electric drone and the VoloIQ digital platform for bookings and flight operations. The company is in active flight testing to meet European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) requirements and has received Design Organisation Approval in 2019 and Production Organisation Approval in 2021. Volocopter aims to obtain Special Condition certification for small-category VTOL aircraft by the second half of 2023 and begin initial revenue-generating rides in 2024. Recent fundraising — including a $182M second signing of its Series E on top of a $170M tranche from March — will fund testing, certification, infrastructure development, ecosystem integration and public awareness ahead of commercialization. The company has formed joint ventures with Neom and Geely Holding to integrate its aircraft into smart-city and China markets, with Neom ordering 15 aircraft and the Geely JV agreeing to purchase 150. Volocopter develops eVTOL aircraft and an urban air-taxi operating model from its base in Bruchsal, southern Germany. The company highlights three aircraft families—VoloCity, VoloConnect and VoloDrone—and has completed roughly 1,000 public and private test flights. It is the first eVTOL company to receive Design Organisation Approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, positioning it for certification and early market entry. Volocopter plans to use new funding to kick off commercial air taxi services in cities such as Singapore, Rome, Paris (and South Korea has been mentioned for launch), aiming for initial commercial operations around 2024 contingent on certification. At commercial launch flights will be piloted, though the VoloCity is technically capable of crewed, remotely piloted, and autonomous operation and the company says it will transition toward non-crewed flights as regulations and public acceptance evolve. Management has said the business will pursue a path to a public listing eventually. Volocopter develops fully electric eVTOL aircraft and associated physical and digital infrastructure, including the VoloCity and VoloDrone aircraft, VoloPort terminals, and the VoloIQ digital platform. The company partners with firms across infrastructure, operations, and air traffic management to build the ecosystem required for urban air mobility. Its product roadmap and services range from autonomous electric air taxis for passengers to cargo delivery via VoloDrone. Volocopter intends to use recent funding to bring the VoloCity to certification and to accelerate the launch of its first commercial routes. The company is the first eVTOL firm to receive Design Organisation Approval (DOA) from EASA and expects first commercial air taxi routes within the next two years. To date it has conducted milestone flights in Helsinki, Stuttgart, Dubai, and over Singapore’s Marina Bay and has cumulatively raised €322m.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2020

Finom is an Amsterdam-headquartered fintech startup developing a unified mobile-first financial platform for businesses that combines banking functionality, invoicing, accounting and financial management. Its platform includes invoicing today and a growing set of features such as AI-supported accounting. The company reports expansion into key European markets including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain. Finom has raised approximately $346 million in total capital following a €115 million Series C and an earlier $105 million growth round involving General Catalyst. The business emphasizes simplifying financial operations for entrepreneurs and building scalable, regulatory-aware financial infrastructure. No public revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the provided articles.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2019

Myos is a Berlin-based fintech that provides working capital solutions for online retailers via an AI-based lending platform. The platform monitors product price, sales performance, and marketplace competition to build a product potential score that projects future sales and the value of financed products. Myos supports merchants in their startup phase who are often considered unbankable and offers growth-phase merchants flexibility through a collateral-based dynamic repayment approach. The company has supported merchants with over €30M across more than 1,000 loans and currently employs 30 people, with Frankfurt-based Raisin Bank as its banking partner. Led by co-founder and CEO Nikolaus Hilgenfeldt, Myos plans to use new funding to grow its customer base in Europe, enter international markets, and continue developing its AI lending platform. Myos is a Berlin-based fintech that provides merchants with fast, flexible working capital, offering liquidity up to seven-figure amounts without personal guarantees. The company requires financed products to be sold on online marketplaces (Amazon, Alibaba, eBay) and evaluates them using a proprietary risk-scoring model. By leveraging the transparency and data availability of e-commerce platforms, Myos assesses credit risk based on real-time sales potential and automates scoring to enable financing at scale. Its financing products come without annuities, personal guarantees or impact on credit scores, and the company monitors sales potential in real time. Myos plans to use the new funding to further develop its platform, particularly its AI-based scoring technology, and to refinance loans. Nikolaus Hilgenfeldt is co-founder and CEO.

Participated · Series A · Dec 2017

Billie is a factoring startup that targets small- and medium-sized enterprises by offering an online platform that enables them to receive immediate payment for open invoices. Its solution combines big data analytics and fully digitalized processes to deliver transparent financing with no hidden fees, paperwork, or physical bank branches. Co-founded by Christian Grobe and Matthias Knecht, the company seeks to alleviate cash-flow constraints for SMEs through a technology-driven approach. Billie plans to use advanced analytics to continuously refine risk assessment and expand the range of invoice-based financing products available on its platform. With fresh capital, the team intends to further develop the platform and accelerate geographic and customer acquisition efforts. The business remains at an early stage; no revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. The company’s funding so far comes from prominent European tech investors, underscoring confidence in its growth prospects.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2015

Hostmaker, founded in 2014 by Nakul Sharma, is a tech-driven hospitality management company serving short-term rental hosts. It offers end-to-end services including five-star hotel-trained housekeeping, professional photography, daily pricing reviews, guest relations and vetting, interior design, and multi-platform listing management. The company has carried out over 150,000 services across Europe and reports 400% year-on-year growth. Hostmaker currently operates in London, Paris, Rome and Barcelona. The founders position the business as an upmarket branded homestay hospitality service rather than a traditional property manager. The new funding is planned to support development of proprietary pricing and operations applications and to drive growth and expansion beyond Europe, with a particular focus on Asia. Hostmaker offers end-to-end hospitality services for homes listed on Airbnb, including interior design and professional photography, cleaning and linen service, concierge services, dynamic pricing and channel management, guest approval and communication, and maintenance coordination. The company supports over 1,000 hosts across London, Barcelona, Paris, and Rome, and manages 100,000 active Airbnb listings. Founded in 2014 by Nakul Sharma and based in London, Hostmaker packages those services for hosts to optimize listings and guest experience. The business model centers on managing listings and operations on behalf of hosts across multiple European cities. Hostmaker intends to use new capital to expand its operations further. The company has raised funding previously and continues to scale its service footprint. Hostmaker is a London-based Airbnb hospitality management service launched in July 2014 by CEO Nakul Sharma. The company closed a $1M funding round to support product and geographic expansion. Investors in the round included Initial Capital and existing backers DN Capital and DSG Consumer Partners. Hostmaker provides hotel-standard cleaning, linen rental, welcome packs, pricing optimization, guest communication, design services and maintenance for hosts. It currently supports nearly 1,000 hosts across the UK, France, Spain and Italy. In the prior six months the company launched in Paris, introduced a new account management system for hosts and created a design service for Airbnb listings. Hostmaker is an Airbnb hospitality management service that helps hosts with housekeeping, in-person guest welcomes, concierge services, pricing and marketing, including listing management and professional photography. It offers two monetization models: a pay-as-you-go option for individual services and a fully managed end-to-end service that handles listings, enquiries, pricing/yield management, guest preparation and stay management. The company competes with Onefinestay and U.S. player Pillow, and overlaps with on-demand cleaning, laundry and maintenance providers. Hostmaker is available in London, Barcelona and Rome and serves about 5,000 guests per month. To fuel growth and further European expansion the company has closed a $2M seed round led by DN Capital. Investors in the round include Avala Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, Delivery Hero co-founder Nikita Fahrenholz and former Airbnb India & Middle East MD Mohit Srivastava.