As a new partner at B2venture, Hoffmann is responsible for the collaboration between startups and business angels as well as for direct investments – and explains her move and the path to angel investment.
With a volume of 150 million euros, the VC B2venture has closed its largest find in history to date. In addition to funds, the company also relies on another strategy: direct investments, including through its own angel community. Here, business angels can invest in startups that are exciting to them, where they can contribute industry expertise or networks. B2venture has now brought in a new partner for this area: Friederike Hoffmann.
About Friederike Hoffmann
Before her move, Hoffmann spent 13 years at the telecommunications company Swisscom, most recently as Executive Vice President and head of the B2B telecommunications business. She was also a member of the Enterprise Board there. She is also a member of the board of directors of Ivoclar and Localsearch.
Now joining a VC is a next logical step for Hoffmann: “I have achieved everything I could in my corporate career,” says Hoffmann to Gründerszene. “You always have to do something new, otherwise you become operationally blind. At some point I would no longer be a good manager if I only managed what I had built myself.” The challenge is now to move from a large organization like Swisscom to a smaller one and move it forward.
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For Hoffmann, the new role as VC partner is also a step “back to the roots,” as she says. “At the beginning of my career, I worked with startups and helped set up the first biotech and medtech fund at the Charité.”
Hoffmann is also active as a business angel himself, has completed B2venture’s angel academy and has invested in startups in the life science, med-tech and telco sectors.
This is what Friederike Hoffmann does at B2venture
Hoffmann came to the position as partner through a recommendation. The position was created especially for her: Hoffmann wanted to expand her own investments at B2venture. A business angel friend made the contact. However, after several conversations with the VC, she was offered the position of partner and decided to go for it.
One of Hoffmann’s tasks as a partner will be to find the most relevant business angels and companies for startups, which will then participate via B2venture – in which area does a startup need expertise, who can help? “The angels support questions such as: How do you hire the right people? How do you grow faster? What tech stack do you really use?” says Hoffmann. “But they also open doors to customer networks and initial industrial partners.”
But that’s not all: Hoffmann will support both the direct investment team and the business angels throughout the entire investment process and further expand the network.
Startups from these areas are interesting
The focus of direct investments is deep tech and life science. Hoffmann himself relies on defense, med-tech and European technology developments. “I come from the telco industry,” says Hoffmann. “I know the industry’s technologies well, such as satellites and security networks, which are currently being further developed in many defense and space technology startups. This is exactly where it will be decided whether Europe can rely on its own technologies in the future – or remain dependent.”
This is how the direct investment process works
In many direct investments, the business angels source the startups themselves. Both early-stage investments as well as Series A and later are possible – even preferably. “Later stage is interesting for direct investments because the angels have a quicker return,” says Hoffmann. “The technology is more proven. The founders are already further along and the angels often have even greater leverage in the industry.”
If you would like an angel investment, you can contact B2venture via a warm intro, preferably directly with a pitch deck.
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First, the B2venture team screens the startup. To do this, it requests the necessary data and carries out due diligence, analogous to the usual VC process. If the momentum and industry match, the B2venture team recommends the startup to selected angels and collects initial, non-binding commitments. “If we have a round together in which many angels find a startup exciting, there is an appointment with the founding team,” says Hoffmann. They then take you through the pitch deck and the data room again. The angels can then ask questions and the team obtains binding commitments.
What is important to angels from the B2venture network?
“The angel community does fantastic risk assessment and has a strong enthusiasm for European technology,” says Hoffmann. “Our angels bring an enormous amount of knowledge and can make very informed decisions. Because our direct investments are not tied to a fund investment strategy, there is more freedom.”
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Therefore, according to Hoffmann, they often want to contribute their knowledge and their own experiences – in some investments, along with a place on the advisory board or board of directors. “Of course they also want to see great deal flow and work with the most exciting new startups,” says Hoffmann. “Performance is just as important to them as classic LPs.”
B2venture was founded in 2000. With regard to the community, more than 350 business angels belong to the network. B2venture’s portfolio includes, for example, Deepl, 1Komma5° and Neura Robotics.
