Munich Startup: Please briefly introduce Spuerangels!
Franzi Majer, co-founder of Superangels: Alex Brand, Flo Gottschaller, and I founded Superangels in March 2023. We are a "Business Angel Matching Fund" and invest early in tech startups across a wide range of industries—from deep tech to SaaS, AI to climate tech. What makes us special is that we always and exclusively Investments Our 20 experts – our "Allstars" – were personally selected from a total of more than 100 business angels. The selection is based on historical performance and investment strategy, among other factors.
Everyone who has made it into the network is an expert in their field, having already founded and sold a company in that area and/or having invested in it for years. Overall, Superangels has a historical portfolio of over 350 investments that our angels and we have made in the past.
If one of our experts decides to invest, we automatically match the investment – without exception. This enables us to identify the most promising startups from a wide range of sectors and invest in the best ones at an early stage. The advantages for startups: Through our investment, they receive additional capital from a passive investor. At the same time, we have sufficient capital in the background to participate in subsequent rounds. Furthermore, the startups gain access to our entire network of "Business Angel Allstars" and their expertise. And of course, they can always count on our content-related support, be it through introductions to other VCs, help with accessing potential customers, and much more.
Now, after BAFin registration, we are opening our “Matching Fund” to family offices and private investors for the first time.
Superangels: Everything about Bits & Bytes
Munich Startup: What do you prefer to invest in?
Franzi Majer: We don't have any preference here. As soon as one of our experts is convinced after their due diligence and decides to invest, we go along. However, it always has to have something to do with technology, but in this case, it's very broad. Keyword: everything related to bits and bytes.
Munich Startup: Do personal preferences sometimes influence investments?
Franzi Majer: This is 100 percent impossible due to our investment strategy alone. Our expert always makes the decision for himself and his own money. Once this decision has been made, we match the same amount.
How to best profit from investors
Munich Startup: Do startups have to be afraid that you will interfere too much?
Franzi Majer: We are in the cap table (= “capitalization table” of the shareholdings in the company, editor’s note), but otherwise silent investors. If one of our portfolio companies needs help, we're always there – but only upon request from the founders. The three of us have founded several companies ourselves and know how, as founders, you can best benefit from your investors and what is counterproductive.
Munich Startup: To be successful, a startup must…
Franzi Majer: … be good at sales!
Munich Startup: Tell us the knockout criteria for the pitch!
Franzi Majer: When the founders don't have their own numbers under control. And when you notice that there are differences between the founders.
Munich Startup: The trend of the year is…?
Franzi Majer: Artificial Intelligence.
Attractive combination of innovation, talent pool and support
Munich Startup: What is the Munich startup scene doing right from the investors’ perspective?
Franzi Majer: In my opinion, Munich's startup scene is particularly exciting for tech investors because of its diverse range of innovative companies and technologies. Munich is a major technology hub with world-class universities, research institutions, and established industries. This environment encourages the emergence of new ideas and provides access to highly qualified specialists. There is also a well-developed infrastructure for startups, including incubators, accelerators, and venture capital funds.
Munich is also internationally renowned and attracts investors from all over the world. Overall, the Munich startup scene offers an attractive combination of innovative strength, talent pool, and support, attracting investors from all over the world.
Munich Startup: What could she do better?
Franzi Majer: Despite all the friendly reserve, and this brings us back to the topic of sales from before: Overall, we could be a bit more proactive! Munich has a fantastic startup scene that has nothing to hide—quite the opposite.
Munich Startup: Who do startups approach when they want to talk to you?
Franzi Majer: It is always best to approach one of our 20 Business Angels – an overview will be available very soon on our new homepage (Launch planned for mid-July, editor's note.) and until then about LinkedIn.
