VC change: Mathias Ockenfels joins B2venture as partner from Speedinvest

Here, the experienced investor talks about what prompted him to switch from Speedinvest to B2venture

He has remained in Berlin, but since the beginning of July, Mathias Ockenfels has been working under a new banner: The former partner at Speedinvest has been hired as a new partner in the fund investment team at B2venture.

He consciously chose a smaller VC as his new employer, the investor explains his motives in an interview with Gründerszene: "There are essentially two dimensions in venture capital: On the one hand, there are smaller firms like Benchmark Capital, where an extremely small team makes all the decisions. And then there are firms like Andreessen Horowitz, with hundreds of people and billions of assets under management," explains Ockenfels.

During his seven years at Speedinvest alone, the international VC from Vienna grew from 30 to around 100 employees, and the capital under management increased from €300 million to €1.4 billion. Speedinvest is thus one of the largest VCs in Austria and also plays in the league of Europe's major early-stage investors, holding more than 300 companies in its portfolio, including Wefox , Bitpanda , Tier Mobility , Adverity, and Tourradar.

Ockenfels, who knows from his time at Pointnine what it feels like to work in a small, “boutique VC,” did not feel at home in the large company.

"Both have their place," says Ockenfels, not wanting to be judgmental. "But I've discovered for myself that I prefer small, agile, and powerful companies. Those where venture capital is still practiced like a craft." For him, this also represents the advantage of small VCs, because investing is a people's business, and the interests of fund investors, fund managers, and founders are thus more closely aligned. He has no concerns that the larger funds will push smaller ones out of the best deals.

In his new role at B2venture, Ockenfels will be responsible for investments in the areas of platform economics, marketplaces, and business models with network effects. This is where he comes from, having also worked in this field for Speedinvest. Speedinvest has invested in this area in companies such as CoachHub, GoStudent, Schüttflix, and ReFurbed.

"I believe network effects will become even more important in the age of AI because the defensibility of business models is decreasing," says the investor. "It's becoming increasingly easier to replicate products and innovate quickly."

B2venture was founded in St. Gallen in 2000 and now has offices in Berlin, Zurich, Munich, and Luxembourg. The company invests over €100 million annually and holds stakes in more than 200 startups in its portfolio. Among them are many well-known companies such as DeepL, 1Komma5° , Marvel Fusion, Volocopter, Raisin, and Sumup. The venture capital firm focuses primarily on early-stage investments and invests throughout Europe. B2venture manages over €600 million in total.