400 million euros collected for new funds

200 million euros will go into the new growth fund, which will equip young B2B companies that already exist. This fund is co-led by Sahar Meghani, a Harvard graduate and former LinkedIn contributor who was also recently made a partner at Visionaries Club.

And 50 million euros are earmarked for the so-called Visionaries Club Tomorrow Fund. This is intended to support young founding teams who are working on radically new technologies and business models with high global relevance, but which often fall through the cracks of traditional venture capitalists.

The fund focuses on new business ideas, “which often come directly from the world of science and are particularly committed to solving the complex and comprehensive challenges of tomorrow’s world, such as climate change,” explains Pollok, who will set up this fund , while Lacher has overall responsibility for the new B2B funds.

There are probably two reasons why the investors include almost all the names that have already invested in the first EUR 140 million fund generation of the Visionaries Club from 2019. First: the interim result after three years, according to which the annual return on investment was between 70 and 150 percent.

Which means that the funds would be in the top five percent of VCs worldwide in terms of performance according to (not fully transparent) information from US data and research provider Pitchbook. Lacher and Pollok were primarily looking for young companies that are using their technologies to advance the digitization of traditional industry by primarily transforming processes along the value and supply chains.

The club idea is intended to network investors and founders

And secondly: The visionaries concept, hence the suffix “club”, sees itself as a community that regularly comes together in their loft-like offices in Berlin-Mitte for theme and discussion evenings. But which is also permanently networked via a specially personalized digital platform in order to exchange experiences and solutions between investors and founders.

In this way, it should also be easier to generate initial sales when the new digital ideas are subjected to an initial reality and practical check, for example in the family businesses mentioned.

>> Listen to the podcast here: Investor Lacher: “We see an unprecedented quality in tech start-ups in Germany”

Franz Markus Haniel, for many years clan leader of the Ruhr dynasty of the same name, branched out and invested widely, can be quoted as follows: “Visionaries Club unites a unique network of leading entrepreneurs from old and new in order to advance Europe’s digital transformation. I am convinced that the approach through the exchange between both worlds and the combination of network, expertise and capital unleashes more entrepreneurship and momentum in our society.”

And Hanno Renner, founder of the Unicorns Personio, adds: “What particularly impressed me about the Visionaries Club was the network approach. We share the same values ​​and it inspires me to see Visionaries reinvent themselves over and over again.”

All of this has also convinced new investors: for the first time, the foundations of top American universities are now also investing in the Lacher and Pollok funds. And some partners from other VC companies are also (again) involved with private money.

“The participation of the foundations represents a strong additional motivation for us as a young team. After all, we can now give something back directly to society, since our work now also has a direct influence on non-profit organizations,” emphasize the two visionaries -Maker.

Successfully founded with Amorelie and Amaze

The fact that the concept is attracting interest from many investors could also be related to the CVs of the two VC founders. Sebastian Pollok’s first company was called Amorelie. Within a very short time, the 36-year-old built the leading online retailer for love toys. And when he had achieved sales of 60 million euros and significant profitability, he sold the company to the Pro-Sieben-Sat-1 group in 2018 with a valuation of 100 million euros.

Robert Lacher’s first company was called Amaze. It wasn’t even nine months before the online fashion retailer Zalando bought his “Tinder for fashion”, as the 37-year-old puts it, and integrated it into its overall digital strategy.

Pollok and Lacher: two founders who think in a similar way, two careers that have taken a similar course, two appearances that also match one another in terms of their appearance: athletic, slim guys, jeans, T-shirts, eloquent, politically interested, with hints of self-mockery.

Pollok comes from Bremen and studied business administration at the WHU, in St. Gallen, Hong Kong and at the Kellogg School of Management. Lacher, who grew up in Essen, was a student at the RWTH in Aachen, Harvard and Cambridge in the UK. They met after graduation when Lacher was a consultant at BCG, where he oversaw typical strategy projects, and Pollok worked in Silicon Valley. It quickly became clear to both of them: “We also want to set up our own business.” With this claim, Amorelie and Amaze came into being.

Lacher and Pollok cannot really confirm that the global VC and start-up scene is currently experiencing something like a serious crisis. “After two very strong years, we see the current market development in the start-up world not so much as a crash, but rather as a healthy correction that will lead to the adjustment of permanently unprofitable business models,” explains Pollok.

Over 90 percent of the “club members” from the first generation of funds invested again, so there was no trace of restrictions. On the contrary. Lacher says: “In the current market environment, we see a very good opportunity to enter the market at lower valuations, as we are convinced that sustainable technologies and business models will always be successful in the long term.”

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