Headline (company)
e.ventures, formerly BV Capital, is a venture capital firm with an early stage investment approach in the markets of consumer internet, digital media and mobile space. It was founded 1997 in Santa Barbara, California (today, its headquarters are located in San Francisco) and has since grown to invest in five different regions worldwide (United States, Europe, Russia, Asia and Brazil).
History
BV Capital was founded in 1997 by Jan Henric Buettner,[1] acting as executive partner for Bertelsmann,[2] and Wolfgang Rose along with Thomas Gieselmann and Mathias Schilling.
Buettner had previously built up the multimedia companies Computel, Videotel and AOL Europe.[3] BV Capital invested in internet companies, among them GotomyPC (Expertcity), which was acquired by Citrix in 2003. Along with raising its second fund, the company moved its offices to San Francisco in 2001. Investments of its second fund include Sonos, nCircle, Angie's List, MrTed, Peanutlabs, and Vuze. The company also established an office in Hamburg, Germany, in 2001 to oversee its investments in Western Europe. Its third fund was raised in 2007 and is oriented to more global investments; the company has broadened its focus from the US and Western Europe to include Eastern Europe, Asia and Brazil, with offices opened in Russia and Asia in 2009 and in Brazil in 2012. Among the investments of its fourth generation of funds are BlueKai (Acquired by Oracle), Citydeal (Acquired by Groupon), Xango, Farfetch, Munchery, Pulse (Acquired by LinkedIn), Sapato (Acquired by Ozon.ru), Eucalyptus Cloud, and NGINX.
In 2012 BV Capital became e.ventures, adopting the same name for all its international branches.[4]
Investment philosophy
e.ventures invests in startups in the consumer internet and mobile market. It is unusual in its global vision, with five teams in different continents and has made investments in North America, South America (Brazil), Western Europe (Germany, France, UK), Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Russia) and Asia (China, Japan). The management team is spread globally, but works together closely with aligned incentives for each partner in any deal in order to further a shared focus on supporting all the portfolio companies wherever needed.
References
- ^ "Profile Jan Henric Buettner".
- ^ Martin U. Müller, tr. Ella Ornstein (January 11, 2013). "For Millionaires, By Millionaires: Transforming a Baltic Sea Village into Paradise". Der Spiegel.
- ^ John Johnson (May 31, 2000). "High-Tech Firms Plug Into Santa Barbara Lifestyle". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Colleen Taylor (July 15, 2012). "BV Capital Rebrands To e.Ventures, An Early-Stage VC Firm With A Global Footprint". TechCrunch.