From an idea to a product

As co-founder and investor, we support startups in their early stages.

Start a business Invest with us

Hanse Ventures is the company builder in Hamburg.  Together with founders, we are building the digital SMEs of tomorrow. We bring founders, ideas and capital together and provide operational support with our team of digital experts.

  • 3+start-ups per year
  • 500+employees
  • 80+funding rounds

Start a business with us.

  • Founders

    Together with founders, we launch start-ups quickly and efficiently.

  • Ideas

    We love turning ideas into excellent business models.

  • Operational implementation

    We are digital experts and are actively involved in our start-ups.

  • Capital

    We work closely with our start-ups when it comes to fundraising and also invest ourselves.

    • Founders & Entrepreneurs in Residence

    We are constantly seeking founders who are the driving force behind the implementation of business models. It is of secondary importance whether you approach us with your own idea, or whether we jointly implement a Hanse Ventures idea.
    
As a company builder, our first task is to assemble an excellent start-up team that best fits the business idea.
    The benefit for our founders is that they can fully focus on the business, supported by Hanse Ventures' knowledge, experience and fundraising expertise.

    Do you fancy being a founder?
    
As Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) at Hanse Ventures, you will amass the tools to start your own business.

    Ideas are the start of every business model

    We turn ideas into business models and validate these using our expertise. Ideas often come to us together with a founder or start-up team. We have also founded extremely successful start-ups in which the person who generated the idea has not assumed an operational role. In such cases, we offer a consultancy role on the start-up's advisory committee.


    During implementation, we continually seek improvements and are not afraid to retrospectively adapt entire business models. We constantly undertake tests and research. The aim is to develop new business models and adapt established models for new markets.

    Rolling up our sleeves to create value

    We are a team of around 20 digital experts and assist our founders in all the relevant areas. Together, we turn ideas into a concept and create a product. The crucial difference between us and a traditional investor is that we are operationally involved and have the necessary manpower.


    
With us, founders can flexibly integrate the best possible experts – thereby turning fixed costs into variable costs and efficiently achieving outstanding results. Knowledge management is generally our ultimate goal: we coach and advise our founders and share our knowledge with our start-ups.

    Efficient fundraising is a competitive advantage

    Those who efficiently raise capital have more time for implementation. For online business models, in particular, speed is a major factor. We work intensively with our founders during funding rounds. After countless fundraising, we know exactly what we need to do. Our founders can focus on presenting their start-up, while we take care of negotiating terms and drafting contracts.

    We quickly and simply provide capital up to the first funding round from the company builder (EUR 50–200K). We participate in seed funding up to EUR 250K and continually invest in subsequent funding rounds from our fund vehicles. We invest up to EUR 1 million per start-up across all funding rounds.

Invest with us.

  • Excellent success rates

    We bypass obstacles and seize opportunities for rapid growth.

  • Optimum set-up

    Our approach to selecting the right ideas and best teams is the key to our success.

  • Company Builder

    As a team of experts, we contribute our combined knowledge from over 15 of our own start-ups.

  • Investments & funds

    We achieve high returns from digital business models.


    • Faster and more efficient than our competitors

    Thanks to the day-to-day involvement of our 25-strong team of experts, we are integrated at all start-up levels. We can therefore spot potential crises at an early stage and actively counteract these. We can also provide important momentum for successful development. This gives us considerable advantages over traditional VC investors, who often only have monthly contact at CEO level and are slow to learn of negative developments.


    As a serial entrepreneur, we are aware of recurring challenges and constantly adapt the business model together with founders, thereby achieving a significantly above-average success rate.

    Company building creates ideal conditions

    Our high profile in the start-up ecosystem and active founder scouting ensure excellent deal flow and the very best founders. We also develop our own ideas that we then implement as start-ups together with outstanding founders.
    

We actively bring together founders, ideas and capital and our involvement increases the chances of success.
    
The transfer of knowledge between our experts and our start-ups produces optimum results. Our start-ups and co-investors also benefit from the extensive network that we regularly maintain and develop by means of high-profile events.

    Actively involved in implementation as an institutional co-founder

    Hanse Ventures is not your traditional investor, but actively looks after its investments as an institutional co-founder. We actively support founders and do our utmost to achieve our goals.

    Unlike VC funds, our incentives are sustainably successful companies and not management fees and bonuses. We not only give good advice, but also implement projects as an effective company builder, together with our teams.

    We support our start-ups from seed to exit.

    Direct investments and passive commitments via managed funds

    Our start-ups generate highly attractive returns for our co-investors. Our concept envisages that the capital with the greatest risk of default (pre-seed) comes from the company builder. From the initial funding round onwards, we organise capital increases with external investors, thereby providing important growth capital.

    Subsequent Hanse Ventures investments come from fund vehicles that mirror those of independent investors at the same terms. As well as direct investments in individual start-ups, investors also have the opportunity to participate in the success of our start-ups via our diversified funds.

Who we are.

At the heart of Hanse Ventures is our operational team of roughly 20 experts, all of whom have many years' experience in the digital sector. Founders are free to choose which discipline they need help with and when. Teamwork and knowledge transfer are crucial success factors.

  • Product team

    Our support ranges from developing a name (including CI/CD) to the fully programmed website and app.

  • Online marketing

    We derive recommended actions by optimally managing online campaigns.


  • Business intelligence

    We systematically pool and analyse data silos to determine profitable actions.


  • Human resources

    Teams have to be assembled and managed, which is where our expert knowledge comes in, from recruitment to employment law matters.


  • Jochen Maaß

    Founder & Partner

  • Tobias Seikel

    Partner

  • Your Job?

    • Jochen Maaß (Founder & Partner)

    Jochen (born in 1982) has been an Internet entrepreneur since the age of 15. He is one of the pioneers of online marketing in Germany. In 2000, he founded artaxo AG, one of the leading agencies for search engine optimisation. As a Business Angel, he supported over 30 start-ups. Jochen is a Business IT graduate. He founded Hanse Ventures in 2010, together with the former Chairman of Gruner+Jahr, Dr Bernd Kundrun, and the former CEO of Sony Music, Rolf Schmidt-Holtz. Jochen develops new concepts and provides the portfolio companies with considerable support for strategic matters and fundraising.

    Tobias Seikel (Partner)

    Tobias (born in 1977) is a Business Studies graduate. He joined Hanse Ventures in 2011, after almost 10 years in publishing. He began his career as a trainee at Gruner+Jahr, established the company's magazine business as Head of Publishing in Croatia and was then appointed Deputy Managing Director of a G+J International joint venture operating throughout Eastern Europe. As Deputy Publishing Director of the news magazine, stern, and Publishing Director of the art magazine, Art, he was responsible for their development and strategic direction from 2008. At Hanse Ventures, he is responsible for the operational management of the company builder and overall project management with the portfolio firms.

Vision, Mission & Values

Vision

Hanse Ventures is a key institution for digital start-ups, creating economically successful working environments shaped by commitment, fun and pioneering spirit.

Mission

Thanks to its professional expertise and high-profile network of investors and business partners, Hanse Ventures offers its start-up teams the appropriate assistance along with the opportunity to establish sustainable business models.

Values

  1. Partnership

    We treat each other fair and with respect, working together and not against each other. The success of our start-ups affects all of us, together we also solve any errors that happen in our start-ups. Everyone treats each other as they themselves would want to be treated.


  2. Competence

    The Hanse Ventures team is a group of experts. Each of us has our own specialization in which we are really good. As experts in our field, we have a wealth of experience that we are happy to share with every single one of our start-ups. We adopt a solution-oriented approach and get things done. Dynamic as an agency and experienced as a corporate group.


  3. Identification

    We identify with our start-ups and are more than just a service provider. We operate like a member of their team and communicate on equal footings. If we think something isn’t beneficial, we address the issue. Both internally at Hanse Ventures, when working with start-ups or external partners. We practice knowledge management.

  4. Flexible opportunities

    We offer individual packages with regard to salaries, working from home, curiosity, cohesion, job security and great coffee.

  5. Support

    We support each other. At every stage we are the right contact for validating the product or services and scaling of business models. We accept any challenge, in order to provide performance-oriented solutions using our expert knowledge.

  6. Relevance

    We enter into certified partnerships and use the latest expertise. We organise events for founders, investors, experts and journalists and provide exciting, successful investment opportunities.


Was wir können!

Eine kleine Auswahl unserer
Skills & Tools.

Our portfolio.

Come and meet us.

Ideensturm

Your start-up —
our assessment

eBizz Talk

The meeting place for digital masterminds

Would you like to set up your own business and receive honest feedback about your idea? Here, you have the opportunity to present your concept to an expert jury from our company builder and receive direct feedback.

  • 5-minute idea pitch

    The stage is yours – convince us of your innovative business idea.


  • 5-minute Q&A

    In this dialogue session, we scrutinise your concept and challenge the opportunities & risks.


  • 5-minute feedback

    You receive targeted feedback from our experts and we get to know each other.


Register for the next Ideensturm!

Whether it's executive-level decision-makers from established companies or aspiring founders – they are all united by their passion for the Internet. Several times a year, Hanse Ventures invites two prominent players from the digital business community in order to take a look at their founding history and the secrets to their success.

In these "off the record" lectures, the speakers talk about their careers, the highs and lows and sometimes second chances. The lectures are seamlessly followed by casual networking. Over snacks, our guests can exchange views with the speakers and each other during face-to-face discussions, thereby taking away exciting insights and tips for their own start-up. Attendance at eBizzTalk is by invitation only.






Do... or do not. There is no try.

-Yoda, Jedi Master