Trivago Founders are Rolf Schrömgens, Malte Siewert, Stephan Stubner, and Peter Vinnemeier. These well-known entrepreneurs are now investing in young companies of all kinds under the name of Monkfish Equity. The investment profile of Monkfish is simple to explain: apart from Masterplan and KolayIK, companies in which the trivago investors have invested operate in the B2C segment.
“Here we are most strongly positioned by our trivago background and provide know how on the topics SEM, Display, Social Media, TV, Call Center and BI. We want to invest in teams where we find parts of the trivago DNA. Our added value is particularly great when the business is ready to scale efficiently through marketing” says Malte Siewert.
The list of Monkfish exits includes startups like HelloFresh, Delivery Hero, Flaconi and homeday. Now let’s unveil all the current hot investments of the trivago founders who have invested in some 40 companies so far.
The hot investments of the trivago makers
AlphaPet
Behind Alphapet are among others the shop brands pets Premium and Hundeland.de. The Family Office Reimann Investors, further family offices with consumer goods background as well as the existing shareholders Venture Stars, Mountain Partners and Heliad Equity Partners last invested 10 million euros in the young feed company.
ArtNight
The Berlin startup ArtNight, which was founded in 2016 by Aimie-Sarah Carstensen and David Neisinger, was known nationwide for its appearance in the Vox show “The Cave of the Lions”. ArtNight is a kind of art class that takes place in trendy bars and restaurants. At the end of last year, M-Venture, the investment company of Mast-Jägermeister, also invested in ArtNight.
Barnebys
Behind Barnebys hides an online auction house for antiques and art. The company was founded in 2011 by Swedish antiques expert and television presenter Pontus Silfverstolpe. Barnebys has already raised over $ 14.5 million.
Calm
Fitness startup Calm (based in San Francisco) was founded in 2012 by Michael Acton Smith and Alex Tew. The app of the young company offers meditations and sleep stories, which should help to cope with anxiety, reduce stress and sleep better. Calm has already received over 40 million downloads.
Camp Anda
Michelin Travel Partner, a subsidiary of the tire manufacturer Michelin, Accel, idinvest, Le Peigné, Ringier Digital Ventures, b-to-v Partners and Atlantic Labs invested a remarkable € 10 million in Campanda, a rental platform for motorhomes and caravans, in early 2017. The young Berlin-based company was founded by Chris Möller, formerly erento.
Comtravo
In the summer of 2017, Berlin-based financier Project A and the Swedish investor Creandum invested around 8.5 million in Comtravo, a booking platform for business travel. Comtravo was founded in 2015 by Michael Riegel, Jannik Neumann, Marko Schilde and Slobodan Utvic.
Exporo
The Hambug startup Exporo, a real estate crowdfunding platform, was founded in 2014 by Simon Brunke, Björn Maronde, Julian Oertzen and Tim Bütecke. To date, more than 170 projects with a total capital of over € 300 million have been funded through the platform. E.ventures, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Sunstone and BPO Capital also invested in the start-up.
EzCater
Founded in 2007 in Boston, Massachusetts, EzCater positions itself as a marketplace for corporate catering. In 2018, EzCater expanded across the ocean, acquiring Paris-based counterpart GoCater.
Freshly
The New York startup Freshly, founded in 2012 by Carter Comstock and Michael Wystrach, delivers meals to its customers (“Healthy, Chef-Cooked Dinners Delivered and Ready in 3 Minutes”).
Glamping Hub
Founded in 2013 in Sacramento, the startup is positioning itself as a booking platform for luxury campsites.
Horizn Studios
Investors such as Milano Investment Partners, Project A Ventures, Vorwerk Ventures, Perpetual Investments, Tarsadia Investments and Astutia Ventures have already invested a total of 25 million euros in Horizn Studios. The Berlin-based Smart Luggage Startup, which was founded in 2015 by Stefan Holwe and Jan Roosen, sells a hard-shell cabin luggage with front pocket for laptops and more.
KolayIK
The Turkish company KolayIK offers its customers customized SaaS solutions in the field of HR and employer management. The product spectrum ranges from simplifications for the preparation of salary statements over employer benefits, up to insurance.
LemonSwan
Even after years in the dating and matchmaking segment, ElitePartner founder Arne Kahlke still does not have his nose full of lonely hearts. His latest venture is called LemonSwan. The young startup, which Kahlke leads with Oliver Czok, Lars Jankowfsky and Paul Uhlig, is aimed at singles of all ages 18 and older. The platform is intended to refinance itself in the long term via premium memberships.
Lingoda
The Berlin startup Lingoda, an online language school, was founded by Fabian and Felix Wunderlich. The investors of the start-up include Grazia Equity, Mountain Partners and the German Startups Group.
Loopline Systems
STS Ventures and Fawkes Ventures recently invested a seven-digit amount in Loopline Systems. Founded in 2014 by Nora Heer and Christian Kaller, the Berlin startup helps companies to streamline and digitize their leadership processes.
Masterplan.com
The Bochum Startup Masterplan was founded in 2017 by Daniel Schütt and Stefan Peukert, who previously worked for Employor. Tengelmann Ventures and DVH Ventures have already invested 6 million euros in Masterplan.com, an e-learning company around digitalization. In cooperation with leading digital experts from Germany and Silicon Valley, the company is developing exciting educational videos.
Moebel24
Behind Moebel24 lies a comparison service for furniture suppliers. The Berlin startup was launched by Miro Morczinek, formerly Group Chief Marketing Officer of Home24.
Pixsy
At Pixsy, photographers can search the web for their own images. If a photographer discovers that one of his photos is being used somewhere without authorization, he can contact Pixsy about the case. The startup was founded by Anders Fleck, Torsten Rüter and Daniel Foster.
Tour Lane
The US financiers Sequoia Capital, which has attracted attention in this country by investing in 6wunderkinder, recently invested with the old investors $ 24 million in the young cyber travel agency Tourlane. The valuation was 90 million (pre-money). A competitor of Tourlane is Tourradar. TCV, Cherry Ventures, Endeit Capital, Speedinvest and Hoxton Ventures recently invested $ 50 million for the Vienna-based online travel agency
Tractive
The Austrian startup Tractive, which develops real-time tracking devices for pets and other animals, was founded in 2012 by Michael Hurnaus, Michael Lettner and Michael Tschernuth. Also Harold Primat, heir of the oil company Schlumberger, Hansi Hansmann and the Runtastic founders around Florian Gschwandtner already invested in the young company.
Vinted
Via Vinted, online people can buy, buy and exchange used clothing and accessories. Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas founded the company in 2008 in Vilnius, Lithuania. In Germany, the company operates under the brand Kleiderkreisel.