Once one of the youngest Dutch millionaires, he is now helping start-ups with startup-studio VentureBuilders. It has collected 2.75 million euro through its newest investment fund VentureBuilders Capital Partners. In the hands of Paul Montagne (founder of Get me in! and GroupDeal), the capital will be used to finance the growth of existing and new holdings.
Help startups excel
Before his thirtieth birthday, Paul Montagne had founded and sold two successful companies. He now wants to use his knowledge and skills to help startups excel. Based on an American model, VentureBuilders typically invests with more dedication than the average venture capital fund and with more growth capital than most other incubators.
Online expertise
Next to growth capital, the holdings have access to the online expertise and the influential business network of VentureBuilders. “We invest in companies with great founders with an excellent idea. That is, after all, the basis of any company and we support that as well as we can, with money as well as expertise,” says Paul Montagne, CEO of VentureBuilders, the investor behind HomeDeco.nl, Taxi2Airport.com and Contexta.
Expanding holdings
With the capital, the management wishes to facilitate a growth in turnover for its holdings. The plan is also to expand the current amount of holdings. Montagne: “We mainly invest in the segments marketplace, data- and e-commerce-startups. We’re very experienced in these segments, which means we can actually help holdings grow.” After all, this is the strength of a venture builder. “By just focusing on start-ups in branches we know, we can add value.”
Early stage fund VentureBuilders
VentureBuilders is a so-called ‘early stage fund,’ which guides scalable start-ups and grooms them for larger investments. The management of the start-up studio has a lot of experience in setting up, financing, building and selling online businesses. The organization was founded in 2013 by Paul Montagne, co-founder of many other successful internet companies such as GetMeIn!, GroupDeal and Overstappen.nl. He managed to sell GetMeIn! and Groupdeal successfully to Ticketmaster Inc and TMG. The management consists of CFO Diederik Ingen Housz, a former fiscal lawyer at Loyens & Loeff NV and COO Yoon Sterkenburg, former Digital Director at TMG.
Startup Image by Shutterstock
