Collective Ventures

Investment decisions are led by the four named partners: Julian Kappus, Cecil von Croÿ, Dr. Nicolaus Berlin, and Falk Schäfers. Day-to-day sourcing and evaluation is supported by Investment Lead Christopher Garlich. No further detail on specific voting rights or investment committees has been disclosed publicly.

The firm promotes an open-pitch model explicitly via its website's “Send your pitch” prompt, suggesting an accessible top-of-funnel. The partners’ backgrounds as entrepreneurs and finance specialists further indicate a reliance on personal network-driven sourcing within the German startup ecosystem. No proprietary data-sourcing or signal tools have been disclosed.

It operates as an asset manager, not a family office. Its structure is an early-stage venture capital firm that raises capital on a deal-by-deal basis from external co-investors, rather than managing the wealth of a single family. The website explicitly invites outside co-investors to tag along.

No philanthropic foundations, donor-advised funds, or impact-investing carve-outs are publicly associated with the firm or its principals. The entity presents itself purely as a for-profit investment collective.

Co-investing is the core structural feature of the firm. Collective Ventures actively seeks external co-investors to join its rounds, a pitch that it markets directly to founders and participants as a way to “scale our investment.” This stands in contrast to firms that exclusively deploy committed, closed-fund capital.