ExtraVallis

Managing Partner Derek Footer leads all investment activity. Footer operates from Berlin and brings over 25 years of founder and operator experience across Latin America, the US, and Europe. He has previously founded HardTech Labs and Origo Ventures (now Fen Ventures), and his investment authority at ExtraVallis is tied to his personal sourcing network and cross-border operating history.

The firm sources by building relationships with founders at the university level, often years before a formal fundraise. Footer's multilingual fluency and dual presence in California and Germany allow ExtraVallis to identify teams in Germany, the Netherlands, the Baltics, and Scandinavia before they appear on broader VC radars. The firm then leads rounds and provides operational mentoring, creating a pipeline that relies on early founder trust.

ExtraVallis invests from pre-seed through Series A. The firm explicitly states it leads these early rounds, distinguishing itself from European VC norms where lead investing is less common. The strategy is built around earlier and more frequent exits — what the firm calls 'dragon' returns — rather than holding for unicorn-scale outcomes.

The firm positions itself as the lead investor in early-stage European rounds, with the explicit goal of bridging portfolio companies to US-based growth investors. It is not structured as a fund-of-funds and does not disclose participating as a limited partner in other VC funds.