Rheingau Founders

Founding Partners Philipp Hartmann and Dr. Tobias Johann-Walzel von Wiesentreu lead investment decisions, supported by Partners Johann Reich and Marius Weber. The firm operates as a tight partnership where Hartmann and Johann personally negotiate term sheets and board participation across portfolio companies.

The firm sources primarily through its dense network in Berlin and the German Mittelstand, reinforced by Philipp Hartmann's mentorship roles at leading Berlin accelerator programs. Its campus model, which co-locates up to 200 portfolio company employees alongside the investment team, creates daily operational visibility into emerging ventures that cold outreach cannot replicate.

The firm makes direct investments in early-stage startups from pre-seed through Series A. Its website and materials do not discuss fund-of-fund commitments, indicating a direct-only deployment model. The firm also acts as an active board participant, negotiating over 100 financing rounds for its portfolio companies.

Rheingau Founders invests at pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages. Pre-seed checks target experienced entrepreneurs with a clear vision, often pre-revenue. Seed investments require a first software product and early revenues with KPI tracking in place. Series A engagements go to companies with completed founder teams and above-average continuous revenue growth.

The firm describes itself as industry-agnostic but has developed particular interest in Digital Health, InsurTech, PropTech, and ConstructionTech, with a preference for SaaS and marketplace business models. It states that B2C is not its primary focus, though it will engage with exceptional B2C founding teams.

It operates as a hybrid: a formally organized venture firm that deploys capital across standard early-stage rounds, but also maintains a physical campus in Berlin-Kreuzberg that houses portfolio company employees and facilitates daily operational exchange. This co-location model, combined with active board participation and hands-on support, gives it characteristics of both a VC fund and an operating collective.

Rheingau Founders does not disclose a single-family wealth origin. The firm's capital base appears to trace to the operational exits and entrepreneurial track records of its founding partners — Philipp Hartmann and Dr. Tobias Johann-Walzel von Wiesentreu — alongside external limited partners, but the specific LP composition is not publicly detailed.