Munich-based CDTM Venture Fund, part of the Center for Digital Technology & Management (CDTM), has today announced a €8.2 million raise to support CDTM-affiliated startups, driven by contributions from 316 alumni.
The investor base of the CDTM Venture fund consists exclusively of CDTM graduates. Over the next four years, the capital will be invested in around 60 early-stage startups, each of which has at least one CDTM alumnus/alumna on the founding team.
“The CDTM selects 25 students every six months from up to 450 applications and has proven over 25 years that it is able to identify and train the outstanding entrepreneurial personalities of tomorrow,” says Fund Manager Franz Waltenberger. He continues: “We are building on this foundation and providing these founders not only with early capital but also with the concentrated power of the CDTM network.”
Founded in 1998 by Andrew Kelly, Arnold Picot, Jörg Eberspächer, and Manfred Broy, the CDTM is a Graduate University that offers the interdisciplinary add-on study programme “Technology Management“, which is part of the Elite Network of Bavaria. More than 1,100 CDTM alumni have already founded over 280 start-ups. Of these, nine have achieved unicorn status: Personio, Trade Republic, Monzo, Forto, Tier, Foodora, Razor Group, Cellares and EGYM.
According to the CDTM, there are only 5 seed VCs in the EMEA region that have invested in more unicorns than the CDTM has produced.
While the concept of alumni investor clubs is already established in the USA, the CDTM Venture Fund is looking to take a pioneering role in Germany. According to the CDTM, there are only 5 seed VCs in the EMEA region that have invested in more unicorns than the CDTM has produced.
A significant portion of the funds profits return to CDTM as a donation and directly support the education of the next generation of students.
The fund is operationally managed by Franz Waltenberger, a long-standing member of the CDTM management team. The Investment Committee consists of the following CDTM alumni:
- Dr. Sophie Ahrens-Gruber, Principal at Acton Capital, formerly Head of Corporate Development at Burda
- Christian Deger, founding CEO at Payworks (exit to Visa)
- Leon Szeli, founding CEO at Presize (exit to Meta)
The CDTM Venture Fund contributes to the same mission as the CDTM: “Connect, educate and empower the innovators of tomorrow.” The fund can provide initial capital quickly, flexibly and “unbureaucratically” – on founder-friendly terms, as initial financing or as a co-investment together with established venture capital funds and business angels.
The 316 LPs in the CDTM Venture Fund include over a dozen unicorn founders, over 100 other founders, leading researchers from big tech and academia as well as executives from various corporates. They support the portfolio companies via mentoring and the LP network helps with recruiting, sales and fundraising.
Andreas Franz, Chairman of the CDTM Alumni Association: “As an alumni association, it is important to us to support the CDTM not only financially. Thanks to the special structure of our fund, in the form of an investment club, we enable every member to invest, even with small tickets – this includes alumni from older years as well as current students. After years of planning and thanks to the work of many long-standing stakeholders, we are now a pioneer in the university landscape throughout Germany.”
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/02/from-alumni-to-investors-cdtm-backed-fund-raises-e8-2-million-for-early-stage-startups/
