Cherry Ventures, the 13-year old VC firm based in Berlin, Stockholm and London, has raised $500m for its fifth early-stage fund and an opportunity fund investing in Series B and later. The firm’s ambitions with the new funds aren’t modest: “We’re ready to fund the first trillion dollar company in Europe. What does that mean for you?” the Cherry team asks in an open letter to founders published today. Cherry Ventures says it “doesn’t buy” the criticisms of Europe as being way behind the US, not being a good place of “builders” and being a failing continent.
In recent months worries over Europe’s competitiveness with the US and China have been bubbling up even more; President Trump’s second term in the White house — with its potentially friendlier policies for some startups — has prompted founders to ponder moving to the States. Meanwhile the recent release of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s new AI model has sent shockwaves throughout the European tech scene, prompting more debates about Europe’s competitiveness on the global stage.
Cherry raised its last early-stage fund, of €300m, at the start of 2022. The VC has backed the likes of Franco-German spacetech The Exploration Company, German speedy grocery startup Flink and logistics unicorn Forto.
Its investment team is led by five partners: founding partners Filip Dames and Christian Meermann, who were both part of the founding team at retail giant Zalando; former Spotify operator Sophia Bendz; former Uber exec Dinika Mahtani; and former founder Jasper Masemann. Cherry also has an operating partner, Alexander Langholz-Baikousis.
