Robin Capital, the German-based solo GP-led VC fund of former entrepreneur Robin Haack, has reached the final close of 'Robin Fund One' at €13 million. Combined with an additional growth-focused investment vehicle of €2 million, the fund now has a total of €15 million under management. In the realm of European solo GPs, which typically raise much less than their US equivalents, this is a decent number.
Founded in 2023, Robin Capital targets European B2B mid-sized enterprise SaaS startups with a focus on the DACH region at pre-seed and seed stages. This is being deployed across sectors such as HR, AI, fintech, climate change, DevOps, robotics, and industrial technology.
The portfolio currently includes around 28 companies, with half of the fund already invested in companies such as Kombo Dev (Germany) and Phacet Labs (France).
Robin was founded in December 2022 by Haack, the former co-founder of JobSpotting (acquired by San Francisco-based SmartRecruiters in 2017), who deposited his first check with German neobank N26.
Haak's fund has 70 limited partners, including GPs from private equity and venture capital firms, as well as founders and operators.
He also managed to bring together several venture partners, including Renaud Visage, former CTO of Eventbrite and current founder of Slate.VC. Jerome Tarnink, founder of SmartRecruiters and Rypples VC. and Lea Vajnorsky, co-founder of Wo\men Inc.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Haak said it was a very difficult environment to raise funds.
“The past year and a half has been probably the toughest time in the venture industry in history due to macroeconomic impacts. I have no financial institutions in the fund, not even an EIF.”
But he sees an advantage in having a wide network to draw on. “Right now, I have a LP base of 70 people, all of whom are professionals. The good thing about it now is that it's a great value-adding community.”
Robin Capital joins the movement of other European Solo GPs. Many of them have previously held roles as fund partners, entrepreneurs, startup operators, or content creators (podcasters).
Solo GPs may be able to make faster decisions than full-fledged multi-partner funds, but they typically operate like angels on steroids. But it can also mean faster access to your network, expertise, and audience, especially for creators who have developed a personal brand.
Hypernova is a $25 million fund of funds to invest in solo GPs in Europe, soft-launched in 2022.
TechCrunch has identified 28 “solo” GP VCs that have launched in Europe in recent years, but one or two of them (such as 20VC and Unruly Capital) are currently in the process of bringing on other partners. It's big enough that I'm slowly coming out of the “solo” stage. :
14 Peaks Capital
GP: Edoardo Ermotti
20VC
GP: Harry Stebbings
Air Street Capital
GP: Nathan Benaich
amino collective
GP: Manuel Grossman
Anamkara
GP: Annely Ajami
backfuture ventures
GP: Alex Theuma
dawn
GP: Felix Prapeller
Chalfen Ventures
GP: Mike Chalfen
cocoa
GP: Carmen Alfonso Rico
General magic:
GP: Sarah Drinkwater
Day One Ventures
GP: Marcia Butcher
entropy
GP: Sam Cash
fire drop
GP: Pietro Invernizzi
preface
GP: Declan Kelly
Hello World
GP: Rodrigo Martinez
inflection
GP: Alexander Lange
lemonade stand
GP: Sim Terror
monte carlo capital
GP: Ian Sosso
nomad capital
GP: Mark McCabe
no label ventures
GP: Ramzi Rafi
NP Hard Ventures
GP: Anke Huiskes
nebula
GP: Finn Murphy
open seed VC
GP: Maria Lotil
puzzle ventures
GP: Gloria Bauerlein
System.One
GP: Max Clausen
nordic web
GP: Neil Murray
Underline Ventures
GP: Bogdan Yodache
unruly capital
GP: Stefano Bernardi