planblue

Oceans cover over 70% of the earth’s surface, yet 95% of its seafloors are unknown. However, oceans hold an estimated value of $80tr planblue makes these values visible.

planblue has developed an underwater satellite to make the hidden values visible.

Customer: Fugro, NASA, Beneath the Waves, CEFAS, Blusink, etc.

planblue received a grant of €2.5m from Horizon Europe.

Our role

“We met Marc via the accelerator program Climate-KIC in Berlin. Since the first day we had a ‘click’, and continued working together ever since. Without Marc we would not be where we are now as PlanBlue. He has been a tremendous help getting investors (successfully) on board. Definitely a recommendation!”

Joost den Haan
Joost den HaanFounder & CEOPlanBlue

Distribusion Technologies

  • Global Distribution System for ground transportation (“Amadeus for ground transportation”).
  • 2000+ operator in 70 markets integrated.
  • 200+ retailers using the Distribusion platform, u.a. Google Maps, Expedia, Booking.com, Omio, etc.
  • Series B of $31m, led by Lightrock.
  • Series C of $80m, led by TQ Ventures.

Our role

“Without the Buddies, it would have been difficult to raise the financing on our own. Eventually, we did end up raising far more than we had initially planned. The Buddies helped us tremendously with strategy development, contacting investors, preparing the pitch, the due diligence and finally the negotiation of the shareholder’s agreement. They have a lot of experience, were always available and demonstrated 150% commitment to us. Absolutely recommendable.”

Julian Hauck & Johannes Thunert
Julian Hauck & Johannes ThunertFounderDistribusion Technologies GmbH

Resourcify

Our role

Business Buddies was instrumental in preparing us for the harsh-reality of early stage venture funding. They helped us to prepare all of the important and crucial information in a clear and structured way which was both convincing and attract for the investors. They were also extremely helpful during the closing negotiations and ensuring we had a fairly structured deal. Best of all: Business Buddies re-invested some of the success fee into our company – a true partnership as a result of the work together.“

Gary Lewis
Gary LewisFounder & CEOResourcify

MIR Insight

  • MIR Insight forecasts supply, demand, and price trends for the manufacturing industry with up to 97% accuracy based on billions of data & their proprietary MIR AI Engine.
  • MIR grows with 86% CQGR and is profitable.
  • The vision is to transform the manufacturing industry into a highly efficient, sustainable, & almost planned economy.

Our role

  • €600k oversubscribed Seed round.
  • Angel investor.

“Marc has a deep understanding of the VC funding process and provides invaluable coaching, advice, and fundraising process support. His network is vast and a great enabler for founders. I can wholeheartedly recommend Marc to anyone looking to professionalise their fundraising efforts – a crucial requirement in today’s VC market.”

Bjol Frenkenberger
Bjol FrenkenbergerFounder & CEOMIR Insight

MOTIONTAG

  • MOTIONTAG discovers how people move.
  • Customers (selection): Swiss Railway, Telefonica, Deutsche Bahn, Swisscom, BVG, ETH Zurich etc.
  • Profitable

Our role

“We have worked with Marc since the inception of MotionTag and his help has always been very fruitful. During our time at the Climate KIC he was our coach and supported us building our company. Now he is one of our Business Angels and we enjoy working hand in hand together. From business model development to fundraising, the range of services Marc can help with is of great value. ”

Stephan Leppler
Stephan LepplerFounder & CEOMotionTag

Nüwiel

NÜWIEL has the perfect solution for the last mile: an e-bicycle trailer that

  • automatically accelerates and brakes (own patented technology),
  • can be used as a handcart inside the buildings and pedestrian zones, and
  • works with EUR1 exchangeable boxes and up to 200kg.

Current status

  • The trailer is developed, and core sensor technology is patented.
  • Customers: Belgium Post, IKEA, UPS, etc.
  • Funding of €2.1m through the EU Horizion2020 program.

Our role

  • Company building, financial planning, sparring partner.
  • First and second financing round.
  • Angel investor.
“Marc is one of the best startup advisors we have ever worked with. He brings not only his broad expertise in fundraising and firsthand business development experience but also a high professionalism in working with startups and investors. We are grateful for Marc’s valuable support as advisor and proud of having him on board as investor.”
Natalia Tomiyama
Natalia TomiyamaFounderNüwiel

Zolar

ZOLAR has developed a software solution for the planning and installation of solar systems.

  • Series B of €35m with Energy Impact Partners, Inven Capital and others.
  • Series C of €100m again with Energy Impact Partners and the other existing investors.
  • Financing of €100m from BNP Paribas.

Our role

“Marc has been a tremendous support in our financing rounds. From day one, he has always pushed us to believe in our story and helped us create a financially sound business model. Without Marc, we would not have been able to raise and close our €4m financing round.”

Alex Melzer
Alex MelzerFounder & CEOZolar

Youdera

  • Youdera is a distributed solar utility and finance, owns and operate solar systems in the industrial and commercial sector (100 kWp up to several MWp).
  • So far, Youdera is active in Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Germany.
  • In 2023, Youdera sold its activities in the Swiss residential market to the Swiss Solar Group.

Our role

  • Support during the Seed-Round.
  • Angel investor.

Watergenics

  • Water is vital, but we hardly know the quality of our water. Why is that? Analysing it is time-consuming, takes place in a laboratory, requires a different method for each pollutant.
  • Watergenics analyses the quality of the water in the water in real time for a range of pollutants.
  • Customers: Veolia, AngloAmerican, SQM, LMBV, etc.

Our role

  • Fractional CFO.
  • €2m seed financing with family offices, angels and Invesdor.
  • Angel investor.

“Only some people can change the investor, founder, or CFO hat so quickly and productively as Marc. Marc can understand your team’s unrevealed qualities and bring these to the forefront of your investment strategy. During our 18-month collaboration, Marc was pivotal in shaping our fundraising strategy, building the needed materials, and pulling together all the contacts he had access to for a successful campaign. Needless to say, he is a pleasant companion over a beer at the end of a difficult day.”

Dr. Liviu Mantescu
Dr. Liviu MantescuFounder & CEOWatergenics

Family.cards

  • Family.cards is digitising the 69m European senior citizens and opening the Internet to them.
  • However, Family.cards not only make the phone buttons bigger but has developed an entirely new device with the greatest possible usability.
  • Family.cards focuses directly on the behaviour of senior citizens, uses the TV as the largest screen and centre of the household, and creates a new world of devices—similar to the Android world.

Our role

“Marc played a crucial role in our fundraising success. His expert guidance in crafting our investor deck and navigating the negotiation process was instrumental in helping us secure the necessary funds. His insights and attention to detail ensured we were well-prepared and confident. We couldn’t have achieved such a positive outcome without his support.”

Teo Ortega
Teo OrtegaFounder & CEOFamily.cards

JUHI

  • Juhi connects people in need of care with pupils and students for everyday care.
  • Juhi is active throughout Germany, supports over 3’000 carers and is growing by over 10% per month.

Our role

  • Advisor for the Pre-Seed Round.
  • Angel Investor.

Marc helped us bring structure to our funding round. By professionally setting up our data room, refining our pitch deck, and clearly outlining our growth strategy, we were able to approach investors more effectively.

Ali Abderrahmane
Ali AbderrahmaneFounderJUHI

onyo

  • Corona is over, but working from home stayed. 150 million employees in the EU and US work regularly from home. However, we won’t be able to work from the kitchen table or the sofa anymore because that makes us sick and costs money.
  • Based on their software platform and an asset-light business model, onyo helps employers equip and maintain their employees’ home offices – a new market of €90bn.

Our role

  • (Oversubscribed) Pre-Seed financing.
  • Angel investor

“Marc helped us to get started to raise the first round with a substantial learning curve for us founders by avoiding several mistakes founders would do by being on their own. Marc is, apart from the direct collaboration, always available as a trustworthy sparring partner in case of questions and doubts and, by all parties, a highly appreciated investor at onyo.”

Jens Wöhrle
Jens WöhrleCo-Founderonyo

Leaftech

  • Leaftech creates a digital twin of the building in its environment and combines it with geodata, such as weather data, solar radiation, etc.
  • In just a few hours and without hardware, Leaftech generates the data to control buildings more efficiently and reduce energy consumption by over 20%.

Our role

“We have been working successfully with Marc for several years. He has played an immense role in helping us raise successful investments of more than half a million euros. Marc is also a great sparring partner for business models, offers excellent support in preparing pitch decks and helps to strike the right note for the right investor. He is also fun to work with and creates a lot of positive energy!”

Michael Dittel
Michael DittelFounderLeaftech

Fred & Felia

Fred & Felia produces premium pet food and is fully vertically integrated, from food development to production, packaging, and distribution.

Our role

Two growth financing rounds of in total €2,7m with BayBG, Sven Rittau (co-founder Zooplus and K5), KaBu Family Office and some Angel investors.

“Marc provided us with competent support in both of our financing rounds. His expertise and strategic advice were crucial to successfully mastering the entire process. He helped us to sharpen our business model and convince investors of our vision.”

Beate Rank & Tobias Kobier
Beate Rank & Tobias KobierFounderFred & Felia

Haferkater

Haferkater is a German franchise for porridge and has 28 stores

Our role
Advisor on the seven-figure growth financing with Zentis Ventures, the system gastronomy expert Alexander Eberl and existing investor Katjesgreenfood Ventures.

“Thank you very much again at this point. It wouldn’t have worked out without your advice, and doing a financing in the current situation is quite something. Happy to do it again.”

Leandro Burguete
Leandro BurgueteFounderHaferkater

Querfeld

Querfeld rescues fruit and vegetables that do not meet current quality standards and are therefore thrown away, even though they are still perfectly edible, and supplies them to commercial kitchens in particular.
Querfeld has already saved 2 million kg of fruit and vegetables since it was founded.

Our role
Exclusive advisor for the first Seed-Round.

“Marc successfully advised us in the seed round and was always a valuable sparring partner. He has always provided advice and support at short notice, challenged where necessary and ensured that we move forward at the appropriate pace. We are happy and excited to have Marc as our Angel now!”

Frederic Goldkorn
Frederic GoldkornFounderQuerfeld

Diametos

Diametos is developing the world’s first and only medical device for diagnosing the causes of snoring based on artificial intelligence.

Our role
Advisor on the high six-figure seed financing with a consortium of top-class angel investors.

“The Buddies did not only support us competently and pragmatically in structuring our business financing and finding investors, but they also invested in our business. In the end, we were significantly oversubscribed and were able to close the round much larger than we originally anticipated.”

Heiko Butz
Heiko ButzFounderDiametos

bookingkit

Online booking solution and global distribution system for activity providers.

Our role

Exclusive financial advisor for the Series A financing round with Intermedia Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds and Robert Kabs.

Wunderflats

  • Renting of furnished apartments from 1-12 months (“mid-term Airbnb”).
  • Presence in 37 cities, e.g. Berlin, Munich, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart.

Our role

  • Development of the pitch-deck.
  • Preparation and coaching for the successful application to the Microsoft Accelerator and Hasso-Plattner-Institute.

“We gained very much from their experience. They have improved the quality of our presentation for the Microsoft Accelerator and Hasso-Plattner business plan competition very much and had a significant contribution to our success in both cases.”

Benedikt Scholz
Benedikt ScholzFounderWunderflats

Clevver

Clevver is a platform for digital internationalization of SMEs. 

Our role

“The support may come from the beach or from a mountain top, but the bottom line is, it comes. Without Marc, we would not have been able to raise our angel round or be where we are today.”

Christian Hemmrich & Sven Henker
Christian Hemmrich & Sven HenkerFounderClevver

Climate-KIC Accelerator

Our role

Lead-coach for company building, strategy development, financial planning and fundraising.

“I work with Marc for almost a year now in our Climate-KIC Accelerator and really appreciate him as an expert for fundraising. He has already coached more than 30 of our start-up companies and has developed a fundraising strategy with them, discussed and explained term sheets and has fine-tuned their pitch decks. His clear and pragmatic way helps the start-ups to focus on the main tasks. In addition, he supports with his know-how and his network the further development of our accelerator program. All in all, it is a great pleasure working with him!”

Dr. Maura Kessel
Dr. Maura KesselAccelerator Programme ManagerClimate-KIC Accelerator

Lumenaza

Digital marketplace for local producers and consumers of electricity (“utility-in-a-box solution for distributed energy”).

Specific algorithms ensure a secure and balanced supply.

Our role

  • Development of the pitch-deck.
  • Sparring partner during the €1.3m financing round with EnBW and IBB Venture Capital.

We worked closely together with Marc during our last financing round. Marc has a strong view on the really important things and always pushed us to stay focused. Besides that he helped us quite a lot with developing a compelling pitch deck. We could close the financing successfully and still appreciate Marc’s opinion very much.”

Dr. Christian Chudoba
Dr. Christian ChudobaFounderLumenaza

Uniwhere (RIP)

Uniwhere offered students an app to access their personal university data.

Uniwhere had integrated over 70 universities, acquired 150,000 registered users with a zero marketing budget, and achieved top ratings in the app stores but could not find a sustainable business model.

Our role

  • Support in building a scalable company and in the development of the strategy and business model.
  • Early stage round with Westtech Ventures, Boost Heroes, Rancilio Cube and further angel investors.
  • Angel investor

I have met Marc during our acceleration program and I have really appreciated his willingness to support us; we moved from Italy to Berlin and Marc has been our gate to the German investors market. We’ve worked together to close our seed round: from strategy, planning, documents preparation to a fundamental training period, that made us perfectly prepared for meetings and negotiations. Marc is a great team player and a great value for the company!“

Fedrico Cian
Fedrico CianFounderUniwhere

Hoard (R.I.P.)

  • Hoard cracked the last mile by building up a network of pick-points and providing them with an easy to use mobile app.
  • Sold to Norwegian competitor Sharebox in 2018.

Our role

“I met Marc in early 2016. Since day one he has been an important advisor, investor and friend we can rely on: Always available and very dedicated. He has become an integral part of our team and his experience and calm manner help us a lot to navigate Hoard through the ups and downs of start-up life.”

Anthony Forsans
Anthony ForsansFounder & CEOHoard

Cashboard (R.I.P.)

Cashboard automatised the tradition financial advisory role for retail investors, streamlining the investment process.

Our role

“We appreciate the experience and support we receive from the Buddies. Both have helped us considerably in our fundraising, and we therefore continue working with them. Highly recommendable.”

Robert Henker
Robert HenkerFounder & CEOCashboard
Akash Shukla

„After ages, I got to attend such an insightful & engaging session with no bs, and it was relevant to everyone irrespective of geographies. And the way you have integrated GIFs and formal info about the landscape was the highlight. Your session was full of insights and it will always remain one of my personal favorite of this program.

Akash ShuklaProgram Manager, Google
Bernhard Schmid

“Marc and I worked together at Innotech. I particularly appreciated his judgement, his integrity, and his no-nonsense approach, even during difficult times. I look forward to receiving new investment proposals from him and can highly recommend him to every founder.”

Bernhard SchmidPartner & General Manager GermanyXAnge Private Equity
Stéphanie Heller (Galantine)

“We came to Berlin to check out the start-up scene and see if the buzz was a myth or a reality! And the best person to call for intros was of course Marc, who knows everyone from start-up founders, to accelerators and investors.”

Stéphanie Heller (Galantine)Founder & PartnerBootstrap Europe / TREE
Christoph Wedegärtner

“I have known Marc for many years as a co-investor, fellow Board Member and friend. Over the years, I have learned and appreciated his high integrity, curiosity for new challenges and commitment to his investments, especially during difficult times. I can highly recommend Marc as a competent sparring partner and wish him and his Business Buddies all the best.”

Christoph WedegärtnerPartnerCipio Partners
Jürgen Habichler

“I’ve known Marc as an investor, founder and friend since 2007 and love to work with him. I appreciate his analytical skills, his reliability and high integrity. He is definitely a great, experienced, and highly recommendable partner for any founder.”

Jürgen HabichlerFounder & Managing DirectorJadeberg Partners AG
Volker Rofalski

“I have had good experiences with the Buddies both professionally regarding investment funds and personally. They have been a valuable source of support for evaluating our business and financial plans, have extensive legal know-how and we also like to get their help for market and background research. And of course, we are always happy to receive new investment proposals from them.”

Volker RofalskiChairman of the Supervisory Board, Mutares SEMutares SE
Philipp Budiman

“Marc is always my valued sparring partner for fundraising. With his analytical, straightforward approach, he has always given us valuable input and his open-minded, positive character – he never minds his words – makes him stand out from the crowd.”

Philipp BudimanFounder & COOMontredo
Calum Hutchison

“Working with Marc/Business Buddies was a key decision we made for our business. Developing a detailed financial model was imperative for our raise and not only that, helped us better understand our own business.”

Calum HutchisonCo-Founder & CEO, LeafLeaf
Jonathan Gabler

“Marc has helped us tremendously with the closing of our seed financing round. Furthermore, he is a sparring partner that adds significant value, is available 24×7 and has a broad network in the startup scene, both very unique.”

Jonathan GablerFormer CEO, HarimataHarimata
Jennifer Skupin

“The Buddies have the expertise that you, as a founder, highly appreciate. With a blend of entrepreneurial spirit and investor know-how, they give you detailed input and feedback. And when you go with them for lunch, you might find even a review about it afterwards on: http://mittagsinmitte.de

Jennifer SkupinFounder & CEO72andSunny
Christian Bicker

“Marc has extensive experience as an investor as well as a founder. He is very result oriented and together with his team, delivers valuable strategic input and hands-on support when it comes to fundraising. Highly recommendable!”

Christian BickerPartnerCareerteam
Min-Sung Kim

“With his 10 years of experience in Venture Capital and Private Equity and 4 years of Startup experience, I have appreciate Marc’s counsel and insights very much. I value him as a good sparring partner, since he is always sincere and straightforward with his advice.”

Min-Sung KimInvestment DirectorSamsung Catalyst Fund
Dirk-Joost van Engelshoven

„Hi Marc, it has been so great working with you through Climate KIC. You always knew how to improve what we already thought was good (but was definitely far from that :-). Learning from you, how to prepare, and receiving your feedback has been fabulous. It has been our honor!“

Dirk-Joost van EngelshovenFounder & CEOHelios Aircargo Network
Konstantin Tsoraklidis

“We had received a lot of pressure from potential investors and hired Business Buddies on Friday night. By Sunday night, we had already received a correct state-of-the-art financial plan. The plan fulfills our requirements perfectly and the investor standards as well. Further, the plan enables us, to check sensitivities and run different scenarios. Great work! We would definitely hire them again.”

Konstantin TsoraklidisChief Operating OfficerBDSwiss