Florian Schweitzer is a founding partner of b2venture and part of the firm’s b2venture Fund Team. He co-founded the firm in 2000 as an online platform for entrepreneurs and business angels and has led the organization throughout its history to become a unique venture capital firm that leverages the power of its angel investor community to support entrepreneurs in the earliest stages of their journey and beyond.

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“When we started the company, our motivation was simple and has stayed with us: to motivate entrepreneurs across the German-speaking world and throughout Europe to think big and be ambitious about the future and find the right investors for them along their way.”

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Florian founded the company at the end of his university studies at the University of St. Gallen, where he was active in establishing START Global, a student-run organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship and technological innovation, as a key institution bringing together young students and experienced entrepreneurs and investors.

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“Back in the early 2000s, the European ecosystem was very small and we entered the market at a challenging time. But we persevered: first, by offering advisory services to startups and angel investors, then by creating angel syndicates, before finally launching our first venture capital fund in 2007.”

b2venture has pioneered innovative approaches to venture funding since its founding and today has both dedicated funds and a direct investment track to invest in the earliest stages and in later stages as well.

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“What is core to our investment process is our collaboration with our community of angel investors. They provide a critical layer of intelligence, experience, relationships and capital to take full advantage of every opportunity and help our entrepreneurs succeed.“

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Florian is from Geneva, Switzerland and lived in both Switzerland and Germany throughout his life. His ancestors are a mix of Swabian bakers, Jewish refugees from eastern Europe, many theologians and pastors, as well as entrepreneurs.

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“I grew up in a clergy house, where people from all walks of life came in and out. It was a very open home and taught me much about understanding and relating to a diverse group of people from different backgrounds. I was very lucky to know all four of my grand-parents well and learned from them a lot of lessons from past generations. It proved to be an invaluable foundation for the future.”

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Florian is very passionate about the intergenerational philosophy of b2venture and sees it as fundamental to the firm’s success.

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“Since the very beginning of my journey as an entrepreneur and investor, I have experienced firsthand how powerful bringing together different generations can be in creating a virtuous circle: funding entrepreneurs with outstanding potential together with the best angel investors not only leads to better companies, but also to a new generation of angel investors motivated to be mentors and custodians of the future themselves.”   

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Florian remains a dedicated supporter of START Global, serving on the board of the foundation and mentoring the student leadership teams that run the programs, which includes the START Summit tech conference. He also serves on the board of Fondation Botnar, a Swiss-based foundation that champions the use of digital technology to improve the wellbeing of children in urban environments.