Venture Capital

General Catalyst (formerly La Famiglia)

La Famiglia is a European seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016 by Jeannette zu Fuerstenberg, with offices in Berlin, Paris, and London. The firm bridges the gap between European industry corporates and technology startups, leveraging a network of 200+ family-owned enterprises as LPs and advisors.

La Famiglia invests EUR 500K to EUR 3M at pre-seed and seed in B2B SaaS, fintech, and marketplace models. Notable portfolio companies include Personio, Solarisbank, Forto, and Pile Capital. The firm manages over EUR 250M and provides unique access to industrial pilot customers and distribution channels.

GermanyBerlinSeed to Series ASaaSMarketplace

Back to directory Visit site

Details

Location

Berlin, Germany

Portfolio startups

Startups this investor has backed

Celonis

Munich, Germany · Startup

Celonis is a Munich and New York-based enterprise software company that pioneered the field of process mining – technology that analyzes a company’s IT event logs to visualize and optimize its business processes. Founded in 2011 by three friends (Alexander Rinke, Bastian Nominacher, and Martin Klenk) out of university in Munich, Celonis bootstrapped in its early years and landed Siemens as a key pilot customer for its process analytics tool. The software proved invaluable in identifying inefficiencies in processes like order-to-cash, procurement, and inventory management. By 2015 Celonis was the leader in this niche, and it partnered with SAP which resold Celonis as SAP Process Mining by Celonis. Venture capital soon followed: Celonis raised $27.5M in 2016 (Series A) then $50M in 2018 (Series B). Its growth was massive – from €1M ARR in 2012 to well over €100M by late 2010s. In 2019, Celonis raised $290M at a $2.5B valuation, making it a unicorn. It wasn’t done: by June 2021, Celonis announced a $1B Series D round valuing it at $11 billion, one of Europe’s largest software funding rounds. And in 2022, Celonis reportedly reached a $13B+ valuation, firmly cementing it among Europe’s most valuable private tech companies. The company’s product evolved into the Celonis Execution Management System (EMS), which not only discovers processes but also suggests and implements improvements (sometimes via RPA bots or triggering workflows). Celonis counts thousands of enterprise customers – including Siemens, BMW, Coca-Cola, Uber – and its software helps them save billions by cutting throughput times, reducing errors, and optimizing resource use. With dual HQs in Munich and New York, Celonis has aggressively expanded in the U.S., competing with companies like IBM’s process mining. The firm is also eyeing an IPO; CEO Rinke has mentioned that Celonis is positioning itself for a public listing when market conditions are right. In the meantime, Celonis keeps growing (estimated $400M+ ARR in 2023) and acquiring smaller tech startups to bolster its platform. Celonis epitomizes the success of enterprise software from Europe – deeply technical, essentially creating a new category, and achieving decacorn status within a decade.

StartupGrowthSoftwareData

View profile Visit site

Personio

Munich, Germany · Startup

Personio is a Munich-based HR software company that has become one of Europe’s most valuable SaaS startups. Founded in 2015 by Hanno Renner (CEO) and three co-founders from the Technical University of Munich, Personio set out to streamline HR management for small and mid-sized businesses. Its cloud platform offers an “all-in-one” suite – from recruiting and applicant tracking to payroll, attendance, and performance management. Personio’s focus on Europe’s underserved SME segment paid off spectacularly: as of 2024, the company serves 12,000+ customers across 70 countries (primarily firms with 10–2,000 employees). This rapid growth attracted major VC funding. Personio became a unicorn in January 2021 with a $1.7 billion valuation, and by October 2022 it raised a $200 million Series E extension at a staggering $8.5 billion valuation – making it one of Europe’s most valuable private tech companies at the time. Investors like Index Ventures, Accel, Lightspeed, and Greenoaks have backed Personio. The company has since expanded to 8 offices (including London, Dublin and Amsterdam) and grown to about 2,000 employees. Despite the size, Personio continues to post strong metrics: in 2023, revenue reportedly doubled and the firm reached over 15,000 customers by 2025. Personio’s success is often attributed to its user-friendly, modular platform tailored to non-technical HR teams at smaller companies. It integrates with 100+ other business tools and emphasizes automation of routine HR tasks. Now valued at $8.5 billion+, Personio is widely seen as a future IPO candidate and a role model for Europe’s B2B SaaS boom – proving that an “SMB HR” niche can scale to a global category leader.

StartupGrowthHR TechSoftware

View profile Visit site

Solarisbank

Berlin, Germany · Startup

Embedded banking platform providing regulated accounts, cards, and payments APIs. Solarisbank is a startup based in Berlin, Germany at the growth stage. The company operates in the Fintech, Banking space. Learn more at their website.

StartupGrowthFintechBanking

View profile Visit site

N26

Berlin, Germany · Startup

N26 is a Berlin-based digital bank with a mobile-first current account and financial products for consumers across Europe. In May 2024, BaFin lifted the growth restrictions previously imposed on the bank, clearing the way for renewed customer expansion. In 2025 N26 rolled out free stock and ETF trading for all eligible customers, adding investing to its core banking offering. The company positions itself as a full-stack European challenger bank with a focus on product breadth and operational discipline.

StartupGrowthFintechBankingWealth

View profile Visit site

Similar entries

Matched by sector and location overlap; not a confirmed investment portfolio

Christian Reber

Berlin, Germany · Angel Investor

Christian Reber is a German entrepreneur and prolific angel investor best known as the founder of Wunderlist (acquired by Microsoft in 2015) and Pitch, a collaborative presentation platform. With deep experience building productivity and design tools, Reber actively invests in early-stage SaaS, design, and developer tooling startups across Europe. His operator background gives him credibility with technical founders, and he frequently provides hands-on product and go-to-market mentorship to his portfolio companies. Reber is part of Berlin's influential network of founder-angels who reinvest their exits back into the ecosystem.

Angel InvestorPre-Seed to SeedSaaSProductivityDeveloper Tools

View profile Visit site

Contentful

Berlin, Germany · Startup

Contentful is a headless content management system (CMS) that enables enterprises to manage and deliver digital content across websites, apps, and devices via API. Founded in Berlin, the company serves over 4,000 customers including Spotify, Chanel, and Urban Outfitters. Contentful was valued at $3 billion after its 2021 Series F and is one of Europe's most successful developer-tools companies, bridging content management with modern composable architecture.

StartupLate StageEnterprise SoftwareDeveloper ToolsSaaS

View profile Visit site

GetYourGuide

Berlin, Germany · Startup

GetYourGuide is a Berlin-based travel experiences marketplace founded in 2009 by Johannes Reck and Tao Tao. The platform connects travelers with curated tours, activities, and attraction tickets in destinations worldwide, offering everything from skip-the-line museum passes to multi-day excursions. GetYourGuide has raised over $900 million from investors including KKR, SoftBank, and Temasek, reaching a valuation above $2 billion. The company serves tens of millions of travelers annually and has expanded into branded 'Originals' experiences operated under its own quality standards, positioning it as the leading European alternative to Viator in the tours and activities category.

StartupGrowthTravelMarketplace

View profile Visit site

Mirakl

Paris, France · Startup

Mirakl is a Paris-based enterprise marketplace platform founded in 2012 by Adrien Nussenbaum and Philippe Corrot. The company provides the SaaS technology that enables retailers, manufacturers, and distributors to launch and operate their own online marketplaces, adding third-party sellers alongside their existing product catalogs. Mirakl powers marketplace operations for over 400 enterprise customers including Macy's, Kroger, Carrefour, and Siemens. The company has raised over $800 million, reaching a valuation of $3.5 billion, and is one of France's highest-valued B2B SaaS companies. Mirakl has offices in Paris, London, and Boston, and its platform model reflects the broader shift toward marketplace commerce across enterprise retail.

StartupGrowthE-commerceSaaSMarketplace

View profile Visit site

Pitch

Berlin, Germany · Startup

Pitch is a Berlin-based collaborative presentation platform founded in 2018 by Christian Reber, the creator of Wunderlist. The product enables teams to build, design, and present slide decks together in real time with built-in templates, brand controls, and analytics. Backed by investors including Index Ventures, Lakestar, and Thrive Capital, Pitch competes with Google Slides and Canva in the modern workplace productivity space and has attracted hundreds of thousands of teams worldwide.

StartupGrowthProductivitySaaS

View profile Visit site

Razor Group

Berlin, Germany · Startup

Razor Group is a Berlin-based e-commerce aggregator that acquires and operates Amazon marketplace brands, using technology and operational expertise to scale product portfolios. The company has consolidated multiple competitors and built one of Europe's largest portfolios of marketplace-native consumer brands. Razor Group focuses on supply chain optimization, product development, and cross-border expansion to grow acquired brands.

General Catalyst (formerly La Famiglia)

Details

Portfolio startups

Similar entries

Comments