Neuhaus Partners

Looking for a possible Series A match, I met Paul Jozefak for a coffee. Very informally, I pitched our idea and progress and was positively surprised by how quick he grasped the whole idea, identified core value drivers and offered great feedback and input on how to improve elements of the projects.

We pitched the whole Neuhaus team for seed investment on a Friday mid 2007 and signed one week later- I have hardly ever met a team that fast in making decisions. Negotiations went very fair, although Matthias Grychta (our investment partner) and Matthias Brix are tough guys, hard on facts. Since then both of them have been very supportive, good sparring partners and made some great introductions - we can call them whenever needed. <a href="http://www.viif.de" target="_blank">www.viif.de</a>

I am not that much familiar with Neuhaus Partners, I used to work with Paul Jozefak when he was leading SAP Ventures Europe. Paul is different to many VCs I met. And I met quite a few of them between 1997 and now. He is not limited to number crunching but he really tries to make things happen. It is not only Paul knowing the technology market in Europe and in the US, it´s not only Pauls contacts around the globe and his background and CV. The most important thing from my point of view is that Paul really becomes a part of the mangement team of the company he or his fund is invested in. He starts thinking like you. We already received the investment from SAP before Paul joined, so it was not "his investement". But he really took care and spent time - both, working with our team to get our strategy optimized and fighting internally to get more support for us from SAP. He is very pragmatic and gets things done. No need for bullshit bingo if you talk to him. He has a great feeling for who it is worth working with and what/who is a waste of time. I think that is very important for a VC since not all ventures and enterpreneurs will make it and the resources (not only the money you could spend) are always kind of limited. He does not at all waste the money of his investors putting it somewhere. He really tries to get the highest possible return- for them AND for the enterpreneur ...and maybe for himself too. Paul is a very trustful person, you can discuss with him like a friend without paying attention whether or not you should share this or that information with him ("the VC") - and without disguising yourself. That is a big PRO and definitely not always the case.

Two of my clients - the 1st is in Web 2.0 / B2B business, the 2nd in the area of secure Mobile software solutions recently pitched to Neuhaus Partners. The Neuhaus people we met so far - Mr. Gottfried Neuhaus (Founding Partner), Paul Jozefak (Managing Partner) & Thomas Golinski (Investment Manager) were smart, professional & honest. Paul quickly understood/assessed the different underlying technologies, business models and opportunities. In case 1 he not only took the lead for the first multi-million Euro funding round but also arranged & managed a significant co-investment by prestigious public German KfW Bank. In case 2 we got valuable advise for our go-to-market-plan, closing reference customers and prepare for a first funding round after another Angel round.

Neuhaus Partners just invested in our company (September 2007) and from an entrepreneurial standpoint the discussions with them were straightforward as this VC is used to deal with hightech companies and Internet-related business concepts like ours. From my point of view Neuhaus Partners is especially of interest if your business idea has international aspects. They are able to assist by providing contacts from their European and American network.

Recently we closed a funding round with Neuhaus Partners as lead investor. The way they structured the deal from their site was professional and fair. Paul Jozefak as our responsible venture partner is straight forward and as a half american he adds value in terms of contacts and connections to our global expansion course beside the money. As our business is rather located in the States than in Europe, we looked at the beginning for an US VC, but pitching and meeting was quite difficult from Germany. With Neuhaus as a german VC company and Paul as Partner with US connections, we found a good solution on that. Our responsible Investment Manager Thomas Golinski is a great guy to talk to and we were never concerned to raise a topic if necessary. So all in all a perfect fit for Emporis and our expansion course.

Neuhaus Partners has invested in our firm a few years ago. Gottfried Neuhaus the founding partner really helped us a lot all the way from making an IPO to merging the company. We stayed in touch ever since. The are very nice, supportive and honest people and I always found it a pleasure to work with them. Paul Jozefak who recently joined the team has added an international network that I consider to be very helpful for companies that plan on going international.

Neuhaus Partners funded our project verwandt.de (first round). Just took about three to four weeks from first meetinng to notary appointment. Really quick. Dr. Neuhaus (founding partner) is very impressive, one of the leading enterpreneurs in Germany. Paul Jozefak (partner) is leading partner on the deal. Has an excellent network: e.g. got es a TechCrunch post. Great help!