Florian Heinemann

Florian Heinemann: Project A & unlocking European venture

Florian Heinemann, founding partner of Project A, explains his 'godfather of German venture' tag — a 1999 founder, Rocket Internet MD from 2007, then Project A co-founder in 2011/12, now on fund five with ~$1.4B AUM, offices in Berlin and London, and roughly 25% of capital in the UK, a third in DACH and 15% in the Nordics. He says Europe's edge is technical founders emerging from universities from Munich to Delft, with Poland, Czechia and the Baltics as promising under-seeded regions. He argues Europe's problem is capital allocation, not talent or returns: country-by-country funding, weak public markets (Revolut likely listing in the US, UiPath on Nasdaq), under-allocated pensions, and no 401(k)-style retail on-ramp — with the German chancellor's unified-exchange push and Andreas Klinger's EU Inc as only first steps, and a reminder that great companies take five to ten years to build.

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