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Meet Filip, One of Germany’s Most Successful Early Stage VCs from Cherry Ventures #GSA22

Updated: Apr 30


What Is This About?

Filip Dames is the founding partner of Cherry Ventures (cherry.vc), one of Germany's most important early-stage seed investors. Cherry Ventures invests almost exclusively in Europe with a "founders first, investors second" philosophy. They started with their own money and close friends' capital, and their portfolio includes notable names like Qualifyze, Sanity Group, and Rows.


In this #GSA22 interview, Filip Dames — founding partner of Cherry Ventures — shares his journey from an internship in Malaysia to building one of Germany's most successful seed-stage venture capital firms. Cherry Ventures invests almost exclusively in Europe and operates with a distinctive "founders first and investors second" philosophy. The firm started with the partners' own money and capital from close friends, growing into a fund with an impressive portfolio that includes companies like Qualifyze, Sanity Group, and Rows — several of which have also been guests on Startuprad.io. Cherry Ventures is actively hiring and invites startups to pitch through their website.




  • Cherry Ventures invests almost exclusively in Europe, positioning itself as a dedicated European early-stage seed investor with deep regional expertise.

  • The firm's "founders first and investors second" motto reflects a philosophy of prioritizing entrepreneur needs over investor convenience — a key differentiator in the competitive VC landscape.

  • Cherry Ventures started with its partners' own money and contributions from close friends, demonstrating a bootstrapped approach to fund-building that built credibility with LPs.

  • Filip Dames's career path — from intern in Malaysia to founding one of Germany's top seed funds — illustrates the diverse routes into venture capital.


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The Video Interview is set to go live on December 8th 2022




The Audio Interview

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“We invest almost exclusively in Europe”Filip Dames, Founding Partner Cherry Ventures

The Founder


Filip Dames has had an accomplished career, starting out as an intern in Malaysia with DaimlerChrysler, at BCG, and Sony BMG in New York City. Following his venture into the corporate world, he then founded a collectible marketplace called Tamundo. There he went on to oversee the international expansion of Zalando and become the founder and CEO of Zalando Lounge (Zalando’s shopping club). The venture was a success, helping Zalando to go public in 2014.


He decided to leave the company, making his 30th birthday also his Zalando farewell party.


From there Filip decided to venture off and focus on venture capital; so it came as no surprise when he started Cherry Ventures in 2013 in Berlin as business angel and startup investor. With tickets of 10.000–50.000€ they are dedicated to helping Germany, Europe, and beyond with investments for entrepreneurs wanting to make their visions reality.


Cherry Ventures

Cherry Ventures (https://www.cherry.vc/) is an early-stage venture capital fund founded and led by former entrepreneurs. They are focusing on European seed-stage companies in the B2B and B2C space. Cherry invests there at the pre-seed- and seed stage with initial tickets between €500k and €5M.


“Founders first and investors second” is the motto of Cherry Ventures

They started out with their first fund with their own money and the money of close friends, much less than 10 m €. From there they build a portfolio of 30 companies, of which some did really well. This in turn enabled them to raise an institutional fund, worth 150 m Euros. In the second fund, successful entrepreneurs from the first fund invested like the founder of Amorelie or the founders of Flixbus.


Their portfolio is already pretty impressive and includes names our frequent followers will recognize, unicorns like Flixbus, Auto1 Group, Forto, Infarm. But they are also investors in well-known startups like Amorelie, Kitchen Stories, Flaschenpost, Spryker, and Superlist.


Their portfolio also includes former guests, Qualifyze, Sanity Group, and Rows, for which you can find the interview link in the show notes.


Pitch Your Startup Here

Reach out to Cherry Ventures here to pitch your startup use the email for investments


Cherry Ventures is Hiring

You can learn more about the open positions at Cherry and their portfolio companies here. At the time of publication, they had more than 1.500 open positions.


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Startuprad.io is the leading independent media platform covering startups, venture capital, and innovation across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Europe. We offer B2B partnership opportunities for companies looking to reach startup decision-makers, founders, and investors.

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Sanity Group



Rows



Feedback

We are always looking for ways to make the show better. Please take this opportunity and share your feedback with us! You can also suggest topics or interview partners that you’d like featured on future episodes by leaving a comment below — we would love to hear from YOU!!!


The Interviewer

This interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him:


Entities Mentioned

People

  • Filip Dames — Founding Partner of Cherry Ventures

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Interviewer; host of Startuprad.io


Organizations

  • Cherry Ventures (cherry.vc) — Berlin-based early-stage seed VC fund

  • Qualifyze — Cherry Ventures portfolio company; former Startuprad.io guest

  • Sanity Group — Cherry Ventures portfolio company; former Startuprad.io guest

  • Rows — Cherry Ventures portfolio company; former Startuprad.io guest


Topics

  • Seed-stage investing — Early-stage VC strategies in Europe

  • Founder-first VC philosophy — Prioritizing entrepreneur needs

  • European VC ecosystem — Cherry's exclusive European focus


Relationship Map

  • Filip Dames → Cherry Ventures → Founding Partner

  • Cherry Ventures → Portfolio: Qualifyze, Sanity Group, Rows

  • Cherry Ventures → Europe-focused seed investing → "Founders first" philosophy


Related Articles on Startuprad.io


Quote Highlights


"We invest almost exclusively in Europe." — Filip Dames, Founding Partner, Cherry Ventures

"Founders first and investors second" — Cherry Ventures' guiding motto

What is Cherry Ventures?

Cherry Ventures is one of Germany's most important early-stage seed venture capital funds, founded by Filip Dames. Based in Berlin, it invests almost exclusively in European startups with a "founders first and investors second" philosophy. The firm started with the partners' own capital and has grown to include portfolio companies like Qualifyze, Sanity Group, and Rows.


How can I pitch my startup to Cherry Ventures?

Startups can reach out to Cherry Ventures through their website at cherry.vc using the investor contact email. As a European-focused seed investor, they are actively looking for early-stage startups across the continent.


Who is Filip Dames?

Filip Dames is the founding partner of Cherry Ventures. His career journey took him from an internship in Malaysia through various roles before he focused on venture capital, ultimately co-founding one of Germany's most successful seed-stage investment firms with a portfolio of notable European startups.


About the Host


Joern "Joe" Menninger is the host of the Startuprad.io podcast and covers founders, investors, and policy developments across the DACH startup ecosystem. Through more than 1,300 interviews and nearly a decade of reporting, he documents the evolution of the European startup landscape. Follow Joern on LinkedIn.


Support Startuprad.io

Startuprad.io partners with selected companies that want to shape the conversation around innovation, venture capital, and startup building in Europe. If that is relevant for your team, you can learn more here: Partner with Startuprad.io

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