Germany’s Deutsche Telekom (DT) has announced the creation of a venture capital (VC) vehicle - Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP) - boasting one of the largest fund size at EUR 500 million which will be allocated over the next 5 years. The DTCP will be taking over all new investment portfolios from DT's existing venture capital fund T-Venture. T-Venture which was established in 1998 will continue to manage its existing portfolio and follow up investment for around 100 companies.
A specialist team of investment managers will be managing the funds which will be launched in early 2015. DTCP will support Deutsche Telekom’s strategy as an external innovation engine through investments in venture capital, with a special focus on Germany’s exciting and growing start-up scene. On top of that, DTCP will also expand its activities to include private equity investments in existing undertakings to foster operational cooperation between over-the-top companies and Deutsche Telekom.
Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom
DTCP combines the expertise and strength of a large corporation with the agility and flexibility of a small investment company: the best of both worlds to take Deutsche Telekom forward.
Vicente Vento, Senior Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions at Deutsche Telekom and CEO-designate of DTCP
I’m excited about the job of unifying Deutsche Telekom's innovation investments in one place, and being able to attract world-class talent to Germany to create a truly unique innovation engine.
Thorsten Langheim, Senior Vice President, Group Corporate Development, Deutsche Telekom
As a hybrid fund, DTCP combines the strengths of a large corporate group with the speed and expertise of an investment fund, and expands Deutsche Telekom's spectrum considerably. We are opening up new opportunities for ourselves to increase the value of our own investments that are not part of our core business in the long term. And our private equity approach will allow us to invest in more mature companies that have to date been outside the reach of a purely venture capital focus.
