Empowering ambitious entrepreneurs to redefine success through adaptability and execution.
About us
We believe in empowering passionate entrepreneurs to build the European economy of the future. By focusing on a select range of industries and geographies where we have deep expertise, we enhance alignment with investors, reduce failure rates, and improve return on investment. We prioritize working with motivated, coachable founders who have the drive and capability to execute their vision. We add value to startups by providing intensive mentoring and helping them define and achieve the right key performance indicators (KPIs).
Our investment strategy is to engage at the earliest stages—Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A—ensuring frugal investments while maintaining ownership across multiple funding rounds. We also facilitate bridging to Silicon Valley for subsequent growth phases.
Our approach is distinctly hands-on and tailored to address the gaps often seen in the European startup ecosystem. We start relationships early, often at the university level in Germany, Scandinavia and Israel. We lead funding rounds and build personal relationships with founders long before they seek venture capital, providing unique value and guidance throughout their journey – ending in bridging startups to the US for later stage rounds.
Moreover, we are committed to discovering and supporting underrepresented founders, including women and other under-represented groups. Our dedication to these principles ensures we not only invest in businesses but also nurture the leaders who will drive future innovation.
Meet the founders – and say hi:
A serial founder and investor across four continents, Derek values the unconventional thinking, authenticity, and diversity which underlie meaningful opportunities.
Derek founded ExtraVallis, the precursor fund to XTR. Prior to this, he served as Managing Partner of HardTech Labs, a fund management company focused on health, agriculture, nutrition and life sciences and of Origo/Fen Ventures, a seed stage venture capital fund investing in Latin American technology companies. As a founder, his apogee was creating the largest broadcaster of European premier league soccer in North America, founded in a garage in Menlo Park, California. He started his first company, a Yahoo! clone, while in law school. He also worked as Vice President for Content at OpenTV and the head of DirecTV Latin America’s interactive television group. Derek holds two patents related to interactive television software infrastructure and has a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley
- Email: derek@xtr.capital
- Phone: +49 155 66282967
- LinkedIn: /dfooter
Maria is a General Partner at XTR bringing over a decade of experience as a serial entrepreneur in Fintech, Fashiontech and HRtech and as a business angel with a strong focus on Fintech, AI, Cybersecurity and SaaS.
As an investor in over 12 startups, including notable companies like Solaris and Clark, Maria leverages her expertise to support innovative ventures at all stages.
Maria is also the Founder and CEO of Accelerator Frankfurt (founded 2016), one of Germany's most recognized innovation hubs for early stage tech startups, where she has facilitated the growth and successful exits of numerous startups, such as AskData (AI) to SAP, SecuredTouch (Cybersecurity) to Ping, Alyne (RegTech) to Mitratech, Anyblock (Blockchain) to BlockDaemon, and Cytegic (Cybersecurity) to Mastercard.
With extensive leadership experience in international sales and operations at companies like Dow Chemicals, Botnia, and Rohm and Haas, she has managed P&Ls of up to $800 million and driven strategic market expansion across Europe and Asia.
Recognized as one of the EU's top 50 influential women in startups and VCs from 2019 to 2021, Maria holds a Master’s in Process Engineering and Industrial Economics from the University of Åbo Akademi, an MBA in International Management from Purdue University & ESCP, and an Executive Master in Organisational Psychology from INSEAD.
Maria's deep understanding of behavioral psychology, combined with her passion for sales and goal-oriented mindset, drives her success in scaling companies and fostering innovation. Her results-driven approach, strategic leadership, and extensive hands-on experience make her an invaluable asset as a General Partner, with a focus on achieving impactful outcomes.
- Email: madeleine@betahaus.de
- Phone: +49 176 62655019
- LinkedIn: /madeleine-gummer-v-mohl
Madeleine Gummer v. Mohl is one of the betahaus | founders, she lives and works in Berlin. She is a social influencer with a big heart for startups.
Madeleine Gummer v. Mohl Co Founder and CEO of betahaus betahaus is one of the true pioneers of the German startup scene, enabling people from many different walks of life to come together through coworking since 2008.
Madeleine cofounded the company and build it into one of the most significant coworking brands in Europe with locations in Berlin, Hamburg, Sofia, Barcelona and Bukarest.
Since 2021 she is an active angel investor in the One Coworking Platform which enables Teams to work from everywhere around the globe. She is also responsible for establishing "betapitch" in 2009, which has grown into a global network of competitions that shine a spotlight on startup talent from around the world, and has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs along the way. An entrepreneur and innovator at heart, she worked throughout her university studies at the Politikfabrik, a student-run communications agency, best known for Germany's Wahl-O-Mat, a digital tool that helps gauge respondents' political affiliation. She also worked in the office of former Vice-President of the German Federal parliament (Bundestag), Gerda Hasselfeldt. Madeleine studied history and German language and literature at the University of Potsdam.
She is a mother of 3 kids and married to Chase Gummer. Madeleine served as a board member of World Vision Germany for 9 years from 2014 till 2023.
- Email: madeleine@betahaus.de
- Phone: +49 176 62655019
- LinkedIn: /madeleine-gummer-v-mohl
About you
You are:
Founders
who want a multi-round supportive relationship with investors that can bridge to US funding and market – focused on resilience, execution, and outsize ambitions, not merely credentials.
Investors
seeking exceptional returns from impactful companies with reasonable valuations, partnered with managers whose interests closely align with your own.
If this is you, connect with us at exceptional@xtr.capital