At a Glance
Lakestar is a venture capital firm based in Berlin, Germany founded in 2012. The firm focuses on Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B+ investments across sectors including Aerospace & Defense, Digital Health, Other, Consumer, Fintech. The firm manages $2B in assets under management. Notable portfolio companies include Spotify, Skype, Facebook, Airbnb, HelloFresh, Contentful and N26. European VC firm investing in technology companies from early-stage to growth, focusing on transformative digital businesses.
“European VC firm investing in technology companies from early-stage to growth, focusing on transformative digital businesses.”
Dr. Klaus Hommels founded Lakestar in 2012 and remains its defining figure; he built his reputation as one of Europe's most prolific angel investors before institutionalizing the strategy into a fund. Stephen Nundy is managing partner and serves as the firm's chief technology officer and chief information security officer, acting as the technical partner on deals. Nicolas Brand is a managing partner focused on deep tech, and Christoph Schuh is growth partner, handling go-to-market support for portfolio management teams.
Lakestar also maintains an unusually senior external advisory bench rather than a large in-house operating team. Its listed trusted advisers include General Sir Nick Carter, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, former German vice chancellor Philipp Rösler, General Volker Wieker, Thorsten Dirks, Simon Collins and Sir Niall Ferguson.
Klaus Hommels founded Lakestar in 2012 and closed a first seed fund of 135.5 million euros in 2013. Lakestar II raised $385 million and was, at the time, the largest single venture fund in Continental Europe. The firm then built out a growth strategy alongside the early-stage franchise, and in April 2024 announced $600 million split across an early-stage vehicle and a growth vehicle.
In July 2026 Lakestar launched Resilience Fund I, a $300 million vehicle dedicated to defense and dual-use technology in Europe and across NATO-allied countries, making it one of the larger dedicated European defense funds. Reported assets under management exceed 2 billion euros across Lakestar I through IV plus the dedicated growth fund, with some sources putting the total platform above $6 billion. The firm invests from seed to growth across fintech, deep tech, AI, healthtech, mobility, climate and consumer. Forbes reported in October 2025 that Lakestar had paused new startup investments.
Lakestar primarily invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B+ stages. This means they focus on companies that are at the earliest idea or prototype phase.
Lakestar is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Many of their portfolio companies are also based in this region, though they invest across geographies.
Lakestar focuses on investments in Fintech, Consumer, Deeptech, Digital Health, Aerospace & Defense. Their portfolio reflects deep expertise and networks within these sectors.
Lakestar's typical investment check size ranges from $. to $.. Actual amounts may vary based on the stage, sector, and specific opportunity.
Lakestar manages approximately $2B in assets under management (AUM) across their funds.
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