Bernhard Schmid
Partner
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- Full Name
- Bernhard Schmid
- Title
- Partner / Managing Partner — General Manager Germany
- Firm
- XAnge (the venture arm of the Siparex group)
- Firm Type
- Venture Capital (early-stage; note: the original stub label "Angel Investors" appears inaccurate — XAnge is an institutional VC firm with ~€600M AUM, though Schmid does back companies from the earliest rounds)
- Investment Stage
- Seed to Series A/B
- Check Size
- ~$300K–$10M, with a sweet spot around $5M
- Target Company Profile
- Ambitious, early-stage technology startups with strong founding teams and international ambitions
- Sector Focus
- Digital consumer, Enterprise/SaaS & Data, Fintech, and Deeptech (with personal exposure across machine learning/AI, HR tech, logistics, Web3/crypto, greentech, and life sciences)
- Geographic Focus
- Europe, with Schmid responsible for the German-speaking (DACH) region
- Location
- Munich, Germany
Background
Bernhard Schmid is a German venture capitalist based in Munich who leads XAnge's operations and investments across the German-speaking countries. He joined XAnge in 2008 and runs the firm's Munich presence as its German general manager / partner. He holds an MBA from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU).
Schmid began his investing career in 1994 in Munich, first as an analyst and then as an investment manager at Atlas Venture, a global venture capital fund specialized in ICT and life sciences. He subsequently worked as a partner at innotech, a German VC firm focused on ICT and renewable energies, and his career history also includes a partner role at DVC Deutsche Venture Capital. This combination of life-science, ICT, and clean-energy investing across more than two decades underpins the broad sector range he covers today.
At XAnge, Schmid sits within a German-French firm that invests in early-stage technology companies across Europe from offices in Paris, Munich, and Berlin. XAnge was founded in 2003/2004, manages around €600M, is a certified B Corp, and has backed more than 200 companies — including well-known European names such as Ledger, Odoo, Lydia, and Believe Digital (firm-level deals). Schmid's role is to source and lead the firm's investments in the DACH market and to serve on the boards of its German portfolio companies.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests at seed through Series A/B in European technology startups, with checks roughly $300K–$10M and a typical sweet spot near $5M.
- Focuses on XAnge's four core verticals: Digital consumer, Enterprise/SaaS & Data, Fintech, and Deeptech.
- Concentrates on German-speaking (DACH) founders, acting as XAnge's on-the-ground partner in Munich.
- Comfortable leading rounds and taking board seats — e.g., he joined the board of airfocus alongside colleague Arnaud Baraër when XAnge led its Series A.
- Backs ambitious teams with international scope, consistent with XAnge's stated approach of working alongside "visionary founders with strong values and international ambitions."
Notable Investments
- airfocus (Hamburg) — modular product-management/strategy SaaS platform. XAnge led its $5M Series A (June 2021), with Schmid joining the board; XAnge followed on in an $8M Series B (January 2024).
- Travador (Germany) — online platform for short-break and adventure travel. XAnge led its ~$7M second financing round (2014), with Schmid (then "General Manager" at XAnge) leading the deal.
- *Firm-level XAnge companies (illustrative of the platform Schmid is part of, not necessarily his personal deals):* Ledger, Odoo, Lydia, Believe Digital.
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