Willi Mannheims

Willi Mannheims is a Managing Partner at eCAPITAL Entrepreneurial Partners, the Münster-based venture capital firm founded in 1999 that manages own funds totaling over €340 million across sustainability, enterprise software, cybersecurity, IoT, and new materials. Trained as an aerospace engineer at RWTH Aachen and Queens College (UK), he also holds an MBA from Henley Management College (UK) and the University of Houston. Early in his career he held management positions at DaimlerChrysler and its corporate VC fund DASA, and served as Head of Business Development at CUBIS AG.

Mannheims built his reputation as an entrepreneur in the data-security industry. He was Founder and CEO of secunet Security Networks AG, which he led to a successful IPO in 1999. He went on to found or co-found several cybersecurity companies — including ESCRYPT, Xignsys, and Physec — and held CEO roles at escrypt GmbH, ISITS AG, and Eracom AG. Across his career he has accompanied four IPOs and taken supervisory-board seats at numerous high-growth companies (including VMRay, RIPS Technologies, and Sweepatic). He was also an active angel investor in cybersecurity before joining eCAPITAL in 2016.

At eCAPITAL, Mannheims focuses on investments and portfolio work in cybersecurity and other deep-tech verticals, and he was a driving force behind the launch of what the firm describes as Germany's first dedicated cybersecurity VC fund, alongside a pan-European investment strategy. He frames his role through an operator's lens: "As an entrepreneur myself, I know the importance of holistically challenging our founders to enable the long-term success of our portfolio companies." Outside work he spends time at the Baltic Sea, sailing and rowing.

• Invests at seed through Series B, with checks of roughly $1.5M–$4.0M (sweet spot ~$2.0M), out of eCAPITAL's funds.
• Core conviction is cybersecurity as a structural growth market: "Cybersecurity will continue its rapid expansion, driven by digitalization, AI, and the proliferation of connected devices."
• Sees EU regulation as a demand driver — points to NIS2, the Cyber Resilience Act, and CSOA as creating both challenges and opportunities for emerging cybersecurity startups.
• Prioritizes European deep-tech scouted through universities, research clusters, accelerators, and cybersecurity communities across NRW, France, the UK, and Benelux.
• Believes eCAPITAL's edge is operator experience + 360° founder support — his own cybersecurity background plus colleagues (Hannes Schill, Steffen Reinecke, Dirk Seewald) who help founders through complex financing rounds, operations, and corporate-innovation networks.
• Actively backs the European Cybersecurity Investment Platform (ECIP), a €1–2 billion ECSO-backed initiative meant to close Europe's cybersecurity funding shortfall — signaling a thesis that European security startups are underfunded relative to opportunity.