Matteo is a Principal at Cherry. Before joining the team, he was an investor at Initial Capital in London where he invested and he was a Board Director in several Entertainment and Consumer tech startups. Before becoming an investor, Matteo spent almost 10 years at Google where he covered different roles including Product Manager at YouTube during the early years after the acquisition and Head of Games for Google Play in Europe. Prior to Google, he worked at Bain and Company. He holds a Business Degree and an MSc. in Corporate Finance from LUISS Guido Carli Business School and he is currently a Member of the Tate Members Council.

Ben is a Venture Partner at Cherry. He started his fascination with computers and technology at the age of 12 and never stopped hacking devices ever since. He created (e.g. themoviedb.org) and contributed to various open-source projects before starting his life as a founder in 2006, primarily as a CTO/CPO, with three exits under his belt (e.g. moviepilot.de). His main obsession is to find a good common ground for product, tech and business requirements. As a member of the investment team, he is now focusing on deep-tech, crypto, SaaS and other technology-related opportunities, but enjoys evaluating the tech side of things industry-agnostic. Ben is also actively participating in the Berlin tech community as a speaker, mentor, and supporter. He insisted to list that he’s undefeated in FIFA here in the office and that he was part of the german quake national team.

Daniel is a founding partner at Cherry. After several years with McKinsey Daniel co-founded CityDeal and led the company as CEO until the acquisition through Groupon (NYSE:GRPN) in 2010. He then became Managing Director of Groupon International until six months after the IPO. After Groupon, Daniel started several companies, particularly in the local commerce and SaaS space. Most notably Daniel is founder of Quandoo, a SaaS company for restaurants that was sold to Recruit Holdings in March 2015. Daniel holds a PhD in law from Vienna School of Law and an MBA from INSEAD. He lived and worked in Vienna, São Paulo, London and Singapore. Daniel is passionate about “online-to-offline” businesses and sales-driven marketplaces. Daniel currently spends a lot of time in the areas of PropTech, Fintech and B2B marketplaces.

Charlotte is a Principal at Cherry. Before joining the team, she was Founder & CEO of EdirectInsure, a direct to consumer insurance platform in SE Asia acquired by FWD Group in November 2018. Prior to this, Charlotte was co-founder and VP Asia Pacific at Quandoo, a commerce platform for restaurants acquired by Recruit Holdings in March 2015. She also held roles as Head of Planning EMEA at Groupon based in Berlin, and Regional Vice President in London where she launched several UK and Nordic markets and the Groupon Goods vertical. Charlotte spent the beginning of her career at Goldman Sachs in London and holds a PhD in Clinical Neuroscience and an MA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. She loves to spend her time diving into complex industries and processes, with a particular focus on Fintech, Mobility & Logistics.

Patrick joined Cherry as an associate. He is especially excited about new computing platforms such as crypto networks and bottom-up SaaS companies. As an early Bitcoin hodler, Patrick has already lived through several financial cycles and become just a little bit smarter every time. He enjoys spending time outdoors and would not be doing his Austrian citizenship proud if he weren't a ski instructor. Patrick previously worked at Dreamit Ventures. He was schooled in Vienna, London, and Philadelphia, and holds a bachelors of economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Filip is a Founding Partner at Cherry. Before Cherry, he founded his first startup company in 2008, an online auction house for antiques and collectibles. He then joined the founding team of Zalando as CEO of the group’s shopping-club. Up until 2014, Filip has led Zalando's business development activities including the international expansion as well as the overall product/mobile strategy for all online shops until the IPO. Filip is also an active supporter of the "Ashoka" network, helping founders to start social businesses around the world. He holds a Diploma (MSc.) from WHU-Beisheim School of Management. Filip loves to spend his time around product-focussed companies and has a particular focus on Digital Health, AI, Fintech and "next-gen" retail technology.

Marguerite is an Associate at Cherry. She did her first steps into VC at e.ventures where she looked at European companies from various sectors, raising Seed to Series B rounds. Marguerite is particularly passionate about consumer models and notably marketplaces, DTC and mobile businesses. Prior to that, Marguerite gained operational experience at Side, a marketplace in the flexible working space in France. She also worked at Founders Intelligence where she advised some of the most renown CEOs and CDOs on their digital transformation strategies and open innovation projects. Marguerite grew up in Paris and studied in London, Madrid and Istanbul. She holds a M.Sc in International Business and Management from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a B.A. in European Studies from King's College London.

Christian is a Founding Partner at Cherry. After some years at The Boston Consulting Group, Christian joined Zalando as their first CMO. Christian was responsible for building up and managing the group’s marketing efforts (i.e. performance marketing, CRM, PR, TV and brand marketing). He then joined the Management Board of Peek&Cloppenburg and was responsible for the company’s online business. He holds a diploma in business administration from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. He has lived and worked in the U.S., Spain, Brazil and South Africa. Christian gets excited about founders that are as passionate about execution as they are about building a strong and sustainable brand. He has a particular focus on logistics and mobility as well a food technology companies.

Katharina joined Cherry in 2018 and is passionate about all things next gen industry, digital health and consumer. Prior to Cherry, Katharina got her MBA from Harvard Business School and worked with start-ups in the US, Germany and Israel. She initially started her career with a few years at The Boston Consulting Group in Zurich and before that studied business at the University of St. Gallen. Originally from Munich, she is an avid supporter of the ecosystem and works with many of our companies there. Outside of Cherry, Katharina is always up for new adventures, be it horse trekking in Kyrgysztan or spending a summer exploring Silicon Valley.

Thomas is a Partner at Cherry and is particularly excited about product-centric founders and industry-defining opportunities in software. Prior to Cherry, Thomas gained experience as an entrepreneur building Bonusbox, an e-commerce data and loyalty network. Previously, he worked as Assistant to the CEO and in Corporate Development at Penguin Random House in New York and in the e-commerce division of Bertelsmann/Arvato. He gained additional experience at McKinsey and in several startups. Thomas studied Economics in Essen, London and Berkeley and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Catherine is Head of Communications & Platform at Cherry Ventures, bringing several years of professional journalism experience to the team. Most recently, she was a freelance journalist reporting on German tech for Silicon Allee and Sifted, a Financial Times-backed news site. She moved to Berlin as a Fulbright scholar in 2018 to research art restitution after spending several years as CNN’s White House and Capitol Hill assignment editor. Catherine hails from the Washington, DC area and earned her bachelors degree with honors in English literature from Dartmouth College.

Mariagrazia joined the Cherry team as Office Management Assistant. She has a background in the film industry, having worked as a project manager in production companies and film festivals around Europe for the last five years. She works part-time with Cherry and spends the rest of the week in the art gallery she manages together with two artist friends. Mariagrazia is Italian, she was born a sea creature and took her first steps in the sand.

Christina joined the Cherry team as Executive Assistant. Before joining she worked for several years as an Executive Assistant at Leverton GmbH, a Tech Start Up, and at Design Hotels AG, a Hotel Marketing Cooperation, both in Berlin. Prior to that she lived in London and worked at Burberry on the worldwide launch of their multi language e-commerce platform. Christina has lived in Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, the UK and Germany and has a passion for languages. She speaks five languages and holds a language degree in Spanish and Italian from the University of Manchester. She loves great food, travelling and learning about new cultures.

Dominik is Senior Manager Venture Development & Finance at Cherry. Prior to Cherry he has gained several years of investment and industry experience at CMP - a Private Equity Fund with strong focus on operations and turnarounds. Having previously also worked in manufacturing and finance in Asia and Europe, he is particularly passionate about companies gaining the competitive edge in the fields of Industry 4.0, AI, and FinTech. Dominik holds a M.Sc. in Finance from ESADE Business School, where he specialized in Venture Capital & Private Equity, M&A, and Operational Financial Management.

Franziska joined Cherry as Talent Acquisition Manager helping to find world-class talents for the Cherry family. Previously she worked as a freelance photographer and project manager at a graphics and communications agency. Prior to this, she gained extensive knowledge as Brand Manager for the Berlin-based startup reBuy and family owned BRITA water filters, from the Frankfurt area. She has lived in Chile, Japan, the Czech Republic, and the US due to her studies in International Business. Franziska holds an MBA from Universidad de Santiago de Chile and Master from Wiesbaden Business School. As a family manager of three little ones Franziska knows how to keep different balls in the air and is a big fan of new work tools and techniques.

Lexi joined the Cherry team as Office Manager and Team Assistant to the Investment Team. Prior to Cherry, she worked as Office Manager and Junior SEA Manager at Magine TV, a Swedish startup company in Berlin. Lexi gained her organizational skills by working for over 4 years in the film industry as a production and project manager. She loves food, dancing and her guilty pleasure - Trash TV.

Ulrike is Cherry´s Head of People and Talent, where she provides strategic partnership and hands-on support in multiple areas of HR for Cherry Ventures and its portfolio company teams. Over the past 10 years, Ulrike has worked with Management Teams and C-Level leaders across different organizations. Prior to Cherry, she was a Senior Business Partner at Zalando SE. Having joined Zalando in the early years, she actively contributed to scaling, organizational changes as well as leadership and culture development. Prior to becoming involved in the startup eco-system, Ulrike was part of the People and Talent Acquisition Team at KPMG. As a graduate from ESCP Europe, Ulrike holds a Master’s degree in Business. To professionally underpin her passion for meaningful people and leadership development, she also holds a degree as a systemic Business Coach from Artop Academy (Humboldt University Berlin). Having lived in the US, Spain, and the UK, Ulrike became a lifelong traveler.

Alex is CFO and Operating Partner at Cherry. He works across all aspects of Cherry’s fund and internal operations, finance and investor relations. In addition, our founders value him as a sparrings partner on all finance related topics. Alex joined the firm as Head of Finance in 2016 after spending several years in investment banking, most recently at Morgan Stanley in London. During his time at Morgan Stanley, Alex was involved in several large public offerings including the IPOs of Zalando and Rocket Internet. He holds a M.Sc. in Finance and Accounting from EBS Business School.

Conny joined the Cherry team as the Executive Assistant to Christian, Daniel and Filip. Christian, Filip and Conny have been working as a team for many years during her time at Zalando. Prior, she has worked with the German-American Chamber of Commerce in Philadelphia and at several other international companies. Conny studied Event Management in Leipzig, Germany. She is a huge travel-fan and loves visiting her friends in the U.S.