Bunch raises €7mn for its investment syndicate platform
Bunch, a tech platform that allows investors to syndicate deals across private markets, has raised €7.3mn in seed funding led by European early-stage fund Cherry Ventures alongside Embedded/capital.
Bunch’s initial offering is a digital platform, called ‘bunch OS’, where investors can create their own investment syndicates and track all their investments in one place. Over the last three months, the fintech startup has transacted close to €150mn of assets across startup investments and funds.
The beta version of the platform is already live in Germany and the Netherlands, with the Berlin-based company promising to use the latest funds to expand into new countries and offer different asset classes. It will also continue to develop the technical and product development side of its platform, making it easier for investors to participate in private markets.
Access to tools previously reserved for the big investors
Bunch Co-founder Levent Altunel says: “Investors have been waiting for a solution like this that takes away all the admin work of investing and helps investors to become more professional at the same time.”
And fellow Co-founder Enrico Ohnemüller adds: “We are giving our customers access to a toolset that previously was only available for the largest private investors, including pro-rata monetisation protecting dilution on your winners and risk diversification through collective investing. We are building on top of larger tech organisations for scalability which allows us to focus on customer value and process flexibility from day one.”
Filip Dames, Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures, which led this round, continues: “The bunch team, led by Levent and Enrico, is unlocking private markets for investing with, first, their one-stop-shop solution – the bunch OS. We know how cumbersome gaining access to these markets can be, so we were immediately impressed when we witnessed bunch’s streamlined, simple solution. We believe that this tool is the first step on the journey to provide liquidity to private markets and become a true operating system for investors. We’re thrilled that this round will further revolutionise how all private market stakeholders – be it founders and funders – invest, interact, and exchange.”
Alongside Cherry Ventures and Embedded/capital, the latest round also sees investment from various angel investors, including the founders of Adyen, Klarna, Juni and Moonfare.
Addressing the liquidity and access problems in private markets
Bunch was founded by Ohnemüller and Altunel in late 2021. Enrico’s prior experiences at finleap, the fintech company builder, as well as Goldman Sachs made him acutely aware of the significant barriers involved in accessing private markets. Levent previously worked for Citigroup and Roland Berger before becoming an early-stage investor for a Berlin-based VC fund, where he experienced the difficulty of setting up investment entities first-hand. He is also a founding member of 2Hearts, a non-profit association promoting diversity in the European tech landscape.
While private market investment has exploded in the last decade, with almost US$10tn in assets under management according to McKinsey, the value creation has been limited to those with the access to opportunities and large amounts of capital.
Ramin Niroumand, Managing Partner at Embedded/capital, summarises: "We know from our experience as founders, operators and investors that private markets are far from digitised, with limited liquidity and fragmented access contributing to a generally painful process for all market participants. When we first started our conversations with Enrico and Levent last year, we collectively saw the potential of building on existing fintech infrastructure to launch a holistic suite of financial products across jurisdictions and assets – the bunch OS – to transform the way we interact with private markets. We are thrilled to be part of bunch's journey from the very beginning, as well as happy customers.”
