G+D Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
G+D Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), a 170-year-old Munich-based security technology group. Active since 2018 and backed jointly by G+D and the European Investment Bank (EIB) through a EUR 50m co-investment platform established in 2022, the fund is theme-driven rather than generalist: it invests exclusively in "TrustTech," a category the firm defines broadly as any technology that promotes or protects trust in digital ecosystems. The firm frames TrustTech across four layers: Digital Infrastructure (cybersecurity, secure data collaboration, privacy-preserving techniques), Identity (KYC, authentication, identification), Regulatory (AML, anti-fraud), and Ethical (deepfake and fake-news detection). G+D Ventures describes itself as financially-oriented and growth-focused, distinct from a strategic corporate fund chasing M&A optionality for its parent, though it does leverage G+D's client network, CISO relationships, and internal domain experts to support portfolio companies.
Stage Focus
The fund invests at Seed and Series A, with selective participation in Series B. It positions itself as an early institutional partner for European TrustTech founders, sometimes leading rounds (Roseman Labs' Series A, Cense's seed) and sometimes joining as a co-investor alongside other funds (Blockbrain, Saporo, Tremau).
Check Size
Ticket size is EUR 200k to EUR 2m per initial investment, with additional reserved allocation for follow-on rounds in existing portfolio companies.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. Recent rounds show G+D Ventures as lead (Roseman Labs Series A, September 2025; Cense seed, June 2026) and as co-investor (Blockbrain, Saporo, Tremau), so the fund is best characterized as both a lead and follow investor depending on syndicate composition and conviction.
Recent Activity
The fund has been actively deploying through 2025 and 2026: a Tremau seed investment in April 2025, a Roseman Labs Series A lead in September 2025, a Saporo Series A co-investment (alongside the round covered in Ena Uffelmann's LinkedIn post) around December 2025, and a Cense seed lead in June 2026, its most recent disclosed check. The portfolio also saw a wave of exits: Metaco to Ripple (2023), brighter AI to Milestone Systems (April 2025), IDnow's majority stake to Corsair Capital (March 2025), Verimi (Q4 2025 exit), and Build38 to OneSpan (completed March 2026) — the latter notable as a G+D-incubated spinout returning to strategic ownership outside the G+D Group.
Portfolio Highlights
Active portfolio spans cybersecurity and network analytics (NANO Corp, Tenzir, FNA), identity and access risk (Saporo), AI governance and knowledge management (Yields, Blockbrain), AML and digital-asset compliance (Salv, Cense), privacy-preserving data collaboration (Roseman Labs), trust-and-safety orchestration (Tremau), and vulnerability management (Patchstack). Exits include two acquisitions by public/strategic acquirers (Ripple for Metaco at a reported $250M, OneSpan for Build38) and one acquisition by a video-management incumbent (Milestone Systems for brighter AI), evidencing real M&A demand for TrustTech infrastructure from both crypto-native and enterprise security buyers.
Team
- Dr. Michael Hochholzer, Managing Director — co-founded the fund in 2018 with two experienced venture investors; long tenure across financial and corporate VC settings.
- Assaf Shamia, Managing Director (bio also lists Investment Partner) — originally from Israel, INSEAD-educated, based in Munich; publicly active defining the firm's TrustTech thesis and AI security market mapping.
- Andreas Barthelmes, Investment Principal — listed as GDV investment lead on a majority of the portfolio (Blockbrain, Cense, Patchstack, Salv, Yields, Build38, Metaco, Tenzir), suggesting a central sourcing/execution role.
- Alberto Pérez Arranz, Investment Principal — Southern Europe-focused early-stage investor; IE Business School; co-leads Roseman Labs and Patchstack relationships, and led the brighter AI investment with Hochholzer.
- Ena Uffelmann, Investment Associate — newest team member publicly visible, active on LinkedIn discussing TrustTech and AI security trends, co-leads Saporo and Tremau relationships with Shamia.
Decision Process
A small, four-to-five-person partnership (two Managing Directors, two Investment Principals, one Associate) drives sourcing and execution; deals are consistently attributed to specific two-person GDV investment teams per portfolio company rather than a single decision-maker, suggesting a partnership-style process rather than solo-GP or large-committee governance. The EIB's co-investment role may add a layer of alignment for larger checks but the firm presents day-to-day decisions as its own.
Founder Preferences
No explicit anti-thesis or founder profile is published, but the portfolio skews toward technical founding teams solving infrastructure-level trust problems (cryptography, network telemetry, identity graphs) rather than consumer-facing trust products, and toward founders building for regulated enterprise buyers (banks, financial institutions, platforms subject to EU DSA/AML rules).
Geographic Focus
Explicitly EU27/European TrustTech startups. Portfolio HQs span Germany (Munich, Stuttgart, Berlin, Hamburg), France (Paris x2), Estonia (Tallinn, Pärnu), Netherlands (Utrecht), Switzerland (Baar, Lausanne), Belgium (Brussels), and the UK (London) — a genuinely pan-European, not just DACH-centric, mandate.