Today, we have Steffen Pauls with us. Steffen is a Founding Partner at 7GC, a €400M Growth venture fund based in Berlin, and founded the firm in 2015 to bring growth investment opportunities to a network of key decision-makers, industrial families, and entrepreneurs in Europe.

7GC is investing out of Fund II with a total €400M AUM and an established portfolio of 15 companies and notable investments including Jackpocket, Jio, Hims & Hers. Steffen focuses on Sars, FinTech, and AI.

Steffen is a serial entrepreneur who has founded several businesses; among others, he co­founded and acted as CEO of the first five AG (sold to a PE investor). In addition, Steffen is the founder of Moonfare, a financial services technology firm, which he currently runs as the acting CEO.

Go to eu.vc for our core learnings and the full video interview 👀

Chapters:

00:03:14 - From Private Equity to Venture Capital
00:06:16 - Moonfare's Global Expansion Journey
00:09:14 - The Importance of Patience in Investing
00:15:15 - The Future of AI Regulation
00:18:12 - Europe's Struggle to Catch Up in AI
00:21:02 - The Imbalance of Data Ownership
00:33:36 - Democratizing Private Equity Investment
00:36:38 - Investment Pre-Selection Process
00:39:39 - Moonfare: An Innovation in the Market
00:42:31 - The Different Players in the Industry
00:45:36 - Moonfare: Building a Community
00:48:43 - Democratization of Private Equity
00:51:44 - Learning from the Challenges of Starting Moon Fare
00:54:49 - The Importance of Culture in Building Great Companies
00:58:04 - Trends in Investor Behavior
01:01:22 - The Importance of Independence and Speaking Up
01:04:26 - The Dangers of Being Cyclical
01:07:33 - The Value of University Education