Stefan Glaenzer

Who they are

Stefan Glaenzer is a co-founder of Passion Capital — previously co-founded ricardo.de, last.fm's chairman, and later built White Bear Yard, the co-working space that became the launchpad for the fund.

Person

Stefan Glaenzer's career reads as a succession of bets on the European internet before European internet was a consensus trade. He co-founded companions.de and myblog.de in Germany's early web era, then co-founded ricardo.de — a German online auction and e-commerce company that delivered a successful exit. He moved into music tech as Chairman of last.fm, one of the defining early streaming and social-music platforms. After last.fm he created White Bear Yard, a co-working space in London's East End, which incubated the idea that became Passion Capital — the early-stage fund he co-founded in 2011 with Eileen Burbidge and Robert Dighero, raising a £60 million debut fund. He was a Founding Partner at Passion Capital before departing in 2018, after which he founded Triple A, his current venture. He also co-founded Rebate Networks in Berlin. The through-line is repeated early-entry: consumer internet in Germany, music tech in London, seed-stage VC before European seed was institutional — always one cycle ahead. He speaks at DLD, NOAH, NEXT, EU-Startups Summit, and appeared on the 20VC podcast discussing seed-stage investing, giving him a visible public voice in the European founder-investor community.

Company

Passion Capital closed its fourth seed fund, Passion IV, at €46 million in April 2026, fully backed by private investors — the freshest capital deployment signal for the firm. The close came off a strong 2025: portfolio company GoCardless was acquired by Dutch payments firm Mollie for €1.1 billion in December 2025, and the firm recorded additional exits from Ravelin, Tillo, and Xelix. Passion IV is focused on AI, FinTech, and Enterprise Risk, with the fund structured alongside two SPVs. The current partner team running the fund comprises Robert Dighero, Andrew Jenkins, Will Orde, Sarah Stafford, and Greg Bennett.

Market

Passion Capital operates in European early-stage venture, investing at pre-seed through Series A in UK and European technology companies — competing with firms like Index Ventures, Thrive Capital, and TCV for the same founder relationships. Its portfolio of 107 companies spans AI, FinTech, SaaS, and digital media, with notable names including Monzo, Tide, and GoCardless. The broader 2025–2026 context has been frenetic around AI investment, while regulatory forces — including SFDR Article 8 expectations and the EU's AI safety framework — are raising the bar for specialist funds operating in Europe.

Network

Glaenzer's most durable professional relationships are with Eileen Burbidge and Robert Dighero, his co-founders at Passion Capital. His European tech network is broad — built across DLD, NOAH, NEXT Conference, and EU-Startups Summit speaking circuits — giving him warm connections across the German, UK, and pan-European founder and investor community.

Eileen Burbidge· Co-founder and Partner, Passion Capital
Robert Dighero· Co-founder and Partner, Passion Capital

How they likely show up

Serial co-founder across companions.de, myblog.de, ricardo.de, White Bear Yard, Rebate Networks, Passion Capital, and Triple A → high pattern-recognition bias; likely evaluates new ideas against a personal mental library of what early looks like.
Founded White Bear Yard as a physical co-working space before spinning it into a VC fund → builds infrastructure first, invests in people second; probably thinks in ecosystem terms rather than individual deal terms.
Departed Passion Capital in 2018 and moved on to Triple A rather than staying passive → low tolerance for the maintenance phase; re-enters builder mode once a vehicle is institutionalised.
Hybrid role-type pattern across founder, chairman, and investor roles → comfortable switching between operating and backing, doesn't define identity by a single function.
Active conference speaker at DLD, NOAH, NEXT, EU-Startups Summit, and 20VC podcast → publicly articulate and willing to put views on record; responds well to people who have done the listening homework.
German roots, London base, pan-European network → likely thinks cross-border by default and frames opportunities in terms of the full European market, not just UK-centric.

Conversation tips

→ Reference the ricardo.de exit or the last.fm chairmanship — he was in European consumer internet before most VCs were paying attention, and those chapters are points of pride worth asking about.
→ Ask specifically about the White Bear Yard to Passion Capital transition — it's an unusual origin story for a fund and he'll have a clear thesis about why physical community mattered.
→ He left Passion Capital in 2018 to found Triple A; don't assume his current views align with where Passion Capital is today — treat the two as separate chapters.
→ He appeared on 20VC discussing seed-stage investing — if you've listened, reference a specific point; it signals you've done the work and he'll engage more directly.
→ He speaks at DLD and NOAH, which are European founder-investor forums; frame any market conversation through the European lens, not a US-centric one.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on White Bear Yard — he built a physical co-working space in London's East End as the deliberate precursor to founding Passion Capital, an unusual thesis about how to seed a fund before raising one.
Reference the ricardo.de exit — a successful German online auction company he co-founded at the start of European e-commerce; it's the foundational bet that established his pattern of early-entry consumer internet plays.
Mention the GoCardless acquisition by Mollie for €1.1 billion in December 2025 — a major portfolio exit he helped originate from the Passion Capital seed stage, and a clean proof point for the decade-long European fintech thesis.

Discovery questions

When you founded White Bear Yard as a co-working space rather than going straight to raising a fund, what was the theory — did the community have to come before the capital?
You've co-founded companies across German consumer internet (ricardo.de, myblog.de), music tech (last.fm as chairman), and VC infrastructure — how much of your investment conviction at Passion Capital was drawn from operating those earlier cycles yourself?
Having left Passion Capital in 2018 to start Triple A, what does the current European seed market look like from outside a named institutional fund — does the Passion IV close change the dynamics for independent operators?

Avoid

Don't treat Passion Capital and his current work as the same thing — he departed the firm in 2018, and conflating his views with the fund's current direction will signal you haven't done basic homework.

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