Cavalry Ventures

Quick read

Cavalry Ventures is a Berlin-based pre-seed and seed VC, founded in 2016, backing European enterprise and consumer software startups. The fund was created by founders-turned-investors with operating experience at companies like Delivery Hero, Tradeshift, and Plista. It has backed over 50 companies across multiple funds and runs a dedicated Platform Team connecting portfolio founders to its network of 300+ LPs, 50+ software partners, and 30+ advisors.

Key facts

Founded

2016

Employees

19

Sectors

enterprise, saas, ai

Website

cavalry.vc

Investment thesis

Cavalry backs European enterprise and consumer software startups at pre-seed and seed, typically leading rounds and combining capital with a hands-on Platform Team that connects founders to LPs, engineers, executives, and industry experts.

Recent activity

• ~mid-2024leadership
  Founding Partner Rouven Dresselhaus stepped down as General Partner upon completion of the Cavalry Fund III fundraising phase. He will remain connected to the firm as a supporter and investor. The remaining five co-founding partners continue to lead the firm. de.linkedin.com
• unknowninvestment
  Cavalry Ventures led a USD 7M seed round in Patronus, a Berlin-based emergency software startup focused on elderly care. UVC Partners and DN Capital co-invested. voy.law
• unknowninvestment
  Cavalry Ventures led a EUR 6M seed round in Empion, a Berlin-based AI-driven headhunting platform. Business angels from Kienbaum, Personio, and others co-invested alongside existing backers VR Ventures and Redstone VC. voy.law
• unknowninvestment
  Cavalry Ventures led a EUR 5M seed round in Lhotse, a Berlin-based procurement automation startup. Existing investor Paua Ventures and several angel investors also participated. voy.law
• unknownproduct
  Cavalry adopted Vestlane's digital KYC/AML onboarding platform ahead of its Fund III close, replacing manual PDF and spreadsheet-based investor onboarding processes. vestlane.com
• 2024leadership
  Cavalry Ventures rebranded to NAP. The Crunchbase profile and RocketReach listing both reflect the new name, with RocketReach noting 'Cavalry is now NAP' and linking to the new LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/napvc. crunchbase.com
• 2023leadership
  Clara Köster was promoted to Head of Platform. She joined Cavalry in August 2022 and managed a network of 300+ LPs, 50+ software partners, and 30+ advisors. linkedin.com
• 2023leadership
  Won Yi joined as Investment Associate, coming from Boston Consulting Group where he spent nearly two years. He had previously interned at Picus Capital in 2019. linkedin.com
• 2023investment
  Cavalry invested in Xaver, a fintech founded by Max Bachem, Ole Breulmann, and Bjoern Holste, citing strong product-market fit and the team's background across major financial institutions. linkedin.com
• 2023press
  Team members Martin Janicki, Simon Lohmann, Won Yi, and Sinah Mussmann represented Cavalry at Slush 2023 in Helsinki. linkedin.com
• 2025press
  Cavalry Ventures announced as a sponsor for the Shoptalk Spring 2025 conference. zoominfo.com
• Nov 2023press
  Team represented Cavalry at Slush 2023 in Helsinki — Martin Janicki, Simon Lohmann, Won Yi, and Sinah Mussmann attended. linkedin.com

Notable investments

• PatronusSeedunknownvoy.law
• EmpionSeedunknownvoy.law
• LhotseSeedunknownvoy.law
• UsercentricsSeries BDec 2020unicornalert.io
• XaverSeed2023linkedin.com
• Aleph AlphaUnknownUnknownlinkedin.com
• FlipUnknownUnknownlinkedin.com
• FortoUnknownUnknownlinkedin.com
• PlanRadarUnknownUnknownlinkedin.com
• UsercentricsUnknownUnknownlinkedin.com
• BRYTERUnknownUnknownstartupintros.com
• CharmSeedOct 2023linkedin.com

Key people

Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.

• Claude Ritter · Managing Partner
• Rouven Dresselhaus · Managing Partner
• Martin Janicki · Team Member
• Simon Lohmann · Team Member
• Won Yi · Investment Associate
• Clara Köster · Head of Platform
• Leonie Klimpke · Director of Finance and Compliance

Sources

• Cavalry Ventures – Official Website
• Cavalry Ventures | EU-Startups
• Cavalry Ventures Information – RocketReach
• Cavalry Ventures – ZoomInfo
• Cavalry Ventures | Investor Profile – OpenVC
• Cavalry Ventures on LinkedIn – Won Yi & Clara Köster announcements
• Cavalry Ventures on LinkedIn – Charm portfolio mention
• https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cavalry-ventures
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/cavalry-ventures/
• https://de.linkedin.com/company/cavalry-ventures
• https://voy.law/news-articles/voy-advises-cavalry-ventures-on-patronus-seed-round
• https://voy.law/news-articles/cavalry-lead-investment-in-empion-with-support-from-voy
• https://voy.law/news-articles/voy-advises-cavalry-ventures-on-investment-in-lhotse
• https://vestlane.com/success-stories/cavalry-ventures/

Other VCs in Germany

• Earlybird Venture Capital · Multi-stage VC, Berlin·
• Project A Ventures · Early-stage VC, Berlin·
• Cherry Ventures · Early-stage VC, Berlin·
• Point Nine Capital · SaaS-only VC, Berlin·
• High-Tech Gründerfonds · Seed VC, Bonn·
• HV Capital · Multi-stage VC, Munich (ex-Holtzbrinck Ventures)

Explore VCs by sector

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Globally

• Enterprise software worldwide

Frequently asked