Lessons from Filip Dames, Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures, on building one of Europe's top seed VC funds, entrepreneurship, and life

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

On today’s episode, we go to Europe, and specifically Berlin, a region where some of the most exciting activity in the VC world is occurring.

We have Filip Dames, a Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures, a top pan-European early-stage VC fund that has around $700M AUM, lead us in a discussion about why Europe is such a compelling place to invest and why it’s on the precipice of an incredible decade in tech.

Filip has the founder DNA. Prior to Cherry, he started his first company in 2008, which was a digital marketplace for art and collectibles long before NFTs existed. He then joined Zalando as a member of the founding team, where he led business development and international expansion efforts. He founded and was the CEO of the group’s shopping club, Zalando Lounge, and left Zalando after a successful IPO in 2014 to fully focus on Cherry.

In Cherry, Filip has strived to build the firm that he would have wanted as a founder. They’ve backed the likes of AUTO1 Group, FlixBus, Forto, Flink, SellerX, Infarm, and Bunch amongst others.

Filip also shares a passion for helping entrepreneurs build businesses outside the tech world, as an active supporter of the Ashoka network and forming a family foundation with his wife to support education and access to entrepreneurship for families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Filip also serves on the boards of KfW Capital, a subsidiary of the German state owned investment and development bank, and the Bundesverband dt. Startups (BVDS).

Filip and I had a fascinating conversation. We discussed: 

• The evolution of the European venture ecosystem and why it’s such a compelling region to build and invest into category defining companies. 
• How his experience as a founder informed how he’s built Cherry.
• How to build a VC from a business perspective.
• Why Filip is so excited about private markets as he shares his investment thesis in Bunch.
• What the future of European VC looks like.

We also surprised Filip with a few questions from friends who have known him at different stages of his life, with thoughtful questions from:

• Steve Cherundolo, former Bundesliga professional footballer at Hannover 96 and the US Men’s National Team and Head Coach of LAFC in the MLS.
• Mario Goetze, current Bundesliga professional footballer at Eintracht Frankfurt and the German National Team, active investor in VC funds and startups at his firm, Companion-M, and Cherry Ventures LP.
• Levent Altunel and Enrico Ohnemuller, the co-founders of Bunch, where Filip and Cherry led a 7.3M EUR Seed round last summer.

Thanks Filip for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom and experiences.

If you like this podcast, you can listen or read more about alts by subscribing at altgoesmainstream.substack.com.