Lakestar (investor - Venture Capital)

Lakestar is an early and growth stage investments company, founded by the technology investor Klaus Hommels in 2012.

• Klaus Hommels is a German-Swiss long time finance guy who had previously worked for Apax and Benchmark in London. 
• the firm started with a €135.5M seed fund closed in 2013 and that did 70% IRR, giving it a reputation as one of the best venture capital firms in Europe. 
• Lakestar's selling point is the track record and the consequent expertise - it seems like an old school, traditional VC, super connected and sharp, and doing things the right way.
• team of 50 people, based in London, Berlin and Zurich, as of 2023.
• in 2024, Lakestar announced a $600 million composite fund, its fourth - a $280m one targeting seed and Series A investments and another one of $320m for Series B rounds and above, both for European companies active in deeptech, AI, healthcare, digitalisation and fintech.
• in 2025, Lakestar announced raising a $265 million continuation fund.