Markus Solibieda, formerly a partner at private equity firm Mandarin Capital Partners, was appointed managing director at BASF Venture Capital, Germany-based chemical company BASF’s investment subsidiary last year.
Solibieda works out of the unit’s office in Ludwigshafen, initially alongside Dirk Nachtigal, chief executive of BASF Venture Capital since 2001, before the latter’s departure to become a venture capital consultant earlier this year.
Mandarin Capital hired Solibieda in April 2013 to head the firm’s Frankfurt office. Mandarin focuses on growth-stage businesses in Europe that are planning to expand into China, and in December 2015 it closed its second fund at approximately €200m ($220m).
Solibieda was responsible for the firm’s fundraising activities from European and US investors. He began his career as an investment manager at private equity firm Deutsche Beteilungs in 1995.
Nachtigal built up one of Germany’s most active corporate venturing units. One former colleague said last summer, when asked about a succession plan, that “over the last 24 months we were extremely successful not only in making new investments, but also in returning money to our parent – two-times profitable exits to third parties”.
During the past decade he expanded the corporate venturing team to 14 in offices in the US, China, Japan and Germany. Most of the team rotate into and out of BASF’s business units and former staffers have populated many of the country’s best corporate venturing units, with Bernhard Mohr now head of Evonik Venture Capital, Konrad Augustin at Eon’s US-based ventures team, and Sven Harmsen joining Merck’s venture unit.
BASF has collaborated with more than 350 startups since 2001, investing in more than 30 of them. It usually provides between €1m and €5m in funding with November’s $4m investment in US-based technology company QD Vision, a leader in quantum dots (nanocrystals with unique electro-optical properties) as a good example.