Vicente Vento, CEO of Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP), was head of mergers and acquisitions for Germany’s largest phone operator before taking over its corporate venturing unit in 2015.
He subsequently hired GCV Rising Star Jack Young from Qualcomm Ventures to be head of venture capital, managing a team of about 11. Since 1997, Deutsche Telekom has invested more than $2bn in more than 200 companies – with 70 listed in its current portfolio – and DTCP now has “the agility and flexibility of an autonomous investment vehicle with the strength and resources of our corporate sponsor”.
DTCP manages two funds, one covering venture capital and the other private equity, and are structured with Deutsche Telekom as sole limited partner. The venture capital fund invests in Europe, Silicon Valley and Israel-based technology companies, according to Young, and “our typical first cheque size is $5m to $10m”.
Its more recent deals include leading hotel industry data provider Fornova’s $17m series B round. Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners also took part in a $45m series D round for Aryaka described as the first investment by a major telecoms company in global SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) technology. The round increased the total raised by Aryaka, which is also backed by Sumitomo, to about $120m, and the company is targeting an IPO in 2018.
DTCP is based in Hamburg, Germany, and it opened an office in Silicon Valley, California, early last year. The team made eight venture investments from the start of last year to the end of November, including SafeBreach’s $15m series A round, NS1’s $20m B round and Paxata’s $33.5m D round.
DTCP’s exits include voice service Nexmo’s sale to Vonage for $230m, and immersive sports company Replay Technologies’ sale to Intel for $175m.
Vento is also a member of the board of Deutsche Telekom’s Strategic Investments (DTSI) and Telekom Innovation Pool (TIP), and on the boards of Ströer Media, Scout24 Group and Strato. DTCP holds Deutsche Telekom’s 10.9% stake in German online classified ads firm Scout24.
DTSI, run by managing directors Oliver Fietz and Michael Boshammer, was set up in 2015 to incorporate Deutsche Telekom’s existing corporate venturing units, T-Venture and TIP. It will take on the responsibility of making follow-on investments in the T-Venture portfolio.