Tengelmann Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of retailer Tengelmann, has sold its 15.5% stake in Germany-based kitchenware e-commerce platform Springlane to co-founder Marius Fritzsche, Deutsche Startups reported today.
VC firm HV Holtzbrinck has similarly sold its 12% shareholding to Fritzsche. The size of their exits and the valuation of Springlane have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2012, Springlane operates an online shop that initially sold third-party products before pivoting to focus solely on own-brand kitchenware, such as ice cream makers and pizza ovens, in April this year. It also runs a blog, publishing original recipes and cooking tips.
Deutsche Startups claimed in its report that Springlane had raised a total of $31m in funding as of the end of 2016. Tengelmann Ventures, Holtzbrinck, German development bank KfW and Heliad Equity Partners provided an undisclosed amount of funding for it in 2013.
The company went on to raise $12.4m in a 2015 round featuring Tengelmann Ventures and Ad4Ventures, the media-for-equity arm of broadcasting group Mediaset, as well as HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, Heliad Equity Partners, KfW, Ithaca Investments and TriPos.
