Rocket Internet
Startup incubator and investor
- 201-500 employees
- B2B
- Investing
- Venture Capital
- Kreuzberg, Berlin, BE
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Company mission
Rocket enables entrepreneurship. The mission is to build and invest in great technology companies globally through a unique blend of operational support and capital.
-3% employee growth in 12 months
Our take
Rocket Internet has played a central role in the growth of European tech. As a venture fund, it has launched some of Europe’s biggest successes: Canva, HelloFresh, and DeliveryHero, to name a few.
Unlike other Venture Funds, Rocket are operationally active and is infamous for often starting with a startup idea that has been copied from another market. It then staffs operators to execute, while it has over 50% equity, making founders more akin to employees of the fund.
The firm delisted itself from the stock exchange in 2020 as part of a buyback deal. In turn, it is building a new abstracted version of Rocket, launching a pre-seed fund - Flash Ventures, a venture fund - GFC, and a debt fund - Global Growth Capital.
The challenge for Rocket is staying relevant amongst its own more narrow creations. While the ‘copycat’ model fuelled its early success, the current climate of widely available capital has troubled this high-equity business. It remains to be seen whether this side of Rocket will re-emerge, or the Samwer leadership will be content with its more conventional subsidiary funds.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Benefits
- Health insurance
- Discounts at selected Rocket companies
- Discounted gym membership
- Food & Drinks stocked in the office
- Monthly Rocket Thursday mixer
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Aug 2014
$905.8m
LATE VC
Jul 2013
$589.8m
EARLY VC
Total funding: $1.5bn
This company has top investors
Leadership
Oliver Samwer
(Founder & CEO)Before founding Rocket in 2007, Oliver, together with his brothers, founded several other successful companies, including Alando.de. After the sale of Alando to eBay Inc., he worked as Managing Director of eBay and was responsible for Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Jobs (5)
People, HR, Recruitment