Cherry Ventures is a Berlin-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2012 by Filip Dames and Christian Meermann, both former executives at Zalando, Europe's largest online fashion platform. The firm targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies across Europe, with a strong emphasis on German-speaking markets and the broader DACH region. Cherry Ventures positions itself as a founder-friendly, operationally active investor – a model shaped directly by its founders' experience scaling Zalando from a startup into a public company.
The firm has raised multiple funds over its history. Its third fund, closed in 2021, was reportedly sized at approximately €165 million, a significant step up from earlier vehicles. Total AUM across all funds is not publicly disclosed in full. Cherry Ventures invests primarily at pre-seed and seed stages, writing initial checks typically in the €500k–€3 million range, with reserves for follow-on in later rounds. The geographic focus is Europe, with a concentration in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, though portfolio companies span the broader EU tech ecosystem.
Notable investments
- Trade Republic – Berlin-based neo-broker that became one of Europe's fastest-growing retail investment platforms, reaching multi-billion-euro valuation. One of Cherry's most prominent bets on European fintech.
- Tier Mobility – Shared e-scooter and micro-mobility operator that expanded across dozens of European cities before merging with Dott in 2023.
- Pitch – Collaborative presentation software built for distributed teams, competing with incumbents like Google Slides.
- McMakler – German hybrid real estate brokerage combining digital tools with human agents.
- Gorillas – Rapid grocery delivery startup that achieved unicorn status in under a year before being acquired by Getir in 2022.
Cherry's crypto and blockchain portfolio is limited relative to dedicated Web3 funds. The firm has made selective investments in the digital assets space, consistent with its broader thesis of backing infrastructure and fintech innovation in Europe. Specific crypto portfolio names from this investor's six tracked positions are not fully disclosed in public databases at the time of writing.
Team
Filip Dames (General Partner) joined Zalando in its early days and helped scale the business before co-founding Cherry. He is considered one of the more active voices in the German startup ecosystem on topics of founder mentorship and early-stage capital. Christian Meermann (General Partner) also comes from the Zalando operator background and focuses on B2B software and marketplace investments. The firm has added additional partners and principals over the years – public information about the full current team composition beyond the two co-founders is limited and subject to change.
Recent activity
Cherry Ventures has maintained steady deal activity through 2024 and into 2025, continuing to focus on seed rounds in European B2B SaaS, fintech, and climate tech. The firm has not announced a new flagship fund publicly as of early 2026; whether a Fund IV is in market is not confirmed in available sources. Cherry has also been vocal about the consolidation in the European VC market and the need for seed-stage specialists as larger multi-stage funds have pulled back from early rounds.
The firm's track record includes both notable wins – Trade Republic's rise to a top European fintech is the standout – and exposure to high-burn consumer startups like Gorillas that ultimately could not sustain independent operations. This reflects a broader pattern among 2018–2021 vintage early-stage European funds that backed fast-scaling consumer models ahead of the rate-cycle shift.
For investors and founders researching Cherry Ventures further, the firm's deal history is partially documented on Crunchbase and its portfolio page at cherry.vc. Regulatory filings in Germany are accessible through the Bundesanzeiger for fund entities registered under German law.
