Investor Profile: DN Capital

DN Capital is one of Europe's most established early-stage venture firms, founded in 2000 by Nenad Marovac and Steve Schlenker, two Harvard Business School classmates. Headquartered in London with offices in Berlin and San Francisco, the firm reports more than $1 billion in assets under management, 58 exits, 7 IPOs and a portfolio spanning 16 countries. It operates as a genuinely transatlantic investor, helping US companies enter Europe and European companies think globally from day one.

The thesis

DN Capital focuses on Seed, Series A and select Series B investments across four key sectors: software, AI, fintech and consumer internet. Its stated philosophy is "Think Big and Global" — the firm spends time with entrepreneurs long before any discussion of money, digging into the market, the team and the product, and then supports companies with up to €20 million of capital through their growth stages. Its founders' biographies lean on the fact that the senior team brings deep private-equity and venture experience to early-stage investing, with an emphasis on investment rigour at every stage.

Funds and firepower

The firm's fifth fund, Global Venture Capital V, closed in 2021 at $350 million (around €300 million) and was substantially oversubscribed, investing across Europe, the UK and the US. At launch, the firm reported managing roughly $950 million across five funds — a figure its own website now puts above the $1 billion mark. Fund V's first investments included Vienna-based edtech company GoStudent, which became a unicorn before the fund had even officially closed, alongside other billion-dollar names such as Remitly and Jobandtalent.

Notable portfolio and exits

DN Capital's exit record is one of the strongest in European venture. Highlights include Shazam, which the firm backed as early as 2004 before its 2018 acquisition by Apple; Endeca, the firm's first billion-dollar exit, sold to Oracle for $1.1 billion in 2011; OLX, Auto1 — where DN led the Series A before its Frankfurt IPO at a valuation exceeding €10 billion — MrSpex, Quandoo, Kana, Datanomic and Purplebricks. The current portfolio includes names such as Auto1, Remitly, Jobandtalent, Hometogo, Cognigy, Incode and Yassir. The firm is also backed by InnovFin Equity with EU support under Horizon 2020, reflecting its deep roots in the European ecosystem.

Team and how they work

The firm remains led by its founders, Nenad Marovac (Europe) and Steve Schlenker (US), with a team split across London, Berlin and Menlo Park. Testimonials on its website emphasise hands-on partnership — network access, business-development introductions and empathetic feedback — from founders at companies including Auto1, Remitly, Shazam and Jobandtalent.

What to know before pitching

DN Capital wants founders with genuinely global ambition in software, AI, fintech or consumer internet — it explicitly seeks to partner with entrepreneurs "long before we even talk about money," so relationship-building matters. Founders should be ready to show how their business can become a category leader across both Europe and North America, since the firm's transatlantic network is its core value-add. Business plans can be sent directly through the firm's website.