DB1 Ventures

DB1 Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Deutsche Boerse Group, one of Europe's leading exchange organizations, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. The firm focuses exclusively on strategic investments in fintech startups building capital markets infrastructure, targeting innovations that are core or adjacent to Deutsche Boerse's strategy: trading technology, post-trade services, data analytics, regulatory technology, and blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The fund deploys EUR 5 million to EUR 25 million per investment, taking minority or significant minority stakes in Series A through growth-stage companies across Europe and the United States. DB1 leads rounds and has made 25 investments with 4 exits to date. Notable portfolio companies include Caplight in pre-IPO secondary transactions, Primary Portal — in which DB1 led the Series A in July 2024 — in primary capital markets platforms, Next Gate Tech in post-trade technology, OptimX Markets in electronic trading, TruMid in electronic bond trading, and Forge Global, which exited via SPAC in 2022. The team is led by Markus Hablizel as Head of DB1 Ventures, supported by Investment Principals Monika Fuchs and Christoph Osburg. DB1 Ventures' differentiation is structural: portfolio companies gain not just capital but direct connectivity across the Deutsche Boerse Group ecosystem, including access to the group's exchange relationships, post-trade infrastructure, regulatory networks, and enterprise customer base across European financial markets. For fintech companies building in capital markets, few investors can match this level of strategic reach.