Kite Ventures

Kite Ventures is a London-based venture capital firm founded in 2008 by Edward Shenderovich, specializing in marketplace and transactional network investments across Europe and the United States. The firm has invested more than $300 million in over 20 companies across its history and has produced 2 IPOs and 10 acquisitions across 31 total investments. The portfolio includes two unicorns: Dataminr and Tradeshift. Shenderovich also operates an AngelList syndicate alongside the firm's primary fund activity. Kite Ventures' most prominent exits include Delivery Hero (IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at a $5.01 billion market cap in June 2017), Darberry (acquired by Groupon), Plated (acquired by Albertsons), and MADE.COM. Other portfolio companies include Ratehawk (accommodation booking for travel professionals), Zenhotels, Ostrovok, Helpling, Fyber, and Samsara Therapeutics. The original Kite Ventures Fund was launched in December 2008, and investments have spanned seed through secondary market transactions in consumer internet, e-commerce, retail, travel, SaaS, and food and beverage technology. Kite Ventures appears to have been in a harvest-oriented phase since approximately 2020, with the last recorded new investment being Samsara Therapeutics in drug discovery in December 2019. Shenderovich remains active as a speaker and participant in industry events including Future Food-Tech Chicago. The firm's track record — particularly the Delivery Hero IPO and the Darberry/Groupon transaction — established it as an early and credible backer of European marketplace and e-commerce models at a time when institutional support for these categories in Europe was limited.