Venture capital firm e.ventures has appointed Arnulf Keese as general partner in the firm’s Berlin office.
Keese joins European partners Andreas Haug, Christian Leybold and Bernardo Hernandez, in addition to North American partners Mathias Schilling and Tom Gieselmann.
Keese, the former vice president and general manager of PayPal DE/AT/CH, brings over 20 years of experience in digital commerce and payments to the e.ventures partnership. Prior to his executive role at PayPal, he held senior roles at Bertelsmann, AOL, giropay and online auction group QXL Ricardo.de.
As an investing partner at e.ventures, he intends to focus on early stage start-up companies in the fintech, digital transactions and mobile sectors, three disruptive thesis areas that the e.ventures team backs through its funds in North America and Europe, and through its global platform partners in Japan, China and Brazil.
Andreas Haug, co-founder and partner at e.ventures, says: “We are thrilled to have Arnulf join e.ventures to become part of what is already a high-performing, cohesive partnership as we invest in disruptive early stage companies at their inflection points. Arnulf has a vast amount of management experience worldwide and, as such, will bring unique insights into running successful global technology companies to the great benefit of our global portfolio.”
In July 2016, portfolio company Deposit Solutions, which e.ventures has backed continually since leading its preliminary seed round, announced the close of its EUR15 million Series D round of financing. The round was led by Silicon Valley billionaire venture capitalist and fellow PayPal alum Peter Thiel, alongside Greycroft Growth and e.ventures Growth, the growth fund of e.ventures based in San Francisco, California.
Keese says: “I am excited to join the highly-experienced team at e.ventures. The firm’s global network and its dedication to providing operational and scaling support to entrepreneurs is crucial to me as a venture capitalist and former entrepreneur. My experience inside fast-growth businesses perfectly complements e.ventures’ commitment to grow its portfolio companies to become category leaders on a global scale.”
