Munich Startup: Amanda, you're an investment manager at UVC Partners. Before we get into that, please take us through your career path..
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: I studied industrial engineering (mechanical engineering) at RWTH Aachen University. After graduating, I completed an international trainee program at Bombardier Transportation. This gave me various positions within the company, including Berlin, London, and Bangkok, where I ultimately spent two years helping to set up the new headquarters for Asia. During that time, I worked very closely with executives and also realized that I didn't want to pursue my career exclusively within the corporation.
In 2015, I returned to Munich, where I also grew up, and discovered the startup world for myself. In recent years, I worked for a company builder, building B2B tech startups myself. A year ago, I switched to the investor side at UVC Partners.
Munich Startup: As mentioned, you currently work at UVC Partners, the investment arm of UnternehmerTUM. Can you briefly introduce UVC Partners?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: UVC Partners is a spin-off of UnternehmerTUM and an independent VC fund with which we invest in B2B tech startups in Europe. Our focus is on industrial tech, enterprise SaaS, and mobility, and we make both hardware and software investments in pre-seed to Series A companies. Our third fund has €250 million in capital, and we initially invest €0.5-10 million, with the ability to further finance up to €30 million per company in subsequent rounds.
Focus on hardware areas
Munich Startup: What exactly does your work there involve?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: The scope of duties is quite broad and covers everything from finding exciting startups to supporting them. Specifically, this involves screening startups, conducting due diligence to understand the product, technology, and market, as well as assessing the team, making investment decisions with the team, negotiating contracts with the startups, and then working with the board to make strategic decisions and support further financing rounds.
Munich Startup: Which technologies or industries do you focus on?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: I am responsible for many hardware areas, such as quantum computing, robotics, energy, space, and also proptech.
Munich Startup: Which startups have particularly impressed you recently?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: We recently published one of my investments in quantum computing. We Planqc I have invested in Quantum Computers, a company based in Munich's Quantum Valley that will build quantum computers that operate at room temperature. The team consists of globally respected experts who bring extensive research experience to their fields and are now building a company with the knowledge they have gained. I am convinced that quantum computers will dramatically change the world as it is today, and I am delighted to be a part of it.
“Unconscious bias plays a role”
Munich Startup: There are still significantly fewer female investors than male investors, and the proportion of female founders in Germany is less than 18 percent, according to the German Startup Monitor 2021. Do you see a connection between the two aspects?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: Certainly, and there are various aspects to this. For one thing, the unconscious bias that we all have and which is also natural plays a role. We connect better with people who are similar to us, and gender naturally plays a role in this. The industry is still dominated by male investors, and therefore it is not unusual for them to see more potential in male teams that are similar to themselves. On the other hand, there is already a strong awareness in the industry that diverse teams perform better, and therefore certainly more opportunities for female founders to raise capital today than there was a few years ago.
The other very important aspect, in my opinion, is the network. Men's networks are usually larger than women's, which unfortunately is often crucial. There are already best practices in both company building and fundraising that increase success rates, and knowing them is very valuable. Therefore, exchanging ideas with other founders is very important and also helps with getting introductions to VCs, which always works better than sending a pitch deck via a website.
Munich Startup: In your experience, do women invest differently than men?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: Especially in impact funds, women are often partners, whereas this is unfortunately still rare in traditional financial funds. I believe that in traditional VC, the decision-making processes of women and men are similar, although women certainly have different perspectives on issues.
More bootstrapping, less VC
Munich Startup: And do women start businesses differently than men?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: Women are more likely to feel the need to do something with impact. Therefore, and also because there are more female partners, the rates of female teams receiving funding from impact investors are significantly higher than from traditional financial investors.
I also often observe that women focus more on bootstrapping and want to really build something solid before seeking funding. Men, on the other hand, raise money earlier and more often based on a vision than women do. Companies founded by women are therefore more likely to be solidly positioned, but they don't always experience as much growth as companies with all-male teams.
Munich Startup: Do you think there's a need for special networks just for women to encourage more women to start businesses and invest? If so, can you recommend any?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: I believe that women should network more and that a women's network can be a good framework for openly discussing certain topics in a closed group. For this purpose, we have the Female Founders Office Hours where we offer support to female teams on topics such as financing, startup programs and building startups.
Nevertheless, the network must be gender-neutral, and networking with successful founders and investors – who are still often male today – is what women need to build knowledge and gain access to customers or investors.
Unfortunately, far too few women invest. Svenja Lassen has therefore the Female Investors Network founded to raise awareness of angel investments among more women and to provide access.
Munich Startup: Balancing work and family life is an important issue for many women who want to start a business. In your opinion, what needs to change so that women who already have children or want to start a family aren't deterred from starting a business?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: There are some teams that start a company straight out of university. This has many advantages, as living costs are low and you don't yet know what won't work. You just do what you think is right and suddenly things work that no one else has managed to do before. Many teams also start a company after they have several years of work experience and have built up expertise in a particular field. The founders are then around 30 years old and, especially for women, the topic of family is usually very present. Many want a family and therefore think that they have to put their careers on hold. The concept of parental leave is great, but unfortunately most parents have the model: the woman takes 12 months, the man two, and during that time they go on holiday to New Zealand or somewhere else. Many women then work part-time and bear the primary responsibility for their children. Building a startup on top of this is almost impossible and certainly one reason why many women shy away from it.
At the same time, most of the male founders I interact with have young children. So, this aspect doesn't seem to play as significant a role for men as it does for women.
Sharing childcare
For women who want to start a business, it's crucial how childcare is shared between the parents, and that men also take on a large share of the tasks and responsibilities. Starting the conversation early and giving men more responsibility is crucial. Then you no longer have to compromise between starting a business and having a family, but can combine both.
I have a daughter myself, and my partner and I both work full-time. Our daughter attends daycare full-time, where she's well integrated and very happy. We've shared parental leave equally, and he takes on just as many daily tasks as I do. Only as a team can we manage family and career and find a framework that fulfills both of us.
Munich Startup: Does it seem like a good time to start a business?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: I believe it's never been easier to build a startup than it is today. The ecosystem has evolved significantly over the last 10 years, there's a lot of capital in the market, and large companies want to collaborate with startups more than ever. This is a huge advantage, especially for B2B startups, and helps enormously in generating speed and growth.
There are many concerns that there will be less money in the startup market due to the Ukraine crisis. I think that despite the impending recession, there will still be enough financing opportunities for good teams. In the past, we have also seen that innovations often emerge in times of crisis.
Munich Startup: In your opinion, what could be improved at the Munich startup location?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: Munich has become the center of startups in Germany. The first startup wave was in Berlin, where many of the B2C companies originated. Southern Germany, in particular, has a lot to offer technology startups, with its strong focus on industry and talent. The UnternehmerTUM is now the largest entrepreneurship network in Europe, making it a great place for startups to find each other and grow.
A city with a great quality of life, where BMW, Google, and Amazon are located and pay very high salaries, naturally also brings with it a high cost of living, and I would like to see more support for affordable housing here. The availability of affordable childcare with extended opening hours would also be desirable, because family versus career shouldn't be a compromise, especially for female founders. But for that to happen, women also need more framework conditions that enable them to start a business.
Role Model: Spanx founder Sarah Blake
Munich Startup: Which investor would you like to meet in person? And what would you ask them?
Amanda-Stella Birkenholz: Unfortunately, there are far too few role models. One of my role models is Sarah Blakey, the founder of Spanx. She built a billion-dollar company without any capital or family background, heard many "no, that'll never work" along the way, and now supports women in building their own businesses. What I find impressive is how determined she was to pursue her path, and what I'd be most interested in is how she had the perseverance to continue on her path despite many setbacks.
