Welcome to 2024! A fresh year full of new beginnings. The major milestone for 3TS is the final closing of our new TCEE Fund IV. Despite the tail end of the pandemic, a tragic war in the region and a substantial market correction, we are proud of reaching this objective. We want to thank all the existing LP investors that re-committed and new LPs that entrusted us for the future. Between TCEE Fund IV and our sister fund Catalyst Romania Fund II, we’ll be working to deploy a total of €161m in the coming years. 3TS will continue investing in rapidly growing technology companies with roots in Engineering Europe, that have exceptional management teams, breakthrough products and unbounded market opportunities.
Here’s to a great, prosperous and peaceful 2024!
Cheers,
The 3TS Team
3TS KEY LEARNINGS
3TS Key Learnings for CEOs, from Raising Fund IV
Believe it or not, investors have to fundraise too. New funds from limited partners need to be raised every roughly four years, which is the lifeblood of our business. Just like portfolio companies, we also think through our annual plan, hiring, business model changes, new initiatives, and runway. We track and are measured against established industry KPIs, that depend on how portfolio companies perform. Raising new funds is not a given for investors, it’s a privilege that is earned through results – similar to how companies get to raise new capital. In reality fundraising never fully stops, just like marketing and sales never stop. Constant communication with the marketplace is needed, as after fundraise is before fundraise. All that is to say, we are also running a business, just like you all are.
It’s a long road, not a short sprint. Much like building a company, raising multiple funds is a long process. Similar to marketing demand-gen and sales cycles, fundraising has its own milestones, value drivers and conversion rates. The fundraise sales cycle is always a “solution-sale” not a “product-sale”, with many constituents, hurdles, and decisions steps that extend over months and quarters. Knowing all the decision points is critical, but the hurdles can still sink the process. Fundraising is nearing to closing 10-15 large enterprise scale transactions, rather than the quicker mid-market type transactions. Sound familiar? We also live through scaling our own business.
Differentiation, results and some luck prevail. In a sea of similar offerings, fund managers must stand out with a differentiated offering, just like companies have to in their go to market approach. 3TS’ strategy of investing for the last 20 years in tech global challengers with roots in Engineering Europe sets us apart. At the end of the day, fund investment results are the measuring stick for raising the next fund, just like growth, revenue scale and profitability in a company. Luck only comes along when the differentiated offering has longevity and delivers solid results.
On a related note, we consistently hear from more institutional investors about increasing demand for investing behind technology companies. Cycles will go up and down, but what’s great for company builders from any country, is that the long-term trend is certainly up and to the right.
3TS PORTFOLIO & NETWORK NEWS
Jentis Wins Founders Games 2024, Held at the World Economic Forum in Davos
Well deserved award for Jentis as one of the 5 winners, out of 4500 applicants, delivering breakthrough innovation in consumer data capture, quality and privacy.
Tosibox Appoints Sakari Suhonen as the New CEO
Welcome Sakari Suhonen! With over 20 years of experience scaling and exiting technology companies, Sakari is in a great position to lead the Company’s next phase of growth.
Piano Highlighted as Leader in Snowflake’s Modern Marketing Data Tech Stack Report 2023
Congratulations to Paino for being recognized as a leading force in the next-generation of marketing platforms. Piano Analytics’ integration with Snowflake is helping modern CMOs drive unparalleled customer insights that help increase new revenue and retention.
Spectrm Named Rising Star in 2023 Conversational Marketing Software Category by FeaturedCustomers
Great to see Spectrm post this win, since it’s especially relevant because it’s based on actual customer voting. FeaturedCustomers is the world’s only customer reference platform for B2B business software.
MEET THE TEAM
Markus Fleischer – Investment Director
Based in Vienna, Markus is focusing on deal sourcing, new investments and portfolio development primarily in the DACH region. He focusses especially on the most recent fund IV, that 3TS successfully raised and closed in 2023.
Prior to 3TS, Markus was Head of Strategy & New Markets at A1 Digital, the digital business of Telekom Austria Group. He had overall responsibility for investments, strategy and expansion into Western European markets. Before A1 Digital, Markus worked as Engagement Manager for Accenture Strategy in Munich advising DAX30 companies on digital transformation and AI. In parallel he built the AI Practice at Accenture DACH, including publishing various papers and holding trainings for all seniority levels in the region.
Markus holds an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona including an Exchange at London Business School (with focus on Private Equity) as well as a degree in Business Management from FH Wien. When aged 19, Markus developed database solutions for Siemens as part of his high school graduation and subsequently joined Siemens’ engineering team during his studies.
In his free time, Markus likes playing tennis, skiing, mountain biking and exploring the art and food scenes. He is an active member at the Leopold Museum young collector circle in Vienna.
Markus’ Favorite Quote: “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
Last Book Read: Valley Boy: – Biography of Tom Perkins (Kleiner Perkins)
GOOD READS & GREAT IDEAS
KeyBanc Capital Markets SaaS Survey 2023
Now in its 14th year, KeyBank’s SaaS metrics has become one of the cornerstone benchmarks used by companies (and investors) to organize how to scale growth, allocate expenses effectively and drive toward profitability. Companies also use the data to stress-test assumptions and make sure their metrics are in line.
Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 6.8% in 2024
Good news heading into 2024. While Gartner reduced the software spending growth forecast to 12.7% from 13.8%, that’s still an enormous amount of opportunity – about $116B increase just for software and 19% growth for SaaS.
CloudRatings SaaS Demand Index: 25-35% Growth for 2024
By tracking SaaS company results and forecasts, CloudRatings unpacks the mix of growth levels to be expected and which sub-sectors are in demand or out of favor, as companies execute 2024 and begin to think about 2025.
JOIN US AT THESE EVENTS
0100 Conference DACH 2024 – 28 – 29 February 2024, Vienna, Austria
Investors’ Forum – 20 – 21 March 2024, Geneva, Switzerland