Cologne, 05.10.18 The expanding venture capital firm, BitStone Capital, is expanding its management team with two prominent experts from the real estate industry. Marc Stilke, former CEO of Immobilienscout24 and Flowfact founder Lars Grosenick take over the function of venture partner. Both support the team around Kai Panitzki and Manfred Heid, who have built the company since it was founded in November 2017.

BitStone focuses on digital business models in the real estate sector. In less than a year, BitStone has already invested in eight start-ups “with extremely high disruption potential”, as Panitzki points out.

The segments in which the BitStone investments operate so far include “Smart Building”, “Flexible Space” and “Construction Tech”. Panitzki adds: “BitStone is now expanding its management team to include two renowned entrepreneurs and successful business angels in order to open up further profitable investment fields, support the selection and strategic development of its investments and make targeted investments with selected partners. Not only their unique know-how will give us strong impulses, but also their extensive personal network”.

“I am very much looking forward to the new partnership,” says Marc Stilke, who initially gained valuable experience in the internationalization of digital advertising models and the development of agile product development processes as a board member of Lycos Europe and AdLINK Media AG, which belongs to United Internet AG. In 2009, he assumed the position of CEO at Immobilienscout24 and developed the platform into the leading marketplace for real estate. Since 2015, Marc has been a member of the supervisory board and develops digitisation strategies for established companies. As an active business angel with a focus on Proptech, he invested in VRnow, vermietet.de, Zinsbaustein, allthings and Ogulo and initiated the industry accelerator blackprint booster.

Already 30 years ago Lars Grosenick founded Flowfact, a company for the development of software solutions especially for the real estate industry. The focus was on innovative and practical digital models, such as private bidding processes and the “Make me Move” purchasing strategy. In addition to his many years at Flowfact, he invested in real estate projects and participated as a business angel in successful start-ups in the real estate technology sector, including Maklaro, allthings and vermietet.de. Grosenick is also enthusiastic: “I find BitStone’s focused approach convincing and I am sure that together we can mobilize great synergies. In addition to a lucrative investment opportunity, investors will be given access to the most innovative companies and developments of the future.

“We do not only support our investments with capital. At least as important is extensive knowledge of the real estate industry, a network and strong entrepreneurial skills,” emphasizes Panitzki: “The competencies of our two new partners fit this investment philosophy perfectly. Their expertise in the digital transformation of the real estate industry along the entire value chain and their extensive contacts in the real estate industry ideally complement BitStone. This will give our deal flow a further boost in the near future,” adds BitStone Capital Partner Manfred Heid.

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