Telecom service provider Deutsche Telekom is planning a EUR 500 million venture capital fund to foster technology innovation.
OTT players will be one of the focus areas.
EUR 500 million, which will be in addition to Deutsche Telekom’s investments in existing T-Venture, will be spent over the next five years. T-Venture will not be making fresh investments in technology firms.
Vicente Vento, currently senior vice president of Mergers & Acquisitions at Deutsche Telekom, will be the CEO of DTCP.
The newly formed company Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners (DTCP) will advise Deutsche Telekom on existing investments in STRATO, Interactive Media, Scout, Deutsche Telekom Innovation Pool (TIP) and T-Venture. The new company will be operational from next year.
DTCP will support Deutsche Telekom’s strategy as an external innovation engine via investments in venture capital, with a special focus on Germany’s start-up comapanies. DTCP will expand its activities to include private equity investments in existing firms to enhance operational cooperation between over-the-top (OTT) companies and Deutsche Telekom.
“DTCP combines the expertise and strength of a large corporation with the agility and flexibility of a small investment company: the best of both worlds to take Deutsche Telekom forward,” said Tim Hottges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom.
