Alexander Samwer

The brothers Marc ( born December 3, 1970 in Cologne ), Oliver (* August 9, 1973 ) and Alexander Samwer (born 31 January 1975) are German Internet entrepreneur and multi-millionaires. They operate along the subsidiaries Rocket Internet, European Founders Fund Management and Global Founders Capital.

Life

Family and origin

The three brothers grew up in a wealthy family in the Cologne district of Marienburg. Her father Sigmar -Jürgen Samwer " was one of the most famous lawyers of Cologne ". The Press and Wettbewerbsrechtler represented about personalities such as Nobel Heinrich Böll and the Federal President Karl Carstens ( CDU). The great-grandfather Karl Samwer was an honorary citizen of Gotha, Gotha insurance led the bank by the chaos of war and founded the Gotha insurance.

Training

Marc, Oliver and Alexander made ​​her Abitur at the classical languages ​​Friedrich- Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Cologne.

  • Marc Samwer studied law at the University of Cologne.
  • Oliver Samwer studied business administration at the private WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management (formerly Scientific School of Management) in Vallendar near Koblenz and in their partner school, the Kellogg School of Management in Illinois. During his studies he was awarded a scholarship from the Study Foundation of the German people, then a trainee at the investment bank Sal Oppenheim. In 1998, he created together with Max finger the study America's Most Successful Startups. Lessons for Entrepreneurs. about starting, building and growing U.S. Internet company. The thesis was supervised by Horst Albach.
  • Alexander Samwer studied after graduating from high school ( average of 1.0 ) 1994 Economics and Politics at Oxford and Business Administration ( MBA) from Harvard Business School.

Business

In 1999, the brothers founded together with three other friends, the Internet auction site alando.de modeled after the U.S. company eBay. Just six months later, she sold her company for $ 43 million to eBay. After the sale, Oliver Samwer was appointed managing director of eBay Europe.

In August 2000, the Samwer brothers together with Ole Brandenburg and major corporate partners Debitel and daughters Metro Media Markt and Saturn formed the Jamba GmbH. Under the leadership of Oliver and Marc Samwer is Jamba become the largest European provider of ringtones and mobile phone applications. The company was widespread criticism when it was announced that subscriptions had been sold to minors. In 2004, the U.S. company VeriSign Jamba! GmbH for $ 273 million, in the Oliver and Marc Samwer held the Board until 19 December 2005. However, the sale proceeds were primarily distributed to any affiliate thereof, as was the case with Alando.de.

Since early 2006, the brothers Samwer act as venture capital for startups in the Internet and mobile communications. Among the investments of their European Founders Fund include

  • YouTube Clone MyVideo
  • Game portal bigpoint.com
  • The photo service myphotobook.de
  • The student network studiVZ.net
  • The online dating service eDarling
  • Hitflip.de the exchange platform for media products
  • The Rental Marketplace erento
  • The European travel portal trivago
  • The craft and service portal myhammer.de
  • The Abacho AG
  • The online shoe store Zalando (since 2008)

On January 15, 2008 it was announced that the Samwers company shares acquired on Facebook, On 17 February 2011 was publicly that they have sold the shares back. The reason they gave to the concentration on the early-stage and growth area. The brothers are estimated to have tripled their use of capital.

In July 2008, the Samwer brothers acquired 20 percent of the Internet Gate AG. On 30 March 2012 it was announced that these shares were sold again.

On 30 December 2008, the brothers bought over the counter through European Founders Fund Investment GmbH Shares MyHammer Holding AG, its subsidiaries, the Internet platform is MyHammer. The price per share was far higher than that of the market at 3.70 euros.

On 16 May 2010 the Samwer brothers sell city deal, a clone of the American role model Groupon where it makes available for USD 170 million. Currently they hold 10% of Groupon.

On 1 December 2011 it was announced that the Samwer brothers on the European Founders Fund (EFF ) participate in a financing round with a total of 4 million euro for the handmade market place DaWanda.

With Rocket Internet, the brothers hold shares in Wimdu ( in China: Airizu.com ), whose concept of the Airbnb follows HelloFresh.de and GlossyBox.de.

The common property of the three brothers who are called because of their company in the press as " Jamba brothers ", is estimated by the Manager magazine to 350 million euros.

In March 2013 it was announced that the brothers Samwer hang up a 150 million euro fund called Founders Global Capital for company founders. The Fund aims to support young start- ups worldwide. For this Fund, the brothers invested an average sum in the Hamburg- technology companies Kreditech.

Writings

  • Max finger, Oliver Samwer: America's Most Successful Startups. Lessons for Entrepreneurs. Gabler, 2001, ISBN 3-409-21409-7.
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