Weidner Ventures
Structure How we invest Focus Portfolio Perspectives Send your pitch
Operator-led investment holding · Berlin

We invest our own capital and our own work.

Weidner Ventures is an operator-led investment holding, not a fund. We deploy capital we earned by building our own companies, and we back founders the way we know best: with cash, and with strategic work in exchange for equity.

Unter den Linden 24 · Berlin-Mitte, Germany
Structure
Evergreen holding · no fund, no LPs
Capital
Our own, self-earned
Base
Berlin-Mitte, Germany
KI-AgentenAgentic SystemsLive-CommerceShopping-EntertainmentDeepTechDefenseFintechKryptoDigitale PlattformenKnowledge for EquityB2BD2CB2C
The structure

One holding that holds. One arm that delivers.

Weidner Ventures is the holding – it holds stakes and invests. Weidner & Friends is the operating arm that delivers the work. That is how we contribute real work in our work-for-equity model, not just money.

Holding
Weidner Ventures

Holds the stakes and invests its own balance-sheet capital. Does not operate itself.

Operating arm
Weidner & Friends

Delivers the work: marketing, build, platforms, AI enablement – also as a contribution against equity.

Ventures
The portfolio

Own ventures and participations that the group's capital and work accelerate.

Our model

Not a passive check. A house that builds.

Inspired by the tempo of the great company builders, but more personal and collaborative: we bring not just money, but building, brand and people.

Build

We start our own companies

From concept to market, as founders, not spectators. Our own ventures are the core of the portfolio.

Accelerate

We add the next gear

Capital, brand, performance, operators and network, from one hand, when a venture is ready to scale.

Back

We back founders, selectively

Smaller tickets, collaborative and on eye level, for founders who build something genuinely substantial.

How we invest

Cash is only one of three doors.

You may know media-for-equity from ProSieben. Ours is Knowledge for Equity – we contribute knowledge, work and reach in exchange for equity, valued at market rate and cleanly documented.

Cash ticket

A classic stake

A direct participation in cash, usually smaller tickets, often alongside other business angels.

Knowledge for Equity

Knowledge & work for equity

The group contributes valued packages of knowledge, build and marketing – and takes equity in return. The media-for-equity logic, applied to knowledge.

Convertible

Convertible loan

Fast capital today that converts into equity at the next round – the clean bridge for cash and for valued work.

Is knowledge-for-equity even legal?
Yes, when it is valued and documented cleanly. A German specific: work cannot be a formal contribution-in-kind into a GmbH's share capital. So the work is treated as a priced work package and moved into equity via a convertible loan or a capital increase – never as a share-capital contribution.
Does it disadvantage the cash investors?
Not when the work is valued at an arm's-length price, meaning what an external provider would have charged. Then 50,000 euros of work is economically equal to 50,000 euros of cash: same valuation, same shares. What matters is a record of the work, a market rate, and transparency toward all investors.
What makes such a deal clean?
Four things: a written work agreement on scope and value, a valuation record (hours times market rate), the right instrument (a convertible or offsetting inside the round), and the consent of the other shareholders. This is exactly how venture studios treat sweat equity on the cap table.

Note: general information, not legal or tax advice. The concrete structure always belongs with a lawyer and tax advisor.

Focus

Where we look.

We move where technology meets real demand – on offense, not only on defense.

AI agents & agentic systems

Software agents that take on real work, under human governance.

Live commerce & shopping entertainment

Selling as entertainment: discovery, auctions, creator-led commerce.

B2BD2CB2C

DeepTech

Hard technology with a defensible edge and long-term value.

Defense & security

Dual-use and security technology for a changed world.

Fintech & crypto

Digital finance, payments and crypto media with reach.

Digital platforms & media

Audiences, knowledge and platforms that compound.

Dennis Weidner, Founder of Weidner Ventures
The thesis
Everyone is arming up defensively, staring at the same themes. But people still want to discover, buy and be entertained. AI agents are our tool for that – not the goal.
Dennis Weidner · Founder, Weidner Ventures
Pitch us

Building something we haven't seen yet?

Send us your pitch deck, or just a few sentences. Once a week our investment committee meets – Dennis Weidner and befriended business angels from a network grown over many active years. We help with capital and with work, and you always hear back within one to two weeks. Even if it's a no.

01

Send

Your deck or a short pitch by email. Short and honest beats long and polished.

02

Weekly committee

Once a week our investment committee – Dennis and befriended business angels – reviews every submission and invites selected teams to a short virtual pitch.

03

Answer in 1–2 weeks

You always get a real answer – whether it's cash, Knowledge for Equity, or a clear no.

Or email pitch@weidner-ventures.com

Thank you – we have your pitch.

It goes into the next weekly investment committee review. You will hear from us within one to two weeks, promised.

How a partnership works

From first conversation to scale.

01

Meet

An honest conversation about your venture, team and ambition.

02

Assess

Substance over buzzwords: market, model, momentum.

03

Back / Build

Cash, work-for-equity or a convertible, fair and collaborative.

04

Accelerate

Brand, performance, operators and network come on board.

05

Scale

We keep building together, as a partner who has built before.

Why work with us

Value on both sides of the table.

For founders

  • Hands-on operating support, not just a wire
  • Brand and performance in-house
  • Cash, work-for-equity or a convertible, fair and founder-friendly
  • Access to the group's network and operators
  • A partner who has actually built

For co-investors

  • A capital-efficient studio and holding model
  • Own capital in the deal – aligned interest
  • A real portfolio, not a pitch deck
  • Operating leverage across the group
  • Founder-to-founder access and flow
The group

We don't stand alone.

A personal brand, an operating agency, a venture builder and a founder network – an ecosystem that carries every venture.

Personal brand
Dennis Weidner
dennis-weidner.com
Operating · Agency
Weidner & Friends
weidner-friends.com
Venture builder
The Agentics
theagentics.de
Founder network
Gründerfreunde
gruenderfreunde.de
Contact

Let's talk about your venture.

Whether it's a stake, work-for-equity or a joint studio project – tell us in two or three sentences what it's about. We answer personally.

hello@weidner-ventures.com