We understand founders,
since we are founders ourselves.

Venture Stars is led by a small, hungry team
of serial entrepreneurs with many years
of experience in founding and scaling start-ups
and their organizations.

Our team consists of a small group of decision makers, consisting of two managing partners and a Principal,
backed by a strong team Venture Partners, Experts and Support.

MARTIN JUNKER

Managing Partner

Martin is a founder and managing partner at Venture Stars. Before joining the VC world, Martin co-founded several start-ups as a serial entrepreneur - amongst others, netzathleten media (acquired by RTL media group). Martin studied business administration at the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, in the USA and Spain. He serves as a board member and advisor to several Venture Stars portfolio companies.
FLORIAN CALMBACH

Managing Partner

Florian is a founder and managing partner at Venture Stars. After finishing his studies at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, UCLA Los Angeles and ICADE Madrid, Florian co-founded netztathleten media (acquired by RTL media group). Later, Florian co-founded several other online start-ups and started investing as a business angel, before initiating Venture Stars' first fund in 2014 together with his partners. Florian enjoys to work closely with other founders and serves as a board member and advisor to several Venture Stars portfolio companies. He is also a certified business coach.
RAPHAEL BUDDAY

Investment Manager

Raphael is principal at Venture Stars. He has over 8 years of VC and investment experience and was part of SevenAccelerator and Grazia Equity, supporting over 20 start-ups, before joining Venture Stars, where he now leads several investments as board member and observer.. Raphael studied business administration and holds a M.Sc. from the University of Mannheim, with stations in Spain, China and Canada. He is also a passionate music producer and DJ as well as mountain enthusiast.
STEFAN PFANNMOLLER

Founding Partner

Stefan is founding partner at Venture Stars. Before discovering his passion for internet entrepreneurship, Stefan was Germany's #1 canoe slalom athlete, taking part in 2 Olympic games and wining the bronze medal. As an athlete from the heart, Stefan realized his idea of a digital Olympic village and co-founded netzathleten media (acquired by RTL media group). Today Stefan is responsible for AlphaPet Ventures as advisor to the CEO and supports new Venture Stars investments.
CHRISTIAN MAERZKE

Managing Director

Christian is operating partner at Venture Stars. Before joining the Start-up world, Christian worked at the venture capital department of KfW banking group. Christian studied at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. Christian is an organisation building and recruiting expert and has also built up extensive sales & marketing driven business development know-how, e.g. building and scaling stationary retail sales.

We understand founders, since we are founders ourselves.

We strive to enable outstanding founders to realize their visions - generating meaningful value.

We understand founders,
since we are founders ourselves.

We strive to enable outstanding
founders to realize their visions -
generating meaningful value.