How World Cup star Mario Götze created a similar career as an angel investor

Mario Götze will go down in football history as the player who scored the goal that made Germany the champion of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. But he is also more of an angel investor.

His friend MGötze’s commercial vehicle, now has a portfolio of over 70 companies, two of which will be unicorns in 2025 – Danish fintech Flatpay and German AI startup Parloa. But the athlete also learned some lessons along the way about screening opportunities. “I only agree to invest if the founders and founders check all the boxes,” he told TechCrunch.

Boxes can be stable at the level that Götze invests in – usually seed-to-seed rounds, ticket sizes between €25k and €50k ($29k-$58k). To combat this, Götze says Companion M “focuses on the areas where we have developed deep networks and technology.” Surprisingly, sports is not one of those places – not directly.

According to Götze, Companion M focuses on B2B SaaS, software architecture and cybersecurity, as well as health and biotech. While not a sport per se, health and fitness are a natural part of the athlete who is interested in human performance – and who has the right to pursue unconventional opportunities in those fields.

In 2020, Götze made headlines investing in cannabis startup Germany’s Sanity Group while many European financial institutions they can’t touch marijuana with a ten-foot tree. From then on, Germany did he relaxed some aspects of his cannabis lawscreating a basic premise that says 10% share. of the German medical cannabis market in 2024.

With marijuana still banned for competitive athletes, Götze had to wait to try it himself: the 33-year-old is still playing professionally in the big league with German club Eintracht Frankfurt. But instead of waiting to retire, he is taking inspiration from America’s top athletes as an NBA champion. Kevin Durant.

Götze is not the only European footballer who also sells for the first time – for example, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé. and practice. But as a father of two young daughters, he must balance his various commitments. “I have to make phone calls before or after I start and coordinate meetings and weeks when I don’t have a game or play in the Champions League,” Götze said. he wrote.

Götze doesn’t do everything himself, but he doesn’t just rely on others for his money. Instead, he created Companion M as a small group that helps him with angel placements, fellowships and other services. “This is important to me as a brand, especially after a while, after (my) active career,” he said he explained.

There is an undeniable element to this experiment. When Götze became the first ambassador of Revolut in Germany, the fintech company mentioned His reputation as an angel investor as an inspiration. But in preparing for his post-football career, Götze has found something for himself he explains as “a passion other than sports.”

This desire may be more unexpected than it seems. Although Götze and his siblings all became football players, their father Jürgen is a professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of TU Dortmund University, and the family spent time in Houston, Texas, while Jürgen was visiting Rice University as a postdoctoral researcher.

Not by chance, Götze invests heavily in Europe and the US, with former investments including Miami-based Arcee is Frankfurt-based Qualified. A number of historical companies have gained a lot of follow-up funding, and have already exited, such as the Berlin-based one. Chorus.

The exit gives Götze capital to reinvest, but he also focuses on long-term capital consolidation. Like a little friend, Friend he supported more than 20 financial institutions across the Atlantic, including 20VC, Cherry Ventures, EQT Ventures, Planet A, Merantix, Visionaries Club, and World Fund.

Götze is still on contract with his team and says additional discussion. But whenever he retires, these companies can treat him as a partner. “When my career is over, I plan to focus on my business activities,” he said Bloomberg. But even so, don’t expect them to spread the word about what they started and then it turned out so well.

“There are a lot of new startups every year, and there will be some that you don’t miss. But worrying about your past decisions will lead to making uneducated or rash decisions in the future,” he told TechCrunch. Spoken like a true sportsman: dwelling on what you missed won’t help you score another goal.