Berlin — German-Ameri­can venture capi­ta­list Bitkraft has laun­ched its first venture fund. With USD 165 million, the capi­tal raised by the fund, which is focu­sed on finan­cing start-ups in the gaming and e‑sports sector, signi­fi­cantly excee­ded the total volume targe­ted. Inves­tors include the family office of David Ruben­stein, co-foun­der of the Carlyle Group, and JS Capi­tal, an invest­ment firm run by Jona­than Soros. Toge­ther with the renow­ned US law firm Gunder­son Dett­mer, an SMP team led by Helder Schnitt­ker struc­tu­red Bitkraft Venture Fund I and advi­sed on tax and regu­la­tory issues.

“We are a good step closer to our goal of buil­ding the leading global invest­ment plat­form in the games and e‑sports indus­try,” explains Bitcraft foun­der Jens Hilgers.

Bitkraft Ventures
Bitkraft Ventures is a global invest­ment plat­form for gaming, e‑sports and inter­ac­tive media. Foun­ded by e‑sports vete­ran Jens Hilgers, Bitkraft connects inno­va­tive start­ups and foun­ders into a global network to drive the buil­ding of future-proof virtual worlds. The inter­na­tio­nally posi­tio­ned Bitkraft team adds signi­fi­cant value to its port­fo­lio compa­nies by buil­ding early partnerships.

About SMP
SMP is a specia­list tax and commer­cial law firm opera­ting in the core areas of corpo­rate, funds, liti­ga­tion, tax and tran­sac­tions. SMP attor­neys and tax advi­sors repre­sent a wide variety of clients. These include emer­ging tech­no­logy compa­nies and family-run medium-sized enter­pri­ses as well as corpo­ra­ti­ons and private equity/venture capi­tal funds. Since its foun­da­tion in 2017, SMP has become one of the leading addres­ses for venture capi­tal, private equity and fund struc­tu­ring in Germany. The firm and its part­ners have been reco­gni­zed natio­nally and inter­na­tio­nally by JUVE, Best Lawy­ers, Legal 500, Focus, and Cham­bers and Part­ners. Today, SMP employs over 50 expe­ri­en­ced lawy­ers and tax advi­sors in three offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne.

Consul­tant Bitkraft: SMP
Dr. Helder Schnitt­ker (Lead Part­ner, Fund Struc­tu­ring), Partner
Dr. Thomas Töben (Taxes), Partner
Lenn­art Lorenz (Regu­la­tory Law), Partner
Dr. Sebas­tian Schwarz (Taxes), Senior Associate