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Mario G\u00f6tze will go down in soccer history as the player who scored the winning goal that made Germany the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion. But he is also an increasingly seasoned angel investor.<\/p>\n
Companion M<\/a>, G\u00f6tze\u2019s personal investment vehicle, now has a portfolio of more than 70 companies, two of which became unicorns in 2025 \u2014 Danish fintech Flatpay<\/a> and German AI startup Parloa<\/a>. But the athlete also learned some lessons along the way about vetting opportunities. \u201cI only agree to invest if the startup and its founders check all the boxes,\u201d he told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n The boxes can be quite subjective at the stage at which G\u00f6tze invests \u2014 typically pre-seed and seed rounds, with ticket sizes between \u20ac25,000 and \u20ac50,000 ($29,000-$58,000). To address this, G\u00f6tze says Companion M \u201cfocuses on specific areas where we have built profound network and expertise.\u201d Surprisingly, sports isn\u2019t one of those areas \u2014 at least not directly.<\/p>\n According to G\u00f6tze, Companion M primarily focuses on B2B SaaS, software infrastructure, and cybersecurity, as well as health and biotech. While that\u2019s not sports tech per se, health and biotech are a natural niche for an athlete interested in human performance and wellness \u2014 and who has the freedom to pursue unconventional opportunities in those fields.<\/p>\n In 2020, G\u00f6tze made headlines for investing in German cannabis startup Sanity Group<\/a> when most European institutional investors wouldn\u2019t touch cannabis with a 10-foot pole<\/a>. Since then, Germany has liberalized some aspects of its cannabis laws<\/a>, creating tailwinds for the startup that claimed a 10% share<\/a> of the German medical cannabis market in 2024.<\/p>\n With cannabis still forbidden for athletes in competition, G\u00f6tze will have to wait to try the stuff himself: The 33-year-old is still playing professionally at the top league level with German club Eintracht Frankfurt. But rather than waiting for retirement, he is taking cues from American athlete-investors such as NBA champion Kevin Durant<\/a>.<\/p>\n G\u00f6tze is not the only active European soccer player who also invests in startups \u2014 for instance, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 also do<\/a>. But as the father of two young daughters, he has to balance his various commitments. \u201cI have to schedule calls before or after practices and align meetings with weeks when I don\u2019t have away games or play Champions League,\u201d G\u00f6tze wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> G\u00f6tze isn\u2019t doing it all himself, but he is not simply entrusting others with his money either. Instead, he created Companion M as a small team that supports him with angel investing, partnerships, and other tasks. \u201cThese are important for myself as a brand, particularly in the long term, after [my] active career,\u201d he explained<\/a>.<\/p>\n There is an undeniable branding aspect to these efforts. When G\u00f6tze became Revolut\u2019s first-ever brand ambassador for Germany, the fintech company cited<\/a> his track record as an angel investor as an incentive. But while preparing for his post-soccer career, G\u00f6tze has found what he describes<\/a> as \u201canother passion apart from sport.\u201d<\/p>\n This passion may be less unexpected than it seems. While G\u00f6tze and his brothers all became soccer players, their father J\u00fcrgen is a professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of TU Dortmund University, and the family spent time in Houston, Texas, when J\u00fcrgen was visiting Rice University as a postdoctoral researcher.<\/p>\n Not coincidentally, G\u00f6tze mostly invests in Europe and in the U.S., with past investments including Miami-based Arcee AI<\/a> and Frankfurt-based Qualifyze<\/a>. Several portfolio companies went on to raise significant amounts of follow-on funding, and he has already exited some, such as Berlin-based KoRo<\/a>.<\/p>\n Exits give G\u00f6tze capital to reinvest, but he\u2019s also focused on long-term wealth consolidation. As a limited partner, Companion backed more than 20 venture capital firms<\/a> on both sides of the Atlantic, including 20VC, Cherry Ventures, EQT Ventures, Planet A, Merantix, Visionaries Club, and World Fund.<\/p>\n G\u00f6tze is still under contract with his club and is reportedly discussing an extension<\/a>. But whenever he finally retires, these venture firms could count him as a peer. \u201cAfter my career ends, I plan to focus on my investment activities,\u201d he told Bloomberg<\/a>. But even then, don\u2019t expect him to publish his anti-portfolio of startups he passed on and that later became huge successes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are plenty of new startups every year, and there will be some that you miss out on. But regretting past decisions leads to making uneducated or impulsive decisions in the future,\u201d he told TechCrunch. Spoken like a true sportsman: dwelling on what you missed won\u2019t help you score the next goal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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