What Gateway Ventures does

Gateway Ventures, operating through the legal entity G8Way Ventures GmbH, is a Vienna-headquartered digital business angel platform founded in 2016. The company curates early-stage startup investment opportunities and makes them accessible to private investors from a minimum ticket of €10,000 per deal, screening more than 1,000 European startups annually and accepting only 1-2%. Its portfolio spans Business Services, Sustainability, and Health sectors, with recent deals extending into DeepTech and healthcare AI (Vitrealab, SOMAREALITY, mediaire), and includes more than 45 startups backed by over 4,000 investors with cumulative deployment above €28 million and a reported 2.16x portfolio value multiple.

The core technology is a digital platform providing curated deal flow, due diligence, online founder meetings, termsheet execution, and post-investment portfolio management, supplemented by the M-PAAS ecosystem connector, the Gateway Masterclass education program, and the Venture Pool curated deal vehicle. The company earns revenue purely on a success-based model, charging a commission and performance-related premium (5-10% of invested sums) at financial close, with no membership or due diligence fees. Distribution is digital-first across Europe, with co-investment partnerships spanning more than 35 institutional VC and angel partners including Speedinvest, HTGF, aws Gründerfonds, LIFTT, LBO France, and Hermann Hauser Investment.

Gateway operates a small team of approximately 8-9 professionals based in Vienna with stated operations also in Munich. Leadership is anchored by founder and CEO Markus Kainz, supported by a Head of Portfolio (Christian Gerencser), a Head of Strategy & Investments (Julian Pfeifer), and a Head of Product & Technology (Alessandro Chalimba). The business is privately held with no disclosed institutional funding or parent company, and the founder remains the controlling operator.

Name

Gateway Ventures

Legal name

G8Way Ventures GmbH

Website

https://gateway.ventures

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Gateway Ventures is a Vienna-based digital business angel platform that curates European early-stage startup investments from €10,000 for a network of 4,000+ private investors, charging success-based fees of 5-10% on deployed capital across more than 45 portfolio companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Startup Investment Platform

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Miscellaneous Intermediation (52391)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Micro-VC & Angel Funds (FSANAAAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Emerging Managers / Seeding Platforms (FSAHAKAI)

Keywords

• Business angel platform
• Startup investment curation
• Venture capital network
• Private investor access
• Startup deal sourcing

Headquarters

HQ city

Vienna

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Transaction and Portfolio Management Fees: Gateway Ventures charges fees on transactions and portfolio management. No membership fees, no due diligence fees, no upfront capital required. Fees are charged when investors decide to invest in a startup.
2. Success-Based Fee Model: Fee model is purely success-based (financial close) and charged mainly from investors. Gateway charges a commission and performance-related premium payable by the investor upon investment completion.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Gateway Ventures operates a digital business angel platform that curates and structures early-stage startup investment opportunities for private investors across Europe, enabling investments starting from €10,000 per deal. The platform provides end-to-end deal sourcing, professional due diligence, digital investment execution, and post-investment portfolio management, supported by a community of more than 4,000 private investors and 35+ co-investment VC and angel partners.

Product overview

Gateway Ventures operates as a unified business angel platform that provides curated startup investment opportunities to private investors. The core offering is the Gateway Ventures Platform, which enables investments starting at €10,000 per deal. Supporting this core are the Venture Pool for diversified deal access and Gateway Masterclass for investor education. M-PAAS extends the ecosystem by connecting startups and investors across Europe.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• M-PAAS: A solution for digitally connecting the European startup and investor ecosystem.

Products and services

• Gateway Ventures Platform A digital business angel platform that enables private investors to access curated startup investment opportunities starting from €10,000. The platform provides deal sourcing, professional due diligence, digital investment execution, online founder meetings, datarooms, termsheets, and post-investment portfolio management for individual investors and family offices.
• Gateway Masterclass An exclusive multi-module workshop series for investors covering team analysis, product-market fit, portfolio management, due diligence processes, valuation methods, and negotiation strategies. Designed for aspiring and experienced business angels seeking to build startup investing competency.
• Venture Pool A curated pool of pre-selected startup investment opportunities available to Gateway Ventures platform investors, offering diversified access to multiple vetted deals through a single participation structure.
• M-PAAS A digital ecosystem platform connecting European startups and investors, enabling cross-border networking, collaboration, and deal flow within the investment community. Operates as a sub-brand of Gateway Ventures.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2.16x portfolio value development
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Female Investors Network (FIN)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerGateway's initiative supporting women investors with access to startup investment opportunities and community.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Crowdcube: UK-based equity crowdfunding platform for private investors in growth and later-stage private companies. Similar platform-mediated retail-investor-to-startup funding model but primarily UK-focused.

Broad incumbents

• AngelList: Large US-rooted platform for angel syndicates, rolling funds, and startup deal flow, with European reach. Wider portfolio (funds, syndicates, talent) than Gateway, but overlapping angel-investor audience and digital deal distribution.

Others

• European Business Angels Network (EBAN): Pan-European federation of business angel networks and one of Gateway's listed partners. Provides cross-border deal sourcing, standards, and policy advocacy — a comparable ecosystem intermediary rather than a direct competitor.
• Speedinvest: One of Europe's most active early-stage VCs and a Core co-investment partner of Gateway Ventures. Not a direct competitor but an upstream deal-flow source and reference customer for Gateway's curated model.

Direct peers

• Seedrs: One of Europe's largest equity crowdfunding platforms, enabling private investors to back startups with regulated structures and secondary trading. Comparable digital investing experience for retail/angel investors, though UK/EU-wide rather than DACH-focused.
• Funderbeam: European platform for syndicated startup investing with built-in secondary market for investor liquidity. Comparable curated-deal, digital-platform model serving private investors across Europe.
• REVO (revo.cc): Austrian startup investment and networking platform connecting investors with early-stage companies. Highly comparable geographically and operationally, operating in the same DACH angel-investing niche as Gateway.
• SeedBlink: European (CEE-rooted) equity crowdfunding and venture investing platform offering curated tech startup deals to retail and angel investors with community-driven co-investment. Directly comparable model and minimum-ticket positioning to Gateway.
• Companisto: Berlin-based digital business angel and crowdinvesting platform allowing private investors to participate in startup rounds, often from €250 up. Most comparable to Gateway by model, German-speaking market overlap, and angel-network distribution.

Emerging players

• Aescuvest: European (Germany-based) digital investing platform focused on health and impact ventures, enabling private investors to access startup equity. Comparable digital angel platform with vertical specialisation overlap (Gateway also invests in Health).

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gatewayventure

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments26 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Gateway Ventures