We are thrilled to welcome Daphne Dovermann as a special guest to our Super Angel Program. Daphne brings nearly a decade of investment and operational expertise, combined with an unwavering passion for helping businesses unlock their potential. From her early days at Rocket Internet to her impactful role at Atomico, Daphne’s journey has been nothing short of impressive—and we couldn’t be more excited to have her share her insights with our program.

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A Journey Rooted in Versatility and Passion

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Daphne's career has spanned multiple industries, but her north star has always been a desire to help businesses grow and evolve. She cut her teeth as an operator at Rocket Internet before diving headfirst into the investment world, where she gained invaluable deal-making and board-level experience in private equity. Whether working with large, asset-heavy industries such as agriculture and renewables or high-growth premium consumer brands, she has sought to build deep relationships to support the operators she works with.

With her move to Atomico in 2020 Daphne sought to combine her love for technology with her belief that innovation can spark transformative change in even the most traditional industries. As Principal on their early-stage investment team, Daphne helped drive investments across sectors like FinTech, ClimateTech, and B2B SaaS.

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A Unique Perspective on Angel Investing

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Over the past year, Daphne has explored new ways to support founders, working as a freelance operator with various European startups. Her hands-on experience—whether in advisory roles or rolling up her sleeves as an interim addition to the leadership—has honed her deep understanding for what it takes to scale early-stage businesses. Meanwhile, she has nurtured her love for investing, having personally backed companies such as Enapi, Brandback, Autone, and Hexafarms.

Daphne's investment philosophy reflects her aversion to being boxed into a single sector. She thrives on applying first principles thinking across industries, often finding analogies between seemingly unrelated problems and discovering innovative solutions. With a special interest in applying technology to digitize and modernize traditional industries, her broad experience allows her to challenge founders in creative, outside-the-box ways.

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Insights from the Journey

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Daphne’s unusual journey—from operating to private equity to venture capital—has armed her with a wide-ranging toolkit that she eagerly shares with founders. She attributes her success to this versatility, which has helped her connect the dots between industries and think creatively about solutions.

Her key advice for founders and investors alike? Be bold. Disruption and innovation require challenging the status quo, and that demands an open mind, a willingness to think big and a little fearlessness. Whilst often it feels easier to say no to an investment,  Daphne's experiences have taught her that embracing uncertainty and taking a view (even with limited information) can yield remarkable results.

As both an angel investor and venture capitalist, Daphne has learned to embrace this uncertainty and find frameworks from framing and underwriting the risk inherent in start-ups. She admits that she often finds angel investing even harder than VC, because of dealing with fewer resources, less founder access and even more limited information.

However, she reminds us “You only make money if you’re optimistic, and you’re right.”

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Why Daphne is Excited About Our Super Angel Program

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When asked why she’s thrilled to be part of the Super Angel Program, Daphne pointed to the incredible women shaping Europe’s startup ecosystem.

“There are so many amazing women across the European startup ecosystem, and to be able to come together and share learnings in a structured way is something really special,” she shared. Whether you’re a seasoned angel or just beginning your investment journey, Daphne believes the program has something to offer everyone. More than that, she’s excited by the sense of community and inspiration that comes from working alongside such a dynamic group of women.

We are incredibly excited to have Daphne Dovermann join us in this journey. Her unique insights, deep experience, and passion for empowering founders make her an invaluable addition to the Super Angel Program.

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VC Diligence Through the Angel Lens: Upcoming Session with Daphne Dovermann

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Join us this Friday for our second Lunch & Learn session with Daphne Dovermann, where she'll share her leanings on VC-level diligence and how she adapts it to angel investing. While both venture capital (VC) and angel investing aim to back groundbreaking startups, the diligence processes are vastly different. VCs have access to experts, deep resources, and the luxury of time, whereas angel investors often need to adapt to quicker, more hands-on decision-making.

In this session, Daphne will walk us through how she has streamlined her diligence process to work within the constraints of personal capital and time while still achieving solid, high-conviction investment decisions.

Key Takeaways:

• Key differences between VC and angel diligence
• How to quickly assess market potential, team strength, and product fit
• Tips for streamlining research and leveraging tools like ChatGPT for faster insights
• How to build trust and create value-added relationships with founders

Whether you're new to angel investing or looking to refine your approach, this session will equip you with the tools to balance gut instinct with structured analysis.

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Let’s elevate angel investing together!

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