Carsten Maschmeyer

Carsten Maschmeyer
Maschmeyer in 2015
Born	Carsten Jens Maschmeyer (1959-05-08) 8 May 1959 (age 58) Bremen, Germany
Occupation	Businessman
Years active	1982–present
Spouse(s)	Veronica Ferres (2009 – Present)

Carsten Jens Maschmeyer (born May 8, 1959 in Bremen, Germany) is a German businessman, investor, speaker, author and panel-member of the German version of the TV-show "Shark Tank" ("Die Höhle der Löwen"). He is the founder and owner of the Maschmeyer Group which combines all of his current commercial activities. With ALSTIN (Alternative Strategic Investments), he invests growth capital in emerging industries and future markets with outstanding innovations in sectors like the Internet, technology, and life-science. Through Paladin Asset Management his team undertakes value-investments in publicly listed companies. With Seed & Speed, Maschmeyer provides seed investments to very early-stage companies.

Maschmeyer grew up in Hildesheim (Lower Saxony, Germany) and lived under poor conditions. He never saw his father and lived in an orphanage. He has one half-brother, whom he first met at the age of 40. As a teenager, he was a successful athlete (middle-distance-runner). In 1978, he completed his Abitur (higher-education entrance qualification) and joined the German Armed Forces for two years. In order to be able to finance his subsequent education in medicine in Hannover, he worked concurrent with his studies in the sales department of a financial advisory firm (OVB Vermögensberatung) before committing to financial consultancy on a full-time basis in 1982. He became Country Director of Lower Saxony at a very young age, responsible for approximately 3,000 salespeople. He worked at OVB until 1987. Carsten Maschmeyer is a reserve officer of the Joint Medical Service of the Bundeswehr.

In 1988, Carsten Maschmeyer established an independent financial advisory for private households founding the financial group AWD (Allgemeiner Wirtschaftsdienst). His company grew rapidly and became Europe's largest independent financial advisor. It successfully entered the stock market in 2000, rising in the M-DAX (member of the 100 listed companies) as well as expanding into eleven countries employing approximately 11,000 people and managing 15 billion EUR (USD 22 billion) for 2 million customers in 2007. In 2007 Swiss Life, the largest Swiss Life Insurance provider, bought the entire company for CHF 1,9 billion (approx. USD 2.1 billion)

Maschmeyer presently maintains significant holdings in a variety of companies. In a recent study about the fastest growing startups in Germany, his private equity fund is the only one invested in two companies that were ranked in the top 10. Maschmeyer is number 112 in the list of the 500 richest Germans. His assets are estimated at EUR 1.2 billion (approx. USD 1.3 billion).