Sven Achter

Sven Achter co-founded HV in 2000 as the firm's first technologist. He grew up in Munich with two engineer parents, studied Computer Science at TU Munich, and started his career at Hewlett-Packard working on some of Europe's first internet banking projects. In 1998, he joined Scout24 as lead software architect. Being part of a company that set out to reshape an entire industry showed him what was possible. He wanted to do it again, and at a broader scale.

At HV, Sven initially focused on digital advertising and fintech, backing SumUp, today one of Europe's leading payment platforms, alongside Semasio, payleven, and BillPay. From 2016, he shifted focus to building HV's risk management function, creating the frameworks that protect the firm's funds across market cycles. At the start of Fund IX, he transitioned into an advisory role as Founding Partner at HV. He still sits on the boards of SumUp and Semasio. Off the clock: Japanese-inspired gardening, Bavarian-Japanese fusion cooking, and the occasional deep dive into whatever technology catches his eye.