German Incubator Team Europe Opens in Asia

A group of successful technopreneurs that has teamed-up and named themselves Team Europe has launched their new office in Seoul, South Korea, which marks their presence in Asia for the first time. Designed and intended as launchpad office, the four year old incubator is expanding its international reach and activities across the Asia Pacific region.

According to The Next Web, locally-recruited German-Korean Ludolf Ebner-Chung, accompanied by one of Team Europe partners Markus Fuhrmann, will lead the venture in the country of 50 million people.

The partners have founded or invested in various early stage dotcommers in the internet and mobile space through the years. Just to name a few: spreadshirt, studiVZ, brands4friends, inFakt, Madvertise, MisterSpex, myGengo and SponsorPay.

To date, Team Europe has had ten startups on hand as its portfolio spread out across six countries with Lieferheld as the latest firm they incubated November 2011.

Still, the rationale behind launching in South Korea — not its neighbors Japan or even Hong Kong — is their acknowledgement of the huge potential of Internet and mobile ecosystems in the country. Another is a melodramatic raison d’être. “It feels like Berlin a few years ago,” Markus says.

The allocated seed fund comes from their investment arm Point Nine Capital, formerly known as Team Europe Ventures, and which has serial entrepreneurs and angel investor sitting on the executive board.

Additionally, the firm is looking for entrepreneurial individuals interested in jointly starting new companies, and investors for next financing rounds or for collaborative investments in new corporations.

So which Asian start-up will be the first to have their investment in?

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