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ChristianSaller

General Partner

Growth | Berlin

Christian has had a career that has taken him from strategy consulting to founding, scaling, exiting, and investing. He co-founded swoodoo in 2007, built it into Germany's leading flight search engine in four years, and sold it to KAYAK. As Managing Director Europe, he then grew KAYAK's product across ten countries, helped steer the company through its NASDAQ IPO, and was part of the leadership team when Priceline acquired it for $2 billion. It was during those KAYAK years that he made one of his best early calls as an investor, backing GetYourGuide before almost anyone else had heard of it.

When Christian joined HV in 2013, it wasn't a career change. It was the only logical next step. A doctorate in mathematics summa cum laude from TU Munich and an MBA with distinction from LBS sit behind it all. Founders who work with Christian get a partner who has made those decisions himself, under the same conditions, with the same uncertainty. Away from the boardroom, he travels compulsively and kitesurfs wherever the wind allows.

6

Unicorns backed

$2B

Acquisition value of KAYAK by Priceline

10+

Years as GP at HV Capital

More IPOs after KNDS? Two favorites in focus.

22/06/2026Read More

Investors are increasingly expecting IPOs in the defense sector.

13/02/2026Read More

I'm excited by what Europe is becoming

When I built swoodoo and KAYAK Europe, there was a real opportunity to disrupt online travel with superior technology and products. The founders I back now are doing the same thing across different sectors, in defense tech, energy transition, deep tech, and beyond. Europe has always had the science and the engineering talent. What's changed since when I was an entrepreneur is that we now have the capital  to see it through and build massive companies out of Europe. Being part of that at the stage where the most consequential decisions get made is what drives me.

I'm on the lookout for:

Founders who keep raising the ceiling. The best founders I've backed share one trait: they keep upgrading their own ambition over time. Not because the market forces them to, but because they simply cannot help it. That instinct to build something larger and more lasting than the original vision is what I look for before everything else.

The moment where business and meaning meet

Some of the investments that have stayed with me longest are the ones where the work clearly matters beyond the balance sheet. Purpose attracts the best people, sustains teams through the hardest periods, and builds something that outlasts any single product or funding round.

Companies Backed14

  • consumermarketplacegrowth

    Founders: Juan de Antonio

    Founded: 2011

    HV Entry: 2014

    Funding: Fund V, Fund Coco

    HQ: Madrid, Spain

    Investors:
    Martin Weber
    Christian Saller
  • marketplacegrowth

    Founders: Tom Krüger Tekin Has Fabian Roth Oguz Özgüler

    Founded: 2018

    HV Entry: 2021

    Funding: Fund VIII, Fund IX Growth

    HQ: Berlin, Germany

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
    Jannis Fett

    Website: https://www.caronsale.de

  • ai-enterprise-softwaregrowth

    Founders: Alex Bouaziz Philippe Bouaziz

    Founded: 2018

    HV Entry: 2016

    Funding: Fund VI

    HQ: San Francisco, United States of America

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
  • consumerclimate-energygrowth

    Founders: Mario Kohle Viktor Wingert

    Founded: 2017

    HV Entry: 2021

    Funding: Fund VIII

    HQ: Berlin, Germany

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
    Jannis Fett
    Read the full story
  • ai-enterprise-softwaregrowth

    Founders: Benedikt Ilg Giacomo Kenner

    Founded: 2018

    HV Entry: 2021

    Funding: Fund VIII

    HQ: Stuttgart, Germany

    Investors:
    Fabian Gruner
    Christian Saller
  • consumermarketplacegrowth

    Founders: Johannes Siebers Michael Siebers

    Founded: 2014

    HV Entry: 2022

    Funding: Fund VIII

    HQ: Munich, Germany

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
    Lucian Rilling
  • deeptechclimate-energyresilience-defencegrowth

    Founders: Moritz von der Linden Heike Freund Georg Korn

    Founded: 2019

    HV Entry: 2024

    Funding: Fund IX Growth

    HQ: Munich, Germany

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
    Fabian Gruner
    Read the full story
  • ai-enterprise-softwaregrowth

    Founders: Jan Oberhauser

    Founded: 2019

    HV Entry: 2025

    Funding: Fund IX Growth

    HQ: Berlin, Germany

    Investors:
    Jannis Fett
    Christian Saller
    Read the full story
  • resilience-defencegrowth

    Founders: Florian Seibel Michael Kriegel Robias Kloss Armin Busse

    Founded: 2015

    HV Entry: 2023

    Funding: Fund IX Growth

    HQ: Gilching, Germany

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
    Emma Ubrig
    Read the full story
  • consumergrowth

    Founders: Markus Dickhardt Christoph Niemann Susanne Dickhardt Stephie Niemann Jean Marie Klein

    Founded: 2017

    HV Entry: 2021

    Funding: Fund VIII

    HQ: Munich, Germany

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
    Ann-Christin Stiehl

    Website: https://roadsurfer.com/

  • fintechconsumergrowth

    Founders: Erik Podzuweit Florian Prucker Patrick Pöschl Prof. Dr. Stefan Mittnik Adam French

    Founded: 2014

    HV Entry: 2015

    Funding: Fund VI, Fund IX Growth

    HQ: Munich, Germany

    Investors:
    Rainer Märkle
    Christian Saller
    Read the full story
  • consumergrowth

    Founders: Julian Stiefel Julian Weselek

    Founded: 2016

    HV Entry: 2016

    Funding: Fund VI

    HQ: Berlin, Germany

    Investors:
    Christian Saller

    Website: https://www.tourlane.de/

  • ai-enterprise-softwaregrowth

    Founders: Tom Livne

    Founded: 2017

    HV Entry: 2018

    Funding: Fund VII

    HQ: New York, United States of America

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
  • ai-enterprise-softwaregrowth

    Founders: Alex Hersham Jan Riethmayer Richard Fattal

    Founded: 2017

    HV Entry: 2019

    Funding: Fund VII

    HQ: London, United Kingdom

    Investors:
    Christian Saller
See all portfolio