Alexander Schmitt

Alexander joined Lightspeed’s European investment team in 2022 and is primarily focused on making investments in the B2B and FinTech sectors.
He’s passionate about growing Europeans’s entrepreneur ecosystem, and splits most of his time between Berlin and Munich.
“Entrepreneurs in Europe are now thinking about building category winners, not only geographical leaders; There’s been a fundamental switch in mindset over the last 10 years and Europe is in an extremely strong position to reinvent itself,” said Alexander.
“I want to help bring more capital into the ecosystem and back more category leaders born in Europe.” For as long as he can remember, Alexander has wanted to build businesses based on innovative technology and loves nothing more than when people and technology come together to create everyday impact.
“Having grown up in the rural German countryside with only a few kbit/s internet, mobile internet was almost unimaginable.
Experiencing the first iPhone was eye opening,” said Alexander.
That passion and appreciation led him to study at the intersection of computer science and finance, and also motivated him to start his own fintech company in effort to solve a problem he experienced firsthand while working in the finance industry.
Having been through the journey of building and selling a business himself, Alexander empathizes deeply with founders and knows how challenging, especially the early days, can be.
Before Lightspeed, he also spent time on the other side, previously an investor at Cherry Ventures, a European early-stage Venture Capital firm.
Alexander graduated at the intersection of Computer Science and Finance, from Technical University Munich, MIT and the CDTM (Center of Digital and Technology Management), Outside of work, Alex is obsessed with sports and finding new ways to grow and challenge himself.
You can find him skiing or climbing in the mountains, kiting or sailing on the sea, or training for a triathlon.