The PE indus­try prefers to support and finance “disrup­tive busi­ness models” which, through inno­va­tive tech­ni­ques and ideas, could be suita­ble to replace conven­tio­nal busi­ness models. MyTaxi is a good exam­ple of this: a tech­ni­cally simple model that uses commer­ci­ally available smart­phones to break up a cartel of cab compa­nies that has been in place for deca­des, to the bene­fit of custo­mers and cab drivers. An imme­dia­tely reco­gnizable win-win situa­tion for custo­mers and service provi­ders! — The fact that Daim­ler and Tele­kom got invol­ved early on as corpo­rate venture capi­ta­lists is impres­sive proof that the synap­ses between the “old” and “new” econo­mies are now perfectly formed.

In prin­ci­ple, it can be assu­med that the capi­tal requi­re­ments for (bio)technology compa­nies are signi­fi­cantly higher than, for exam­ple, in the e‑commerce sector. Moreo­ver, the deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial of such compa­nies is largely depen­dent on their patent port­fo­lio and is often linked to long holding peri­ods. E‑commerce plat­forms, on the other hand, often have an easier time of it: the last few months in parti­cu­lar have shown that new areas of (conven­tio­nal) goods and services traf­fic can still be brought into a digi­tal infra­struc­ture with high sales figu­res. The service sector, such as MyTaxi, is covered just as much as the clas­sic goods trade. For exam­ple, ‘Zalando’ has estab­lished itself very successfully in the shoes/fashion sector, ‘52Weine’ in the wine trade, ‘Brands4Friends’ in clot­hing, and others as well. This success attracts inves­tors and crea­tes incen­ti­ves to expand the respec­tive entre­pre­neu­rial acti­vi­ties to ever new areas.

You should really “take your time” when nego­tia­ting finan­cing and think things through. Subse­quent correc­tions are usually pain­ful, expen­sive and lengthy.