How World Cup champion Mario Götze built a parallel career as an angel investor

Summary

Mario Götze will go down in soccer history as the player who scored the winning goal that made Germany the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion. But he is also an increasingly seasoned angel investor. Companion M, Götze’s personal investment vehicle, now has a portfolio of more than 70 companies, two of which became unicorns in 2025 — Danish fintech Flatpay and German AI startup Parloa. But the athlete also learned some lessons along the way about vetting opportunities. “I only agree to invest if the startup and its founders check all the boxes,” he told TechCrunch. The boxes can be quite subjective at the stage at which Götze invests — typically pre-seed and seed rounds, with ticket sizes between €25k and €50k ($29k-$58k). To address this, Götze says Companion M “focuses on specific areas where we have built profound network and expertise.” Surprisingly, sports isn’t one of those areas — at least not directly. According to Götze, Companion M primarily focuses on B2B SaaS, software infrastructure and cybersecurity, as well as health and biotech. While that’s not sports tech per se, health and biotech are a natural niche for an athlete interested in human performance and wellness — and who has the freedom to pursue unconventional opportunities in those fields. In 2020, Götze made headlines for investing in German cannabis startup Sanity Group when most European institutional investors wouldn’t touch cannabis with a ten-foot pole. Since then, Germany has liberalized some aspects of its cannabis laws, creating tailwinds for the startup that claimed a 10% share of the German medical cannabis market in 2024. With cannabis still forbidden for athletes in competition, Götze will have to wait to try the stuff himself: the 33-year-old is still playing professionally at the top league level with German club Eintracht Frankfurt. But rather than waiting for retirement, he is taking cues from American athlete-investors such as NBA champion Kevin Durant. Götze is not the only active Euro...