Playlist of Europe’s internet first-hits
Stefan Glänzer’s career reads like a playlist of Europe’s internet first-hits. In 1998 he co-founded Ricardo.de, one of the continent’s earliest auction marketplaces; a rapid Frankfurt IPO and later sale to Naspers furnished the war-chest for his next acts. As first cheque and chair at Last.fm, he helped turn listening data into social graphs, steering the service to CBS’s $280 million buy-out in 2007.
Glänzer channelled those exits into Passion Capital, the seed fund he created with Eileen Burbidge. From its White Bear Yard loft the team wrote first tickets for fintech upstarts such as Monzo, GoCardless and Tide, plus reference-manager Mendeley and a string of AI and digital-health plays—showing British founders that European money could move at Silicon-Valley speed.
His arc paused in 2012 when a groping incident on the London Underground dented his influence; fundraising friction pushed him to leave Passion Capital in 2018.
Today Glänzer mentors quietly, telling founders that fast feedback loops beat grand business plans. Whether the product is auctions, music streams or mobile banking, his trademark stays the same: spot a behaviour already happening in niches and fund the team that can scale it globally. An unfinished remix, still spinning.
