Venture Studio  ·  Growth Advisory  ·  Investment

We are the
co-founders
you never had.

Building at the intersection of AI and Web3? We don't write a cheque and disappear. We come in as operational co-founders — with capital, with a 10× AI-augmented build stack, with our own user-verified distribution layer, and with twenty-five years of operating experience that we'd rather you didn't have to repeat.

Apply to the studio How we work →
10× Build cost & speed advantage
€1B+ Combined exit valuation of past ventures
25yrs Operating experience at principal level
€100M+ Raised across our ventures & careers
Read on
In reality, money is there in abundance. What's always scarce is experience. And today, you don't have time to make every mistake yourself. — Gerald Heydenreich, CEO & Co-Founder

We've built companies from scratch. Raised capital in markets that didn't want to give us any. Sold ventures to Amazon and Capgemini. Survived two crypto winters, one financial crisis, and the AI cycle that turned every assumption upside down in eighteen months.

Along the way we learned — sometimes the hard way — what works and what doesn't. The lesson at the centre of it all: capital is everywhere. Operating partners aren't.

BCNBCN exists so the founders we work with don't have to repeat the mistakes we already made. We provide capital, yes. But more importantly we sit on the same side of the table as you, as co-founders, and make sure the decisions that matter most get made right — the first time.

01 Unit One

Venture Studio · Build · Fund · Scale

We co-found AI & Web3 companies from zero.

The core of BCNBCN. We start companies with the founders who run them — bringing capital, our 10× build stack, distribution through our own user-verified network, and the operating muscle to go from idea to first round. Two doors in, depending on where you are.

01
Founders-in-Residence

You bring the conviction. We bring the infrastructure.

A 3–6 month intensive co-build sprint. You operate from inside the studio with our technical team, our legal and tokenomics stack, and our network — backed by seed capital from day one. We solve the cold-start problem so you can focus on the wedge.

  • 3–6 month structured co-build programme, inside the studio
  • Seed capital deployed on co-founder terms, not VC terms
  • 10× AI-augmented build stack from day one
  • Full legal, regulatory, and tokenomics setup handled
  • Plugged into 150+ vetted AI/Web3 operators on day one
02
Studio Co-Build

You have a product. We scale it together.

For founders who are already shipping but need operating muscle to get to the next mile. We embed as operational co-founders with a specific mandate — close the round, build the GTM engine, lock product-market fit. Equity reflects what we actually contribute.

  • Hands-on co-founder role — not advisory, not mentorship
  • Go-to-market through our own user-verified distribution layer
  • Direct CEX & exchange relationships (Gate.io, Bitpanda)
  • Fundraising strategy, investor narrative, warm introductions
  • Equity stake calibrated to actual contribution — 10–60%
From first message to building together

The path in

Four steps.
No black box.

We read every application. We respond to every founder. The path from first contact to first sprint is short — because the work itself takes long enough.

→
01 · Apply
Tell us what you're building.
A short application below — no polished deck required. We're looking for builders in AI agents, Web3 infrastructure, RWA tokenisation, and the spaces between them.
→
02 · Explore
A real conversation.
If there's a fit, you'll get on a 60-minute call with Gerald or Shant — directly. We care about the person, the problem they're solving, and why they're the right one to solve it. In that order.
→
03 · Align
Define the structure.
We agree the track (Founders-in-Residence or Studio Co-Build), the equity split, and the first 90-day sprint. Terms are transparent and on the table from the first draft.
→
04 · Build
Day one, side by side.
We're in the trenches with you — product, technology, legal, hiring, fundraising, GTM. Whatever the critical path requires. Your outcome is our outcome.
What the studio is building

Three durable theses

Where the studio
builds.

Our build work is organised around three convictions about where AI and Web3 are heading. Each is its own initiative, with its own portfolio of companies and infrastructure assets.

01 · AI Agents

AI Agent Infrastructure & Applications

Agents need identity, communication, conversion, and a way to act in the world. We build the primitives — and the applications that ride them — for the agent economy taking shape now.

Companies in the initiative
Moltmail Vibefunnel NForce Hookd
02 · Web3 Infrastructure

Web3 Infrastructure & Applications

The wallet, communication, and money layers of the open internet — built to scale. We own infrastructure assets that compound the studio's distribution and reach for every other company we build.

Companies in the initiative
EtherMail GeckoCash
03 · RWA Tokenisation

RWA Tokenisation

Bringing real-world assets on-chain and distributing them through native crypto rails. We build the operators and the platform together — MiCA-compliant from day one.

Programmes in the initiative
CircleHome Secondary Shares Tokenisation

The operating thesis

10×faster

Build velocity, build cost, and build quality vs. a traditional studio

We build at the pace and cost the next decade demands — not the last one.

AI-augmented development isn't a tagline at BCNBCN. Four years in, it's our operating practice. Products that would cost €300–500K and twelve months from a traditional studio, we ship for a fraction of both — with the same teams, on the same stack.

The point isn't the saving. The point is that the founders we work with get to iterate against the market instead of against their burn rate. That's the structural moat — and it's why our companies tend to find product-market fit before they would have run out of money elsewhere.

The people behind BCNBCN

Operators first.
Investors second.

Three serial operators. Multiple companies built and sold — to Amazon, to Capgemini, to private buyers. The advice we give and the studio we run are downstream of work we've done ourselves. We've been where you are.

Gerald Heydenreich portrait
Gerald on LinkedIn

Gerald Heydenreich

CEO & Co-Founder · Strategy · GTM

25 years building, scaling, and exiting technology companies. Built and sold three. Raised over $70M across his career. Investor and operator since long before AI was a category.

  • PippaJean→ LiaVIe · 2019
  • BuyVIP→ Amazon · 2010
  • Portum→ Capgemini · 2006
Shant Kevonian portrait
Shant on LinkedIn

Shant Kevonian

CTO & Co-Founder · Product · AI

Engineer first. CTO of ByHours at 21. Founder of prodcast.tv. Programming since age 8. Built the technical stack behind EtherMail and the AI-augmented build system the studio runs on.

  • EtherMailCTO · multi-M users
  • ByHoursCTO at 21
  • prodcast.tvFounder
Heinrich Zetlmayer portrait
Heinrich on LinkedIn

Heinrich Zetlmayer

Strategic Partner · Institutional · MiCA

Founder of Blockchain Valley Ventures. Former VP IBM Global Services. Unicorn founder. Bridges BCNBCN into institutional capital and into the regulatory layer that decides which Web3 businesses survive.

  • Blockchain Valley VenturesFounder
  • IBM Global ServicesVP
  • Prior unicornFounder

Advisory network  ·  150+ active

A who's who of tech & blockchain — active contributors, not name-drops.

340+ startup investments
from Dr. Boersch alone
Dr. Conny Boersch portrait

Dr. Conny Boersch

Super Angel · Mountain Partners

EIF-certified Business Angel with 340+ startup investments. Founder of Mountain Partners. Backed Flash Coffee, Lingoda, Delivery Hero, Wefox. One of Europe's most active early-stage angels.

LinkedIn
Alain Falys portrait

Alain Falys

Senior VP Visa · Partner Fabric

Venture Partner at Fabric Ventures and Partner at Firestartr. Co-founded Yoyo Wallet (exit to SaltPay) and OB10 (AIM listing). Former Senior VP at Visa. Web3 and fintech serial founder.

LinkedIn
Aleks Cabrilo portrait

Aleks Cabrilo

Founder HTEC Group

Founder & CEO of HTEC Group — a 2,500-person global software engineering and product design company with clients including Intel and Texas Instruments. San Francisco-based.

LinkedIn
Heiko Hubertz portrait

Heiko Hubertz

CEO Oxolo · Founder Bigpoint

Built Bigpoint into a 1,000-employee, 300M-user gaming company, exited at a $600M valuation. Founder of WHOW Games (sold to Azerion). Now Founder & CEO of AI video platform Oxolo.

LinkedIn
Dr. Thomas Nägele portrait

Dr. Thomas Nägele

Chair INATBA · Managing Partner

Chair of the Board of INATBA (International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications). Managing Partner at Nägele Attorneys at Law. Lead author on the Liechtenstein Blockchain Act & MiCA expert.

LinkedIn
Mathias Entenmann portrait

Mathias Entenmann

BCG X · ex-CEO PAYBACK

Partner & Managing Director at BCG X (formerly BCG Digital Ventures). Former CEO of PAYBACK and COO of Loyalty Partner. Built and scaled heycar across Europe. Bridges BCNBCN to Fortune 500 ventures.

LinkedIn

What we've co-built & backed

The companies
we operate alongside.

A mix of studio companies we co-built from zero and investments where we put capital plus operator support behind founders we believed in. Below: a flat grid, no hierarchy except where the work earned it.

★ Flagship · Studio · Web3 Infra

EtherMail + Moltmail

Wallet-verified email infrastructure for Web3 — and the agent identity OS built on top of it. Multi-million verified users. A 49M wallet directory. A US patent for universal blockchain email. The distribution layer that powers what the rest of the studio ships.

LiveWeb3 email infra
PatentedJan 2026
Multi-MVerified users
 Studio · AI Agents

Vibefunnel

AI-authored landing pages and conversion infrastructure for founders, growth teams, and agencies. 100+ integrations. Live and paying.

 Studio · AI Agents

NForce

AI workforce platform deploying virtual assistants for sales and operations. Real customers, real cost reductions, real ROI lifts.

 Studio · AI Agents

Hookd

AI-native consumer application built on the studio's agent infrastructure stack. In build, inside the studio.

 Studio · Web3 Infra

GeckoCash

Web3 money-layer infrastructure built within the studio's Web3 initiative.

 Studio · RWA

CircleHome

First MiCA-compliant RWA coliving operator. Tokenised co-ownership of Barcelona real estate, with a license-the-model playbook to follow.

 Investment

G4L

Leading blockchain gaming and digital entertainment ecosystem. Asymmetric Web3 gaming bet.

 Investment

Soonami

Web3 incubator providing strategic deal flow and ecosystem reach back into the BCNBCN portfolio.
02 Unit Two

Growth Advisory · For founders & for entrants

The advisor every founder wishes they had.

Strategy consultants charge by the day. Investment banks transact and leave. Coaches work on the person in isolation. None build a compounding position in the outcome. Growth Advisory works on the founder, the team, and the company — together — because that's the only level at which value actually compounds.

Pillar 01

Founder Growth

Personal development, positioning, and leverage for the CEO — the person whose decisions decide everything else.

  • Investor narrative. Articulating the company's story for institutional and HNWI audiences. Pitch coaching, executive presence, deal-room prep.
  • Personal brand architecture. Building the founder's reputation as a category thought leader. LinkedIn strategy, conference positioning, media profile.
  • Equity & compensation structuring. Protecting and growing the founder's own stake as the company scales. Vesting, option pool strategy, secondary planning.
  • Network leverage. Direct introductions through our 150+ vetted operators, advisors, and institutional investor base.
Pillar 02

Team Growth

The human infrastructure that lets the company scale — designed, hired, incentivised, and held together by an operating rhythm that works.

  • Talent acquisition strategy. Defining the key hires for each growth phase. Building the pipeline before the role is open.
  • Incentive architecture. Equity and token-based compensation models that align team with long-term outcomes — option pools, cliffs, vesting triggers.
  • Organisational design. Mapping the org for the next 12–24 months. Identifying capability gaps. Deciding hire vs. partner vs. automate. EOS where appropriate.
  • Culture & retention. The team identity and operating rhythm that reduces churn and attracts A-players in a remote-first, crypto-native environment.
Pillar 03

Company Growth

Business model, capital, and exit pathway — engineered together, because they are the same problem viewed from three different distances.

  • Business model audit. Stress-testing revenue model, unit economics, and pricing. Identifying the levers that move EBITDA and valuation most.
  • Investor readiness & capital raising. Financial model, data room, cap table hygiene, investor targeting, term sheet review — for the next round.
  • M&A and partnership scouting. Identifying strategic acquirers, merger targets, and commercial partnerships. Structured outreach end-to-end.
  • Tokenisation pathway. For Web3-eligible companies — token model, regulatory framework (MiCA/CNMV), and go-to-market for tokenised structures.
Who this is for · 01
Native AI & Web3 founders

Companies between Seed and Series B that need a growth partner, not a consultant — and equity-aligned partners, not day-rate ones.

Who this is for · 02
Companies entering the space

Established firms — financial services, real estate, consumer brands, mid-market industrials — building credible AI/Web3 capability with execution behind it.

03 Unit Three

Investment · Conviction & capital

Capital is a commodity. Conviction isn't.

When the studio isn't the right fit and Advisory isn't either — sometimes capital is. We deploy our own money into AI/Web3 teams we'd want to co-build with but who don't need that level of involvement. Decisive on speed. Disciplined on terms. Engaged long after the wire clears.

Where · Stage

Early, mostly first cheques.

Pre-seed and Seed are the default. Selective Series A participation where we've already built conviction — through the studio, through advisory, or through a prior cycle. We don't chase tourist-stage rounds.

Where · Thesis

AI×Web3 builders.

Teams at the intersection of AI agents, Web3 infrastructure, and tokenisable real-world value. Technical conviction, capital-efficient build paths, distribution thinking from day one — these are non-negotiable.

How · Tickets

Flexible by design.

Seed tickets between €5K and €100K, with structured follow-on for companies that earn it. SAFEs, convertibles, direct equity, token-aligned structures — whichever the cap table calls for.

How · Beyond the cheque

What actually shows up.

Our 10× build stack accessible to portfolio cos. The wallet-verified user base for distribution. The 150+ operator network. CEX and exchange relationships. Warm paths into co-investor capital. The cheque is the smallest part of what arrives.

Track record

Discipline over volume.

Four years operating with our own capital. Zero institutional backing. Zero salaries drawn. A write-off rate meaningfully below the industry baseline. We optimise for selection, not deployment volume — and we plan to keep it that way.

For capital partners

Co-invest alongside operators.

Family offices, HNWI, and co-investors thinking in decades rather than quarters — partner with BCNBCN to access deal flow, sector intelligence, and co-investment positions in the AI×Web3 names we'd buy ourselves. The conversation happens privately, by direct introduction.

Invest in BCNBCN

Interested in backing the studio itself?

Some of the most useful capital we deploy is capital deployed alongside us. If you're interested in investing in BCNBCN as a holding — across the studio, the advisory, and the portfolio — Gerald handles those conversations directly.

Email Gerald directly → How this works →
gerald@bcnbcn.io · Direct line · Reply within 48h

Apply to the studio

Ready to build something that matters?

We work with 2–3 new ventures per year. We don't need a polished deck — we want to know what you're building, why you're the one to build it, and why now. One paragraph is enough.

We read every application. Gerald or Shant will be in touch within 48 hours — directly, not via an assistant.
For operators & talent

Working inside the studio.

Corporate finance, product, engineering, and growth operators — including the IESE corporate finance engagement starting June 2026 — who want to do the most interesting work of their career, hands-on, close to outcomes.

See open roles → For press & partners

Press, ecosystem, and partnerships.

Journalists, ecosystem partners, conference organisers, and strategic collaborators — get in touch directly. Press kit, founder photos, fact sheet, and named contacts available on request.

Get in touch →