1959
Carsten Maschmeyer was born in 1959 in Bremen. He grew up in modest circumstances with his single mother in a mother and child home in Hildesheim. He had a strict upbringing from his stepfather.
1978
Carsten Maschmeyer enjoyed athletic success during his adolescence as the district youth champion in middle and long-distance running. After earning his high-school diploma in 1978, he enrolled in the German armed forces for two years.
1980
Maschmeyer begins his studies at the Medical University of Hannover. To finance his studies, he worked on the side in the sales department of the financial consulting company OVB Vermögensberatung. He became so deeply involved in financial consulting that he gave up his medical studies.
1983
Due to Maschmeyer’s tremendous success, his career quickly took off as he became the national director and head of 3,000 employees. The BILD newspaper called him “Europe’s most successful young entrepreneur.” Maschmeyer quit at OVB in 1987.
1987
Looking for new challenges, Maschmeyer invented independent financial consultancy and founded Allgemeinen Wirtschaftsdienst (AWD). Within just a few years, AWD expanded to ten countries with a customer base of two million and 10,000 employees.
2000
In the summer of 2000, Maschmeyer put AWD on the stock market and shortly thereafter on the MDAX. The company grew quickly and posted record sales. In 2007, Maschmeyer sold the company to Switzerland’s largest life insurance company Swiss Life, which is now called Swiss Life Select.
2010
Maschmeyer supports a number of children’s projects (such as “Herz für Kinder,” A Heart for Children), is an honorary senator of the Leibniz University of Hannover and a freelance lecturer at the Munich International School of Management. He also supports the project “Neurological Learning” at the University of Hildesheim and is co-founder of the Internationalen Stiftung Neurobionik (International Neurobionic Foundation).
2011
With the founding of the Maschmeyer Group, a new chapter begins in Carsten Maschmeyer’s life. He now dedicates his full passion to investment activities in future-oriented companies. With his investment company ALSTIN, he invests in startups during different stages of growth, particularly in the fields of digitalization, technology and the internet.
2012
In his book “Selfmade,” Maschmeyer elaborates on the principles of his success, landing on the best-seller lists of the magazine Spiegel. He is a popular speaker and coach on the topic of success and advises large international enterprises on strategic subjects.
2013
Maschmeyer invests in companies that are undervalued on the stock market with Paladin Asset Management InvAG. The mutual fund Paladin ONE (WKN, security identification number A1W1PH) has received numerous awards in recent years due to its outstanding performance, including the Fund Award 2017 from the magazine €uro.
2014
Professional success is followed by personal happiness. Carsten Maschmeyer marries the love of his life, actress Veronica Ferres, in France. Maschmeyer brings two adult sons into the marriage, his wife brings a daughter.
2015
With seed+speed, Maschmeyer founds yet another investment company. With it, he invests in companies in early stages in all industries. The experienced team at seed+speed supports founders most particularly in developing sales in companies while also providing valuable expertise.
2016
With the addition of Carsten Maschmeyer, the TV show “Die Höhle der Löwen” (German version of ‘Shark Tank’) has a new, high-profile TV investor. On the show, founders present their ideas and products to the five investors with hopes of getting them on board. The viewer ratings increased markedly in the third series, and the show is VOX’s most successful in-house production. During the same year, Maschmeyer published his second book: “Die Millionärsformel – Der Weg zur finanziellen Freiheit” (The Millionaire’s Formula – The Path to Financial Freedom) takes second place on the SPIEGEL bestseller list.
2017
The Maschmeyer Group becomes even more international and also invests in companies outside the German-speaking realm. Carsten Maschmeyer is often in Silicon Valley and has excellent connections in the American startup and investor scene. He opens his own office in South Park in San Francisco for his US company Maschmeyer Group Ventures (MGV).