About
Janna Ensthaler is a German entrepreneur and venture‑capital investor who enjoys building things from scratch and then cheering on the next generation of founders. Born on 2 November 1983 in Hamburg, she first attracted attention when she co‑created Glossybox, a beauty‑subscription service that went global within its first two years. After selling the company, she launched the events platform Event Inc, followed by the plant‑forward restaurant chain Kaiserwetter. Today she channels that hands‑on experience into funding climate‑ and food‑tech innovators as a founding partner of the Green Generation Fund, a €100 million impact vehicle. Since April 2023 she has also appeared as one of the “lions” on Germany’s popular investor show Die Höhle der Löwen, giving audiences a front‑row seat to her candid deal‑making style. Press outlets from Manager Magazin to OMR list her among the most influential women in German business, praising her mix of analytical rigour and founder empathy.
Before Fame
Growing up in Hamburg’s outskirts, Janna accompanied her father, Rolf Schmidt‑Holtz, former CEO of Bertelsmann Music Group, to concerts and studio sessions. The music business’s crossbreed of art and trade ignited her own passion for brands and consumers—years before she penned her first business plan. Having completed high school with a flawless 1.0 Abitur grade, she went on to study Economics and Management at the University of Oxford and received a master’s in International Relations at the London School of Economics. The two-track—numbers and story—became her calling card. Her first experience after graduation was a graduate-scheme position at Bain & Company in London, where she honed her toolkit of strategies, but corporate life seemed too sluggish. By her mid‑twenties she was back in Germany, launching Kaiserwetter to see if “premium fast casual” would cut it outside the U.S. market. The bet paid off, financing her next foray into tech: joining forces with Rocket Internet in 2010 to take Glossybox to Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Trivia
- Serial builder: By age 40 she had founded or co‑founded four companies across food, e‑commerce, and software—plus one venture fund.
- Early adopter: Glossybox’s pick‑and‑click beauty model pre‑dated today’s subscription boom, giving her an insider’s view of viral marketing before it became mainstream.
- Investor nickname: Fellow “lions” on the TV show call her the “Sustainability Scout” because she grills founders on supply‑chain impact before discussing valuation.
- Learning mindset: She keeps a spreadsheet titled “Failure File,” logging projects that fizzled so she—and her portfolio founders—can revisit the lessons once emotions cool.
- Reading list staple: Every new analyst at Green Generation Fund receives a copy of The Lean Startup and a day pass to a local urban farm to see circular systems in action.
Family Life
Behind the boardroom energy Janna anchors herself in family routines. She is married and the mother of three children, crediting an “all‑hands household calendar” and a supportive partner for keeping both homework and term sheets on track. Weekends in Braunschweig often involve bike rides through the nearby Elm‑Lappwald Nature Park, a ritual she says clears her head better than any productivity hack. Music still threads through her life: her son plays drums, her daughters share a playlist of indie pop before school runs, and she plays amateur DJ at family gatherings—skills inherited, perhaps, from her record‑label roots. Although publicity from the TV show can blur personal boundaries, she protects her children’s privacy by limiting social‑media posts to behind‑the‑scenes snapshots of studio sets or seed‑funding celebrations.
Associated With
- Manon Sarah Littek – co‑founding partner at Green Generation Fund; together they scout startups turning climate science into scale‑ready products.
- The Samwer brothers – Rocket Internet’s founders who supplied the launchpad and early capital for Glossybox’s global sprint.
- Carsten Maschmeyer, Judith Williams, Dagmar Wöhrl, and Ralf Dümmel – fellow panel investors on Die Höhle der Löwen, sparring partners in on‑air negotiations and off‑air co‑investments.
- Fiona Darmora – sustainability thinker whom Janna credits for fine‑tuning the fund’s biodiversity thesis; their white paper on regenerative agriculture circulates widely in European VC circles.
- Multiple founders – from plant‑based‑protein pioneer Reverion to direct‑air‑capture startup Greenlyte, she frequently co‑invests alongside funds such as World Fund and Extantia to de‑risk early climate tech.
