Why we invested in a new Brand (April Fools!)
Today, after months of hard work, the time has finally come: Cavalry Ventures becomes CALAMARI Ventures! Five years after our inception, it was time to reinvent ourselves, to bring in a fresh breeze.
What motivated us to take this step and what thoughts we put into our branding — find out all about it here! Anchors aweigh!
Why you should care about your Brand
Corporate design lends the brand a face, makes the image, vision and idea of the company visible. The company’s own brand is both a calling card and a promise. It ensures recognisability. A good corporate design makes clear reference to the brand, is unmistakable, consistent and timeless. Colour, shape, image and font form the four pillars of design. They are the visual stimuli that people first perceive, react to, and form their opinions about — often unconsciously.
High recognition value for successful differentiation, high aesthetics and longevity, strong consciousness and attention values and independence: in a competitive environment such as venture capital, these are particularly important factors.
Why we decided to rebrand
Cavalry was founded almost exactly five years ago. The name represents precisely what we stand for: A strong team that rides in and backs up in every situation, always moving forward and never getting tired. Reliable, stable, hands-on, energetic.
But over the years we have noticed how difficult to pronounce the name is, especially in the DACH region.
Calvary, Cavalary, Cavlary, Cararly, Calavry — we have heard every version! And because it is important to us that the brand is recognisable, easy to understand and does not become a tongue twister — and because it hurts our ears every time 🙉 — we decided on the new name. Calamari — very easy to pronounce: [kalaˈmaːriː].
The Rationale behind our new Logo
With the new name, the entire brand identity had to be adapted accordingly. An important element is our new logo, which in turn consists of three characteristic features: The Tentacle, The Little Fish and The Wave. Let’s dive deep together and shed some light on the new logo.
The Tentacle
In the animal world, tentacles are an integral sensory organ: They are used for numerous sensations such as touch, vision, smell or taste, and they can also identify threats. Our tentacle in the logo represents above all our curiosity and inquisitiveness, our hunger for ideas, innovation and the new.
We also wanted to develop our original brand and it became clear to us quite quickly that we all find the letter C particularly attractive. In Cavalry’s internal staff survey for our favourite letter, C came in at number 1. For the sake of completeness: E came in second and third place went to T.
In general, staff feedback has been very helpful in developing the brand. Incorporating the entire staff is an essential factor in the rebranding process. After all, a brand’s own employees are its best testimonials. They are the ones who will represent the brand to the public and must identify with it accordingly.
The Little Fish
The little fish within the R in our word and design mark represents the variety of young and pioneering pre-seed and seed companies that we invest in and support to grow into real sharks and whales.
And we see every day how many such fish are in the sea.
The Wave
The wave represents the great ocean that is the digital ecosystem. Among other things, we also asked for attributes that colleagues associate with our spirit. The terms ocean and beach were mentioned most frequently — but it remains to be seen whether the unfulfilled desire to travel again is the reason here. The second most frequent term was Angry Chicken, and the third most frequent was Mario Kart. Here we can assume that the colleagues were guided by certain established traditions. It should also be noted at this point that the use of other brand motifs in one’s own brand is not advisable — something we followed to the best of our knowledge and belief. We have therefore chosen the ocean, with its vastness and unlimited possibilities, as our leitmotif.
We are adjusting our Investment Thesis
With a new brand comes a slight adjustment in our focus. We will continue to invest in pre-seed and seed stages. And we will continue to invest in verticals such as SaaS, artificial intelligence, fintech, proptech, foodtech, new work and developer tools. But in addition, we are now looking to dive deeper into the vertical deep sea tech. 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water. We are therefore firmly convinced that undreamed-of opportunities for digital business models lie dormant in the depths of the seas — and we are always happy to receive pitch decks!
Your Calamaris 🐙
EDIT: Thanks for playing along with our April Fool’s joke! Of course, we will remain Cavalry. Perhaps Cavalry is not easy to pronounce for everyone. Still: The brand has served us very well so far, we are deeply connected to it and remain proud horsemen and women! 🤠
