Just as every venture is unique, so is each one of our partners.

Helmut an de Meulen
Managing Partner of Materna GmbH Information & Communication, Dortmund. The MATERNA group is one of the leading, independent software houses in information and communications technology in Germany. With about 1,100 employees, the company generates a turnover of approximately €142m. In addition to that, Mr. an de Meulen holds various other honorary posts.

Thomas Philippiak
Former Managing Partner of the ebmpabst group, Mulfingen. President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Heilbronn. Various advisory and supervisory board posts. ebmpabst Mulfingen is the world market leader in the field of motors and ventilators with a turnover of more than €1bn and more than 10,000 employees.

Josef H. Boquoi
Chairman of the supervisory board of the bofrost* family-owned company group in Straelen. bofrost* is the European market leader in the direct sales of frozen foods. The company generates a turnover of about € 1.1bn and employs approximately 9,000 people.

Falk Strascheg
Founder of Laser Optronic, after successful sale, engagement as venture capitalist with founding TECHNOLOGIEHOLDING. Founding Partner of Extorel since 1997. Various advisory and supervisory board posts. In 1998 Chairman of Invest Europe (formerly EVCA). Laser Optronic is Europe’s leading laser and laser systems manufacturer and was taken over by world market leader Coherent, Inc., USA.

Dr.-Ing. Stefan Schäfer (PhD)
Managing Partner of Teconomics GmbH, prior to that co-founder and CEO of Puron AG, nowadays called Koch Membrane Systems. Puron AG engages in the development, production and marketing of membrane filters for large-scale municipal and industrial wastewater treatment. The company was sold to Koch Membrane Systems International Inc. in 2004. Since 2009, Teconomics GmbH has been active in the areas of consulting, as well as project and interim management services regarding technology and strategy issues – for start-up companies, SMEs and R&D organizations.

Wilken von Hodenberg
University of Hamburg, University of Lausanne: Studies of law; Deputy Managing Director, Tengelmann Gruppe; Managing Director, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Bank (Frankfurt office); board member and spokesman, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG; President, German Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVK – Bundesverband Deutscher Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaften).

Dr. Peter Lütke-Bornefeld
Chairman of the supervisory board of MLP AG and VHV Insurance Group, member of the supervisory board of VPV Lebensversicherung AG. MLP AG is a finance consultancy with experience in financial consulting of more than 40 years. Its three brands MLP Finanzdienstleistungen AG – experts in all financial matters, FERI AG – partner for institutional investors and high net-worth individuals as well as TPC GmbH – specialist in occupational pension schemes for employers are leading service providers in their business segments. VHV Group is a group of specialized service providers for insurance, occupational pension schemes, and assets. VHV’s affiliates operate in Germany under the brands of VHV Versicherungen and Hannoversche, in Austria under the VAV brand.

Stephan Schubert
WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, ESC Lyon, McKinsey; founder and former Chairman of the executive board of OnVista AG; founder and former Chairman of the executive board of IS.Teledata AG. After successfully selling IS.Teledata to the New York-based Enterprise IDC and OnVista to Socété Générale in 2005 and 2007 respectively, active as investor and entrepreneur. Former Venture Partner at eCAPITAL AG. Managing Partner at STS Ventures.

Christoph Ostermann
University of Bayreuth; subsequently KMC Management Consultants GmbH (Managing Partner), Accelerance Business Consulting & Corporate Finance GmbH (Founder and Managing Partner), Sunmachine GmbH (Founder and Managing Director); since 2010 founder and Managing Director of sonnen GmbH (formerly Sonnenbatterie GmbH), supported by VC lead investor eCAPITAL from 2013 to the widely acclaimed acquisition of sonnen by Shell New Energies in February 2019, including the Cleantech Deal of the Year award by Cleantech Group. sonnen is one of the global leaders in smart, distributed energy storage systems and has a track record of customer-focused innovation. www.sonnen.de

Dr. Rainer Baumgart
University of Siegen: physics PhD; 20-year career in IT security, having previously held positions at RWTÜV AG and TÜV Informationstechnik GmbH in Germany; has been with secunet when it was founded in 1997; joined the board of secunet Security Networks AG when it became a listed company in 1999; Chairman of the board of secunet from 2001 until his retirement in June 2019. At the European level, Dr. Baumgart is member of the ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency) Stakeholder’s Group.

Dr. Helmut Linssen
University of Hamburg, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich: Studies of economics and social sciences; Heinrich Linssen KG (Managing Director); joined the CDU in 1972, first-time member of the NRW State Parliament in 1980, Secretary General of the CDU NRW from 1987 to 1991, Chairman of the CDU State Parliamentary Group from 1990 to 1999, Vice President of the NRW State Parliament and Chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Technology from 2000 to 2005, Finance Minister NRW from 2005 to 2010; 2010 elected Federal Treasurer of the CDU; 2012 to 2019 Chief Financial Officer of the RAG Foundation and member of the supervisory board of RAG Aktiengesellschaft and RAG Deutsche Steinkohle AG; the RAG Foundation administers assets worth billions of euros, from the income of which the perpetual burdens of coal mining will be paid from 2019 onwards; bearer of the Federal Cross of Merit 1st class and the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Dr. Johannes Fritz
Johannes Fritz studied business administration in Mannheim and New York. From 1989 to autumn 2020, he worked in the family office of the Quandt and Klatten families. For 20 years he had overall responsibility for the family office; he also built up Mrs Klatten’s investment arm, SKion GmbH, and was its managing director. In addition, he has held various supervisory and advisory board mandates; he continues to serve as a supervisory and advisory board member. For example, since the beginning of 2020 he has advised the Zeppelin Foundation in Friedrichshafen, which holds around 94% of ZF Friedrichshafen AG. Before joining the family office, he held positions at Bertelsmann and KPMG (tax advisor and auditor).

Prof. Dr. Karl Leo
Karl Leo studied physics at the University of Freiburg and received his Ph.D. from the University of Stuttgart.  He spent two years as an Otto Hahn Fellow at AT&T Bell Laboratories in New Jersey before he habilitated in 1993 at RWTH Aachen. Since 1993 he has held a professorship in optoelectronics at TU Dresden (interruption 2003 – 2006). From 2001 to 2013 he also worked for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Dresden. During his career, Karl Leo has co-founded numerous spin-offs and has held various board mandates and chairmanships. Among others, he was a member and chairman of the board of Novaled AG in Dresden, Coordinator of DFG priority programme “Organic Photovoltaics”, Board Member of the Excellence Network “Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden”. Currently he is Board Member of Heliatek GmbH, Dresden and of the Excellence Network “Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter”.

Dr. Anton Mindl
Anton Mindl studied Physics and received his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich. Focus tops included Semiconductor/Electronics, Laser and Bio Physics. He was CEO of Elmos Semiconductor SE in Dortmund from 2006 to 2020 and strategically realigned the company. He prepared and installed his succession long term. The Enterprise Value multiplied. Since retiring from his position as CEO, he has been active as a Senior Consultant. Before joining Elmos, he was CEO of the Divisions “Infotainment Solutions” and “Cockpit Modules” at SiemensVDO, before that Managing Director of the privately owned medium sized Auto Tier 1 Kostal. He served the first 11 years of his business carrier in various positions in the Divisions “Semiconductor” and “Multimedia/Blaupunkt” at Robert Bosch GmbH.