Hola!
People call me Niko and I spend my time and energy helping people and organizations become futureproof. I also strive to become the best moderator out there. Oprah, watch out!
Today
I am the CEO of Europe’s leading Deeptech festival called Tech Open Air (TOA).
I also started investing in early-stage companies.
Yesterday
My interest in servicing the technology and startup ecosystem and empowering entrepreneurship started as a side project while working in Venture Capital. With extra time on my hands, I started TechBerlin, the city's first English language blog about tech and startups.
Later I founded the co-working company Ahoy! Berlin that was acquired by Knotel which became a “paper value” Unicorn that later went bankrupt #covid. What a roller coaster. Have I seen it all?
From 2016-2018 I had an honest job working as a Business Development Manager EMEA at Amazon Web Services. It was the crash course in technology stacks and infrastructure I needed to better understand how tech is built.
In 2012 I founded the conference Tech Open Air (TOA) and alongside co-founded Openers, a communications agency for technology companies.
At TOA I was fortunate to raise capital from the founders of almost all German Unicorn companies (Zalando, N26, HelloFresh, DeliveryHero, Auto 1, Soundcloud) as well as Axel Springer SE (owns Business Insider), leading VCs and startup organizations like The Family.
To boost solutions against the Covid-19 crisis I co-founded the HealthyTogether Initiative and Future Perfect accelerator together with wefox & finleap which was supported by dozens of leading technology companies such as Salesforce, AWS, Stripe, N26, Ada Health, DeliveryHero or Deloitte.
In the heydays of couponing, I founded Reduti.de, which was acquired by Daily Deal, Germany’s largest couponing company (later sold to Google).
Oh, and let’s not forget that I felt compelled to co-found a dating app called Flinx which failed without an inch of success.
I have been serving as a Mentor at Techstars and am Chairman of the Zeitbild Foundation which develops educational projects to support immigrants.
I love outdoor sports and exploring faraway places via Enduro off-road motorcycling with my friends. I am also slightly obsessed with creating restaurant lists on Google Maps so hit me up when in need!
CTA
Ok, enough humble-bragging: Reach out if you think we can support one another in any way.
And check out my podcast if you want to get to know me a bit better before.
(Co-) Founder of
With 20,000 attendees, TOA is Europe’s leading interdisciplinary technology festival. At TOA our mission is to make you future-proof. Together with Axel Springer Chairman & CEO Mathias Döpfner, we also run Open Circle, an exclusive community for thought-leaders and change-makers.
Due to Covid we pivoted into a EduTech with the launch of TOA Klub.
Ahoy! Berlin (now part of Knotel) is a flexible office space where individuals and companies can rent fully equipped work stations, quiet offices and organise events under flexible terms in a playful and cosy environment.
Openers is a communications agency that helps technology companies enter new markets and connects corporations & brands with the international startup community.
HealthyTogether is a non-profit initiative that brings together leading technology companies in an open ecosystem to support the development of digital solutions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Future Perfect accelerator provides capital, mentorship and reach to help boost digital solutions against the Covid-19 crisis.