Hola!
People call me Niko. I spend my time and energy helping people and organizations become more future-proof.
In short
I like discovering frontier technologies early and building enduring businesses and platforms around them.
So far, I have founded five companies with three exits (two still running), generated more than $50 million in revenue (mostly bootstrapped), and employed more than 100 FTEs.
Today
I advise fund-of-funds Allocator One on its expansion into the United States. A1 backs emerging fund managers with up to $10 million in anchor capital, alongside the infrastructure they need to launch and scale.
I am also CEO of Tech Open Air (TOA), one of Europe’s leading tech & startup events. More than 130,000 people have attended our events, with millions more watching our content online. It’s unique, this 3min video captures it well.
I also invest in early-stage companies.
Previously
My obsession with frontier tech started early. While I was working across media, education, and venture capital, I launched TechBerlin, Berlin’s first English-language blog covering technology and startups.
In 2012, I founded Tech Open Air. TOA grew from a grassroots experiment into an international technology platform bringing together hundreds of thousands of founders, investors, scientists, creatives, corporates, and policymakers.
TOA raised capital from the founders of almost all German unicorn companies, including Zalando, N26, HelloFresh, Delivery Hero, Auto1, and SoundCloud, FOs like Viessmann, as well as leading European venture firms (e.g. Project A, Point Nine Capital) and the world’s largest digital publisher, Axel Springer SE (owns Business Insider & Politico). Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner became Chairman of TOA.
TOA sponsors included startups and government agencies, as well as renowned enterprises such as Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, McKinsey, Accenture, BCG, Mercedes-Benz, Deutsche Telekom, Nike, Kayak, E.ON, Coca-Cola, and Red Bull.
Together with two TOA teammates, we later founded Openers, a GTM (market entry) and communications agency for VCs and tech companies incl. Spotify, TikTok, Twitter/X, Atomico, IBM, HubSpot, Under Armour, and Deutsche Bank. Openers today employs more than 30 people in Berlin.
Another venture I co-founded was the coworking company Ahoy! Berlin, which we grew to 17,000 sqm (185,000sqf) and which was acquired by Knotel. Knotel subsequently reached unicorn status on paper before going bankrupt during COVID. Have I seen it all?
From 2016 to 2018, I led business development initiatives across EMEA at Amazon Web Services.
During the golden age of online couponing, I founded Reduti.de, which was acquired by DailyDeal, then Germany’s largest couponing company and later acquired by Google.
To boost technology solutions against the Covid-19 crisis, I co-founded the HealthyTogether Initiative and Future Perfect accelerator, which were supported by dozens of leading companies such as Salesforce, AWS, Stripe, N26, Ada Health, DeliveryHero, and Deloitte.
As most founders, I also founded a dating app called Flinx, which luckily failed quickly.
I have also served as a mentor at Techstars and am Chairman of the Zeitbild Foundation, which develops educational projects together with the federal government and large enterprises.
As a working student, I interned at Siemens in India and BBDO in New York.
Other passions
Striving to become the best moderator out there. Oprah, watch out.
Exploring faraway places on an Enduro motorcycle with friends is my kind of holiday.
During my sabbatical, I trained to be a chef at Cordon Bleu in Paris and became a stand-up comedian at Comedy Cellar.
There is also a slightly pathological obsessionI with creating restaurant lists on Google Maps, so hit me up when in need!
CTA
Love a good Schnack. Reach out if you think we can support one another in any way.
(Co-) Founder of
With over 130,000 past 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.
Openers is a GTM and communications agency that helps technology companies enter new markets and connects enterprise and brands to the wider tech ecosystem.
Ahoy! Berlin was a flexible office space where individuals and companies could rent fully equipped work stations, quiet offices and organise events. It also featured a restaurant on premise.
Exited to Knotel.
HealthyTogether was a non-profit initiative that brought 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 provided capital, mentorship and reach to help boost digital solutions against the Covid-19 crisis.