Venionaire Capital expands its management team
Oliver Csendes, Frank Floessel, Thomas Kolbabek, Johann Steszgal and Astrid Woollard have become Associate Partners at Venionaire Capital. The private equity and venture capital company needs internationally experienced partners to maintain its growth trajectory as well as offer even better mentoring and access to a bigger network. Previous partner Martin Steininger left the company at the end of March 2021.
Venionaire Capital, the Vienna-based consulting and investment company, is expanding its management team with five new partners.
Effective immediately, Astrid Woollard (Scytale Ventures, IST Cube, Oxford University Innovation), Oliver Csendes (CEO of Pioneers, Startup300 AG), Frank Floessel (serial entrepreneur and Fintech specialist), Thomas Kolbabek (partner at viable, business angel and former CTO of Greentube) and Johann Steszgal (business angel and cybersecurity/health tech expert) have joined the company as associate partners.
“Due to our rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, we needed to expand the existing team with internationally experienced partners, as well as increase the network and mentoring we offer. We’re very happy that our mission inspired five top experts from the European startup and innovation scene to join us,” says Berthold Baurek-Karlic, CEO and founder of Venionaire Capital.
Venionaire’s goal for 2021 is to increase its total number of investments and drive the internationalisation and development of the European Super Angels Club investment portfolio, for which Venionaire is responsible in the shape of the Luxembourg fund EXF Alpha.
Growth and portfolio expansion despite COVID-19
Over the past year, Baurek-Karlic and his team have turned heads with several deals and innovations in the European startup ecosystem. Among other things, Venionaire Capital played an advisory role in the merger of Blockpit and Cryptotax, relaunched the startup valuation platform DealMatrix, worked on the digitisation of the Business Angel Institute‘s training for business angels and wrote the book 100 Startups – Made in Austria.
Investments also continued despite the pandemic. The EXF Alpha fund of the European Super Angels Club, which is managed by Venionaire Ventures SARL in Luxembourg, invested in Monkee (a Fintech from Tyrol), Sponsoo (a Hamburg-based sports sponsorship marketplace), ELOOP (a Vienna-based car-sharing) and numerous others. This came on top of all its existing investments.
“Along with our previous investments in top Austrian startups such as Blockpit, Firstbird, myBioma and 360Kompany AG, we want to take our latest companies to the next level and further support them in their international growth. Here, the entrepreneurial experience our new associate partners bring from the worlds of Fintech, crypto, cyber security and mergers & acquisitions (exits) will be a huge benefit,” adds Baurek-Karlic.
Venionaire expects a number of larger multi-million Euro investments to be finalised in the near future, which will be an immediate opportunity for the new partners to offer exceptional levels of support.
A farewell amidst the growth
The previous partner at Venionaire Capital, Martin Steininger, left the company at the end of March 2021 in order to fully concentrate on his personal investment activities and business.
“We wish Martin every success with his new challenges and still look forward to evaluating joint investments with him in the future,” concludes Baurek-Karlic.