Prior to joining LEA, Bernhard was Principal Investor at Global Founders Capital in Silicon Valley. He founded a startup in Palo Alto and was working for the German Accelerator during its time of origin. Bernhard studied industrial engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
Before joining LEA Partners, Christian founded BEONTRA, an Enterprise SaaS company to help airports optimise their operations and retail activities. Following its acquisition by US strategist Lockheed Martin in 2014, he moved from the entrepreneurial to the investor side. Christian studied industrial engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
Prior to joining LEA Partners, David worked at PwC and KPMG in the Financial Due Diligence, Rating and M&A units for several years. David studied business administration at the University of Mannheim.
Prior to LEA Partners, Florian had been at PwC in the M&A, Valuation and Financial Due Diligence units for several years. He studied business administration at the University of Mannheim and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
As co-founder and managing partner of TNG Technology Consulting GmbH in Munich, Henrik has built one of the leading high-end software development companies in Germany, with more than 300 employees. Henrik is a proven expert in deep tech fields including artificial intelligence and the development of agile organisations.
In 2000, Jan co-founded Astaro, a fast-growing security software provider that was acquired by UK competitor Sophos in 2011, by which time it had over 220 employees and more than 56,000 corporate clients in over 60 countries. In 2013, Jan co-founded Ocedo, a pioneer in software defined networking in highly distributed networks, which was acquired by US software company Riverbed Technology in 2016. Jan has been active as a business angel since 2010.
As a business angel and entrepreneur, Jürgen has been involved in the development and scaling of a variety of internationally successful digital companies. In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, he holds a professorship at Stuttgart Media University (HdM Stuttgart) in digital marketing and digital business models.
Before joining LEA Partners, Kerstin was responsible for Operations and Strategy at Enterprise SaaS company BEONTRA and was also Principal at the management consultancy Oliver Wyman. She studied industrial engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Michael co-founded software company ICON-SCM in Karlsruhe in 1992 and developed it into a leading provider of supply chain management solutions until its acquisition by US software company E2open in 2013. Since then, Michael has been consulting on international development and scaling for international software companies and on strategic supply chain issues for NGOs such as the United Nations.
Before joining the LEA Partners team, Philipp spent many years at the private equity company Adcuram, the consulting firm Capgemini and was in the senior management team of a mid-tier company. He studied business administration at the University of Passau.
Richard is an internationally recognised expert in enterprise software companies. Since leaving Microsoft, where his roles including CEO of Microsoft Germany and Executive Vice President of the global OEM and SMB Division, Richard has been active as a business angel and as a board member of various technology companies.
Sebastian has been building LEA since 2003. He previously worked as an associate at the investment bank equinet. He studied business administration in Karlsruhe.
Immediately after graduating in computer science, Stephan founded inovex GmbH, which now employs more than 250 people across six locations. With a focus on web and mobile platforms, big data, data science and data products, social robotics and artificial intelligence, and cloud infrastructures and IT security, inovex provides companies with comprehensive support for their digital transformation.
Nils joined LEA Partners in late 2018 as an associate. Previously, he spent several years with Roland Berger in the restructuring and corporate finance divisions. Nils studied business administration at the University of Mannheim, with stays abroad at the University of Sydney and at the School of Economics, Business and Law in Gothenburg.
Prior to joining LEA Partners, Nils worked for Project A in Berlin. During his studies he founded his own start-up and was active as a business intelligence analyst. Nils studied Business Informatics at the Universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and holds a Master of Science degree in International Information Systems Management.
Thomas has been a management executive, board member and investor in the international technology environment for more than 20 years, including in operational roles at Kofax, HP, Siemens and Oracle. In 2015 he founded the UNDRSTND Group, a strategy consulting company that supports technology companies in scaling and internationalisation, particularly in the development of sales structures and expansion in EMEA, Asia Pacific and the US.
Prior to his time at LEA, Tilo spent many years in management roles at major international IT companies such as Citrix and Compaq, where his responsibilities included strategy development, M&A and strategic alliances. Tilo holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Administration from the European Business School London and an MBA in General Management and Leadership from ESMT Berlin.
