Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Massi Ali Ahmadi

Venture Capital

Massi joined NRW.BANK’s venture capital team in November 2019 as a working student supporting the Digital Economy & Technology unit. Before joining NRW.BANK, he had already gained experience at an M&A boutique, at Ernst&Young and at United Internet AG during his studies.

Massi holds a B. Sc. degree from Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf in Economics with a focus on Finance & Entrepreneurship. He is currently working towards his Master’s degree in Management & Economics with a focus on Banking, Finance & Accounting at Ruhr University in Bochum.
In his free time, Massi can often be found in the gym or on the football pitch.

Ivan Albino, CFA

Digital Economy and Technology

Ivan is an industrial engineer and CFA Charterholder. He has more than 15 years of experience in the energy industry, successfully pushing ahead international business development, cross-industry partnerships and finance projects. Driven by his passion for future-oriented technologies and their benefits to society, he has already supported various international start-ups as a board member. Ivan joined NRW.BANK at the end of 2020.

Managed portfolio companies: unu

Pascal Beckers

Digital Economy and Technology

Pascal joined NRW.BANK’s venture capital team in 2016 and is responsible for investments of the Digital Economy & Technology unit. Before joining NRW.BANK, Pascal held various roles in the start-up ecosystem. He worked, among others, at the Munich-based incubator Venture Stars, where he supported the start-up MIFLORA in the Business Development & Operations area. Pascal holds an M. Sc. degree in Business Administration with a focus on Entrepreneurial Finance & Management. In his free time, Pascal enjoys sports and is a big fan of 1. FC Köln.

Managed portfolio companies: Frontastic, Holobuilder, talpasolutions, aifora, Saperatec

Exit: PRECIRE Technologies GmbH

Matthias Bolowski

Digital Economy and Technology

Matthias has been working for NRW.BANK and Gründerfonds Ruhr as an investment manager for the Digital Economy & Technology unit since mid-2019. He has over five years of experience in venture capital and was previously at LBBW Venture and in R&D Business Development / Corporate VC at KWS SAAT SE. Matthias has been involved in transactions in the amount of EUR 30 million during his career. In addition to direct investments and fund investments, he also has experience in the M&A, cooperation and licensing areas. Matthias holds an M. Sc. in Molecular Cell Biology from Bielefeld University and a B. Sc. in Business Administration from Göttingen University.

Managed portfolio companies/funds: Semalytix, Homelike, Chronext, Compeon, Masterplan, DIMATE, Tengelmann Ventures

Maximilian Erb

Life Sciences and CleanTech

Max has more than 15 years of experience in the venture capital and technology sector. He focuses primarily on companies in the industrial IT, energy, agriculture and cyber security segments and holds several advisory board mandates. Max has been involved in several successful exits over the last few years. Before joining NRW.BANK, he worked for various companies in the venture capital and technology sector. Max holds a degree in Economics from the University of Cologne.

Managed portfolio companies/funds: Enerthing, ubirch, Direvo Industrial Biotechnology, Novihum Technologies, GreenPocket, SET Ventures

Dr. Claas Heise

Venture Capital and Fondsinvestments

With more than 25 years of venture capital experience, Claas has worked, among others, for Deutsche Telekom’s venture capital subsidiary and managed its activities in the USA for several years. Together with a partner, he was also active in the corporate venture capital segment in the USA before joining NRW.BANK in 2008, where he has been heading the venture capital business since then. Claas is originally a physicist and has worked in this field for several years at renowned institutes. Via management activities at Deutsche Telekom and sales and marketing tasks at an enterprise software start-up, in which he had been involved since its foundation, he came to venture capital, the versatility of which has not let him go since. In his free time, he enjoys running along the Rhine with his sons or restoring old electronic devices.

Managed portfolio companies/funds: Innolume, Sirius Seed Fonds Düsseldorf, Rheinland Venture Capital, ELS-Fonds, BLSW-Fonds, Technologiefonds OWL, Earlybird V, neoteq ventures Rheinland

Thorsten Heldt

Digital Economy and Technology

Thorsten has been a Senior Investment Manager at NRW.BANK since 2006, focusing on investments of the Digital Economy & Technology unit. He has accompanied the Gründerfonds Ruhr since its initiation and is authorised signatory (Prokurist) and Deputy Head of the Digital Economy & Technology unit. Thorsten has many years of investment experience in the venture capital scene, has accompanied several successful exits and holds various advisory board mandates at portfolio companies. Before joining NRW.BANK, Thorsten worked for various companies in the venture capital and technology sector. After completing his training as an industrial clerk, Thorsten studied Business Administration in Bochum.

Managed portfolio companies/funds: saperatec, Innolume, Frontastic, Dimate, SeedCapital Dortmund I-III, BLSW-Fonds, Technologiefonds OWL, Creathor IV, eCapital Cybersecurity Fonds

Julian Krick

Digital economy and technology

Julian is our expert for digital (deep technology) investments, especially data science and blockchain technologies. He previously worked as an intrapreneur at Carl Zeiss AG and as a junior investment manager digital at a Swiss family office. His experience of several years includes direct investments as well as fund investments and self-taught programming and start-up initiatives. He holds an M. Sc. in Business Information Management from Rotterdam School of Management and nanodegrees in Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Development.
In his private life, Julian enjoys playing the piano and is a keen sportsman. He has been working for NRW.BANK and Gründerfonds Ruhr as an investment manager since mid-2020.

Managed portfolio companies/funds: Semalytix, Sirius Seedfonds Düsseldorf, Unternehmertum VC Fonds III

Philipp Leidig

Life Sciences and CleanTech

Philipp has been working in NRW.BANK’s Venture Capital unit since the beginning of 2016 and has already been involved in the structuring and execution of several financing rounds and exits in the course of his work. He is responsible for companies in the cleantech, medtech and digital health segments as well as for external fund investments. Philipp began his professional career at Siemens AG with an apprenticeship at the head office (industrial clerk, IHK). He then studied Engineering (B. Sc. Bioprocess Technology, M. Sc. Industrial Engineering – Energy Systems) in Munich and in the Ruhr area. 
Before joining NRW.BANK, Philipp gained practical experience in financial controlling, strategic procurement and BI consulting at various companies.
In his free time, Philipp is a passionate basketball player and spends a lot of time with his two children.

Managed portfolio companies/funds: Enerthing, ubirch, Deutsche Arzt AG, Personal Medsystems, Cellink, neoteq ventures Rheinland

Exits: Rigontec, Scienion

Dr. Aristotelis Nastos

Life Sciences and CleanTech and Fondsinvestments

Telis has more than 20 years of investment experience, gained through his work for several European and German venture capital companies. He has been with NRW.BANK for 15 years and has been instrumental in establishing the venture capital activities and, in particular, the life sciences portfolio. As Head of the Life Sciences & Cleantech team, he draws on his solid academic research experience as a Research Fellow at the Wellcome Institute, a Postdoctoral Fellow at King’s College London and a research group leader at the German Diabetes Research Institute in Düsseldorf. He studied Biology in Bochum and did his doctorate at the Institute for Cell Biology of University Hospital Essen. As a portfolio manager, he actively supported the very successful exits of DIREVO, Rigontec, CellAct and Scienion.

Managed portfolio companies/funds: Cellink, CEVEC, AyoxxA, Cryotherapeutics, Abalos, Emergence, Resolve, Charite Biomedical Fonds, Kurma Biofunds III, Earlybird Health

Dr. Thomas Raueiser

Life Sciences and CleanTech

Thomas has more than 15 years of investment experience in the venture capital industry. During this time, he has accompanied numerous investments to a successful exit and was appointed to the advisory boards of various portfolio companies. He is Deputy Head of NRW.BANK’s Life Sciences & Cleantech team and authorised signatory (Prokurist) of Gründerfonds Ruhr. Before joining NRW.BANK, he worked for Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse First Boston in corporate investment banking and private wealth management.

Thomas holds a PhD in Equity Syndications from the University of Cologne, a degree in Business Administration from the University of Cologne and a Master’s degree in International Management (CEMS MIM) from Copenhagen Business School and Université de Louvain.

Managed portfolio companies: Abalos Therapeutics, Hemovent, Phenox, Femtos, Occlutech, Novihum Technologies, GreenPocket, Bomedus

Exits: evoxx technologies, O-flexx Technologies

Thorsten Reuter

Digital Economy and Technology and Fondsinvestments

Thorsten is Head of NRW.BANK’s Digital Economy & Technology team. He is also one of the two Managing Directors of Gründerfonds Ruhr.

Previously, he worked for ten years in the USA (Silicon Valley & Los Angeles) and was responsible for investments and partnerships of the Sony Group as Director of the Sony Innovation Fund. During his 20-year career, he has led numerous financings, M&A transactions and business partnerships in Europe and the USA, and has advised a wide range of start-ups in the digital and technology sectors.

Thorsten holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from TU Berlin and a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa).

Managed portfolio companies/funds: aifora, Compeon, Holobuilder, Masterplan, talpasolutions, btov Industrial Technologies, Capnamic Ventures I & II, Cherry Ventures III, Project-A III, Unternehmertum VC Fonds III

Florian Stinauer

Life Sciences and CleanTech

Florian has more than 10 years of experience in the venture capital sector. During this time, he has mainly accompanied companies from the life sciences sector and held corresponding advisory and supervisory board mandates. He has structured numerous financing rounds and successfully led portfolio companies to exit. Before joining NRW.BANK, he was responsible for the venture capital portfolio of Sparkasse KölnBonn. In addition, he has gained experience in commerce and auditing. Florian is a qualified banker and holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Cologne. In his free time, he can be found jogging or playing tennis in Cologne’s green belt.

Managed portfolio companies: Cellink, Personal MedSystems, Hemovent, Bomedus, CEVEC Pharmaceuticals, AyoxxA Biosystems, Algiax Pharmaceuticals, Cryotherapeutics, Femtos, Phenox

Exits: Scienion, CellAct Pharma, Neo New Oncology, Protagen