TRUMPF Venture

His many years of VC experience, paired with business excellence, make it possible for Dieter as the CEO to lead TRUMPF Venture GmbH as a fair partner and investor. Dieter believes that strategy development and its implementation are the criteria needed for the mutual success of portfolio companies and TRUMPF. Previously, he was a partner at Robert Bosch Venture Capital for the region of Europe for nine years. He built up the system development of the electric mobility business unit worldwide. Dieter received a doctorate in physics from the University of Frankfurt. He loves a dynamic environment in his spare time as well, which is evidenced by his love of motorcycling and sailing.

Sonja is fascinated by how companies are created and grow as a result of new ideas. With her many years of experience in providing legal advice on investments in start-ups, she supports the TRUMPF Venture Team in all legal matters. It is important to her to communicate with start-ups on an equal footing and to find pragmatic solutions. From her point of view, professionalism paired with openness are the essential characteristics necessary for this. 
Before joining TRUMPF, she worked as a salaried partner at a large German commercial law firm in the areas of corporate law, M&A and VC. Sonja studied law and Chinese studies in Tübingen and Beijing. She likes to spend her free time listening to music and exercising in nature.

Dina Kohler, an experienced innovation manager with extensive experience in the field of intrapreneurship, headed an acclaimed intrapreneurship scheme for several years. In her role, she helped employees to turn their creative ideas into successful startups. Her international background was shaped by spending her formative years in Africa, where she spent time in countries including Nigeria, Malawi, and Kenya. Her academic background includes a degree in economics with a major in Sales & Marketing. She is a keen skier who loves the slopes in the Alps and keeps fit by jogging regularly. 

Ulrich is an experienced venture capital investor who has supported company founders in implementing their ideas and starting successful companies for over seven years. His expertise in technology and economics make him an ideal sparring partner for any founder of a high-tech start-up. Prior to this, Ulrich worked as a venture capital investor in Barcelona for many years where he invested in seed stage start-ups. He has an MBA from the IESE Business School and an M.Sc in industrial engineering and has studied in Germany, China and Spain. Ulrich is fluent in German, English and Spanish. He loves to fill his free time with sport climbing or weight lifting.

Antje is fascinated by the vitality and entrepreneurial spirit of start-ups. Thanks to her many years of working in the purchasing department of an automobile manufacturer and in the sourcing strategy and control departments at TRUMPF, Antje has extensive experience in evaluating the strengths of a company from a technological and financial point of view. Her goal as an investment professional is to develop these strengths together with the start-ups and to make the most of these assets in a fair, cooperative partnership. Antje completed a degree in mechanical engineering and economic studies before receiving a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the RWTH Aachen University. She loves to spend her leisure time in the great outdoors, walking her dog, running or playing golf.

With a multidisciplinary background in technology, product development, entrepreneurship and leadership, Serban brings a unique perspective to identifying and driving innovation. As co-founder and COO at Eyeware, a computer vision start-up in TRUMPF's portfolio, he has developed a wide range of skills in an exciting start-up journey of over 7 years, whereby he was directly responsible for managing fundraising, investor relations and business operations. Serban holds a PhD in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from Carnegie Mellon University (USA), an MSc in IT Management (EU) and a BSc in Computer Science (UK). Outside of the professional realm, he enjoys bringing new tech product ideas to life, demonstrating his ongoing passion for this industry.

Jens has 20 years of international experience in the areas of startups and venture capital financing and aims to provide added value for startups.  As a former founder of his own startups in the USA and Germany, he helps TRUMPF Venture's portfolio companies on their way to realizing their visions.  Previously Jens expanded the corporate venture capital company STIHL Ventures as Investment Director and before that managed the startup investments of the European early-stage investor InnoEnergy in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 
Jens completed his doctorate in California and Germany on the subject of "Value Added by Venture Capital Firms" and studied international economics at the University of Tübingen.  In his free time, he likes to surf, mountain bike, or travel with his family.

With her great organizational skills, Sabine brings order to TRUMPF Venture as CEO advisor/assistant. Her outgoing manner makes her the first point of contact for all inquiries. Sabine ensures that meetings and trips run smoothly and is just about able to solve any problem. She provides support during the assessment of investment requests from start-ups, and sets up internal and external meetings.  Sabine is also an all-rounder in her private life: searching for balance in nature, preferably through hiking, yoga or tennis.

Jonathan is inspired by new technologies, organizational development, innovative business models and the increasing interlinking of products, IT and service.  As an Open Innovation Manager, it is his goal to network the requirements of the TRUMPF organization with the innovative power of the start-up world and to optimally combine them in order to create mutual values and synergies. 
In recent years, Jonathan has worked in TRUMPF's IT department, where he is responsible for platforms. Here he gained experience in IT service management, platform architecture, coordination of external partners as well as strategic planning and financial control.  This experience perfectly complements the task of developing open innovation in the VC sector through cooperation with start-ups.  In his free time he is also versatile and participates in a variety of sports such as snow/wake/kiteboarding, mountain biking and sailing, and enjoys traveling to new places.

Christiane is fascinated by the development and breakthrough of new technologies and the role that corporate dealings and financial risk-taking play in this process. During her many years of working for the TRUMPF Group both in Germany and abroad, Christiane has already witnessed and supported many successful instances of this. Christiane's particular strengths are identifying relevant value drivers and modeling integrated corporate planning. She benefits from her many years of corporate valuation experience. In her free time, Christiane loves both practicing and teaching all things nature and yoga.