Austria Fall 2025
Founder Institute Austria Mentors
Founder Institute Mentors join weekly feedback sessions, host office hours, and in general provide you feedback every step of the way. In addition, through our Equity Collective, Mentors are invested in the success of your company both during and after the program.
See the list of current and past mentors for the Austria program below.
Abdellah Aouf
Chief Executive Officer @ GO PLATFORM
Adrian Zettl
Managing Director @ Austrian Startups
Adrian Rhomberg
Senior Investment Associate @ Gateway Ventures
Ajay Singh
Head of Technology, Innovations and Startups @ Austrian Embassy Commercial Section, India
Alexander Schwartz
Partner @ xista science ventures
Alexander Brix
Former COO of Kaleido AI (acq. by Canva) @ Canva
Alvaro Egido
VC Analyst @ Fund F
Andras Galffy
Founder, CEO & Head of Research @ Turbulence Solutions
Andreas Fischer
Founding Partner @ First Momentum Ventures
Andrei Podlesnyi
Investment Manager @ Triple Impact Ventures
Anna Gaivan
Innovation Performance & Portfolio Manager @ Raiffeisen Bank International AG
Annu Gmeiner
Principal @ Xista Science Ventures
Barbara Van Lodensteijn
Founder & Business Psychologist MSC @ Vision Aligns
Bernhard Holzer
CEO @ Woodspr
Bernhard Hauser
Founder @ Waterglass.io
Carol Constant
Founder & CEO @ WhomLab 🧩
Catalin Militaru
Corporate Venture Building Lead @ Raiffeisen Bank International AG
Charlotte Christensen
Executive Director @ Fintocat
Christian Csank
Founder & CEO @ Sorex
Christian Zeidler
Co-Founder and CEO @ Adaptive
Christopher Polligkeit
Investor @ Plug and Play
Cihan Kadir
CEO @ VolaTec
Cristina Fonseca
Innovation Lead @ Rockstart
Daan Weddepohl
CEO & Founder @ Peerby
Daniela Haunstein
Managing Director @ invest.austria
David Cabezon Egurrola
Plug and Play Health Ventures Fellow @ baby vc | Plug and Play | Slush
Dominique Dufour
CEO @ Blue Wave Consulting
Dr. Karen Wendt
President @ SFTL - SwissFinTechLadies
Ebin Ephrem Elavathingal
Director/Tecknogog @ MERSTRA Foundation / MITC
Edouard Renard
Founder Founder @ The Robotics Backend
Eleni Lialiamou
Founder @ Kimolian Academy
Elisabeth Siencnik
Startup Coach @ Elisabeth Siencnik
Emma Rees
Executive Chair @ Deployed
Erika Darmstaedter
Co-Founder @ Collective63
Evelina Lundqvist
Sustainable business development and upskilling consultant @ The Good Tribe
Fabian Geyrhalter
Founder and Principal @ FINIEN
Felix Kernbichler
Attorney at Law @ Kernbichler Law
Felix Günther
M.Sc. MBA @ FIVE MORE
Ferdinand Dietrich
Co- Founder @ Storebox
Firas Saedaddin
CEO @ AGA Group GmbH
Florian Wimmer
Co-Founder & CEO @ Blockpit AG
Florian Kandler
Pitch & Fundraising Expert @ Der Perfekte Pitch
Florian Haas
Director & Head of Brand & Growth; Head of Startup; Member Europe West Leadership Team @ EY Austria
Gal Nachum
Active Chairman @ xFind / Cognishape
Georg Schmidt Sailer
Serial Founder @ Country Leader myneva Austria
Georg Molzer
CEO & Founder @ Shadowmap
Gernot Singer
Founder @ Angel Investor
Gregor Zehetner
Co-Founder @ Tapkey
Guillaume Balas
Angel Investor | Mentor | Entrepreneur @ 3scale / Meta Pool / The Inbound Labs / Tings
Huang Chen
DigiDream Solutions e.U. || CEO & Founder || Product Owner & Manager @ DigiDream Solutions e.U
Ifeoluwa Ogunbufunmi
@ SWIF
Ingeborg Gasser Kriss
Board Member, Advisor @ Agent21
Ivan Zamesin
Founder @ Advanced JTBD Academy
Jack Eastwood
Co-Founder @ Protium
Jacqueline Kressner
Co-lead @ Founder Institute Vienna
Jakobus Schuster
CEO & Co-Founder @ notarity
James Langer
Coach & Consultant @ james-langer
Jay Marathe
Fundraising adviser and investment banker for growth companies in energy technologies @ Bryan, Garnier & Co.
Jiaran Wang
CEO @ Expand Future GmbH
Jimmy Jaspers
Founder, CEO @ Vincitori Technologies
Johannes Blaschke
Partner @ Calm/Storm
Julia Wagner
VC @ Positron Ventures
Kambis Kohansal Vajargah
Head of Startup-Services and Deputy Head of Founder-Services @ Austrian Federal Economic Chamber
Kasia Sadowska
Founder @ FutureHabits.Tech
Kiziltan Yüceil
Venture Strategy Domain Lead @ Niterra Ventures
Klaus Fuchs
Venture Lead @ Wien Energie GmbH
Laura Raggl
Managing Partner @ ROI Ventures
Laura Warnier
Chief Growth Officer @ Sunrise
Leen Segers
Managing Director @ ForsVC
Lilla Peczely
co-director @ Founder Institute Switzerland
Linda Lorenzoni
Founder & CEO @ Gastro Exclusive GmbH
Lisa Pallweber
Managing Partner @ Hans(wo)men Group
Lubomila Jordanova
CEO @ Plan A
Lucy Izquierdo Greene
VC Investor @ Fund F
Lukas Wieser
Co-Founder @ myflexbox
Malgorzata Goraczek
Founder @ Funding Coach
Marco Kogler
Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ FuzeQube Group
Mariya Konstantinova
CFO @ Founder Institute
Martin Frühwirt
@ enablico
Martina Vitezova
Managing Director @ NextPlay
Michael Schneider
Founder @ Seedraisr
Michael Kowatschew
Founder @ Heizma
Michael Innerebner
Angel Investor @ Investor
Michael Dobersberger
Michaela Stephen
Co-Founder and Co-CEO @ MATR
Moritz Lechner
Founder & CEO @ New Fluence
Nicolas Benady
CEO @ SWAN
Nik Zechner
Founder & Managing Director @ Grauberg
Nikhil Ninne
CEO @ Fermapulse
Nikolaus Hutter
Partner & Co-Founder @ Relevant Ventures
Nina Sophie Sczepurek
Co-Founder & COO @ leitzcloud by vBoxx
Oleksandr Kalinchuk
@ EIT Manfacturing
Pamela Wolf
Global Industry Advisor @ ex-Salesforce
Peiman Zamani
CEO @ 4u-ventures
Philippa Allen
Investment Manager @ Calm/Storm
Pouria Kay
Founding Partner @ Atlan
Raman Rai
Product Dev @ PWC
Réginald Bien Aimé
Founder & Managing Director @ Veelab
Rima Suppan
CEO @ Peachies
Rudolf Dömötör
Director @ WU Entrepreneurship Center
Salmine Sassi
Entrepreneur in Residence @ Seedstars
Sara Bentsen
COO and Co-Founder @ Scale to Global
Sarah Lechner
Founder & Coach @ Centered Leadership & Culture
Sebastian Haid
Founder @ HeadwAI GmbH
Sergiu Ardelean
Co-Founder, CEO @ Artivive
Simon Führer
Associate @ FI Austria
Stanish Gunasekaran
Investor @ Included VC
Stavros Pavlidis
Head Direct and Strategic Investments @ Deep Capital Group
Stefan Kainz
Investment Director Impact Investing @ C.E.L.L. Investment GmbH
Stephan Kreiger
Director @ FI Austria
Steven Desmyter
President @ Man Group
Suraj Nathwani
Regional Partner @ Boardio
Tanja Spennlingwimmer
Head of Deep Tech, Innovation Protection & Entrepreneurship @ Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws)
Taryn Andersen
President & Co-Founder @ Impulse4Women
Thomas Walbert
Ecosystem Leader @ DEEP Ecosystems
Umida Tulieva
Advisor @ ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA Central Asia
Urška Jež
Founder and CEO @ Transformation Lighthouse
U Shin Kim
@ U-Shin Group Agency (UGA)
Valentijn Koppenaal
Co-founder & CEO @ leitzcloud by vBoxx
Valentin Krenkel
Deputy Managing Director @ invest.austria
Valentina Podda
Mrs @ Valentina Ventures
Veremyova Ana
Chief Communications Officer @ True Gamers
Verena Judmayer
CEO @ MATR
Viktoria Zimm
Managing Director Impact Investments @ C.E.L.L. Investment GmbH
Viktoria Tollinger
Programme Lead @ I.E.C.T. - Hermann Hauser Management GmbH
Vladimir Pletyukhin
Founder and Creative Director @ Launch Deck
Xiaomin Mou
Head of Venture Capital Investments, Central Eastern Europe @ IFC - International Finance Corporation
Yuliya Daineko
Head of Product Portfolio Evolution B2X @ A1 Telekom Austria
The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our structured accelerator programs have helped over 8,100 entrepreneurs raise over 1.9BN in funding. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 100 countries, our mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.
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