Founder Institute Mentors

Austria Fall 2025

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.

Mentors

Abdellah Aouf

Chief Executive Officer, GO PLATFORM

Adrian Zettl

Managing Director, Austrian Startups

Alexander Schwartz

Partner, xista science ventures

Alexander Brix

Former COO of Kaleido AI (acq. by Canva), Canva

Andras Galffy

Founder, CEO & Head of Research, Turbulence Solutions

Andreas Fischer

Founder, First Momentum Ventures

Andrei Podlesnyi

Investment Manager, Triple Impact Ventures

Assen Plevneliev

Chief of Staff , Sigma Squared Society

Benjamin Ruschin

Managing Partner, Big Cheese Ventures

Bernhard Holzer

CEO, Woodspr

Christian Csank

Founder & CEO, Sorex

Christian Zeidler

Co-Founder and CEO, Adaptive

Christopher Polligkeit

Investor, Plug and Play

Cihan Kadir

Co-Founder, VolaTec

Daniela Haunstein

Managing Director, invest.austria

Ebin Elavathingal

Director, MERSTRA Foundation / Next Market

Eleni Lialiamou

Founder, Kimolian Academy

Elisabeth Siencnik

Startup Coach, Elisabeth Siencnik

Emma Rees

CEO , Deployed

Evelina Lundqvist

Sustainable business development and upskilling consultant, The Good Tribe

Fabian Geyrhalter

Founder and Principal, FINIEN

Felix Kernbichler

Attorney at Law, Kernbichler Law

Ferdinand Dietrich

Co- Founder, Storebox

Firas Saedaddin

CEO, AGA Group GmbH

Florian Wimmer

Co-Founder & CEO, Blockpit AG

Georg Schmidt Sailer

Founder & CEO, Trateco

Hannah Wundsam

Managing Director, Austrian Startups

Ifeoluwa Ogunbufunmi

FI Mentor

Jacqueline Kressner

Co-lead, Founder Institute Vienna

Jakobus Schuster

CEO & Co-Founder, notarity

Jay Marathe

MD, Bryan, Garnier & Co.

Jiaran Wang

CEO, Artciety

Johannes Blaschke

Principal, Calm/Storm

Julia Wagner

VC, Positron Ventures

Julia Eisner

Researcher & Lecturer, Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt

Kambis Kohansal Vajargah

Head of Startup-Services and Deputy Head of Founder-Services, Austrian Federal Economic Chamber

Kasia Sadowska

Co-Founder and CEO, Kimolian Innovations

Laura Raggl

Managing Partner, ROI Ventures

Laura Warnier

Chief Growth Officer, Sunrise

Lisa Pallweber

Managing Partner, Hans(wo)men Group

Lubomila Jordanova

CEO, Plan A

Lukas Wieser

Co-CEO & Founder, myflexbox

Maggie Childs

CEO , mypaperwork.ai

Malgorzata Goraczek

Funding Coach, Funding Coach Malgorzata Goraczek e.U.

Mariya Konstantinova

CFO, Founder Institute

Martin Frühwirt

FI Mentor

Martina Vitezova

Managing Director, NextPlay

Michael Schneider

Founder, Seedraisr

Michael Kowatschew

Founder, Heizma

Michaela Stephen

Co-Founder and Co-CEO, MATR

Moritz Lechner

Founder & CEO, New Fluence

Nicolas Benady

CEO, SWAN

Nikhil Ninne

CEO , Fermapulse

Niklas Benesch

Principal, ROI Ventures

Nikolaus Hutter

Partner & Co-Founder, Relevant Ventures

Peiman Zamani

CEO, 4u-ventures

Reinhard Harter

ex-VP, SAP

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

Sebastian Haid

Founder, HeadwAI GmbH

Sergiu Ardelean

Co-Founder, CEO, Artivive

Stanish Gunasekaran

Investor, Included VC

Stefan Kainz

Investment Director Impact Investing, C.E.L.L. Investment GmbH

Stephan Kreiger

Director, FI Vienna

Steven Desmyter

President, Man Group

Thomas Walbert

Ecosystem Leader, DEEP Ecosystems

Urška Jež

Founder and CEO, Transformation Lighthouse

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

Vlad Gozman

Co-Founder & CEO, involve.me

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

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