Frank Thelen

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Frank Thelen, 2020

Frank Thelen (born October 10, 1975 in Bonn ) is a German entrepreneur and author .

Life

Frank Thelen graduated from the Carl-Schurz- Realschule in Bonn after attending the Bad Godesberg pedagogy .

Before he turned to software development, Thelen's life in his early youth was primarily determined by skate and snowboarding . In this area he still supports projects like “Skate-Aid” by Titus Dittmann or “Concrete for Bonn” by Philipp Nehren and regularly emphasizes how much this still shapes him today.

The later recorded computer science studies at the University of Bonn / Rhein-Sieg broke Thelen from build to his first company, and became the series founder of startups. Now he is active as an investor.

He lives in Bonn and is married.

Entrepreneurship

Thelen is managing director of the venture capital company founded in 2009 as "e42 GmbH" and renamed in 2017 as "Freigeist Capital GmbH".

As the founder and managing director of the venture capital company Freigeist Capital GmbH, he finances and supports, in particular, technology and design-focused founders in the early stages of their companies. In 2011 he was named " Hidden Champion " by Hermann Simon .

From 2014 to 2020 he was one of the investors and jurors in the Vox television program Die Höhle der Löwen , in which startups and young entrepreneurs try to attract them to invest in their business idea. In 2019 he announced that he would no longer participate from 2020 in order to invest more in other technology startups again.

Political commitment

On February 12, 2017, he was a member of the 16th Federal Assembly for the election of the Federal President as a nominated representative of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia for the FDP party . Thelen was a member of the CDU until April 2017 .

As a business representative, Thelen and the Federal Government Commissioner for Digitization, Minister of State Dorothee Bär , founded the Federal Government's Innovation Council on the subject of digitization, which has met twice a year since May 2018.

Author activity

In August 2018, Murmann Verlag published his autobiography Startup-DNA. Fall down, get up, change the world . The autobiography was created in collaboration with Christoph Schulte-Richtering and was on the bestseller lists for hardcover non-fiction books for several weeks .

His second book 10xDNA: The Mindset of the Future was published in May 2020 and deals with current developments in IT, in particular artificial intelligence and quantum computers.

Awards and honors

Founded startups and other companies

  • Softer Solutions Media GmbH & Co.KG: According to his biography, Thelen founded his first company in 1994. This developed a platform for the production of multimedia CD-ROMs. In 1996 SofterSolutions merged with Bonn-based proPC GmbH and published several multimedia CD-ROMs under the new company create media GmbH & Co. KG.
  • twisd AG: In 1999 the company received 1.4 million DM venture capital to develop a Linux-based router (LIC for LAN Internet Connect), with which local networks could be connected to the Internet. Twisd AG prepared for the IPO in 2000, but had to file for bankruptcy due to the financial crisis of the customer handwerk.de AG, which resulted in bad debts, and in the course of the collapse of the dot-com bubble .
  • Idenion GmbH: In 2002 Thelen founded Idenion GmbH - a startup that developed and sold content management and e-commerce systems based on Microsoft technologies . Idenion GmbH was officially deleted on November 26, 2008 due to lack of assets.
  • ip.labs: Since it was founded in 2005, ip.labs GmbH has created and licensed an online photo service where users can order prints, greeting cards, photo books and other products made from digital photos. ip.labs was acquired by the Fujifilm Group in 2008 . The internet portal finanzen.ch estimates the purchase price at between 2 and 3 billion Japanese yen ; at that time the equivalent of between 13 and 19 million euros. The founders still held 100% of the shares when they were sold, of which, according to their own statement in an interview with Focus magazine, 75% was held by Thelen.
  • Scanbot: Scanbot (doo GmbH) was founded in Bonn in 2011 and received venture capital funding of ten million US dollars. Among other things, could Lars Hinrichs , Hermann Simon, DuMont Venture and target partner gained as investors. doo, as “the document app”, should be the only place for all digital needs around the document. However, this project failed, so that Thelen had to realign the company. The new product (Scanbot) won over 500,000 users in eight weeks. Thelen announced in July 2018 that Scanbot had reached breakeven point and was profitable.

Investments in "The Lion's Den"

Since 2014, Thelen has invested in 14 startups whose founders appeared in the show Die Höhle der Löwen and which will generate around 100 million in sales in 2019. These include startups from the food sector in particular. A public mud battle between Thelen and the founder of the men's outfitter “von Floerke”, David Schirrmacher, attracted media attention.

Particularly noteworthy for the participations that came about through the show:

  • Anchor herb spices
  • Calligraphy Cut, hairdressing accessories
  • Little lunch, soups
  • Lizza, low carb pizza
  • Luicella's Ice Cream
  • Pumperlgsund, egg white
  • YFood, liquid food

Other investments

  • Air Up, flavored water
  • Endurosat, nanosatellites
  • Hardt Hyperloop, Hyperloop Project
  • Power block, energy storage
  • Lilium , vertical take off aircraft
  • Neufund, blockchain based fundraising
  • Pitch, presentation software
  • Smartlane, logistics solution
  • Wunderlist , task management (2015 takeover by Microsoft)
  • xentral, ERP software

criticism

In April 2019, the Rheinische Post criticized Thelen for exploiting his political commitment to pursue his own interests, as two founders of start-ups in which he is involved were appointed to the Federal Government's Innovation Council . Thelen explained that they had been appointed to the advisory board because he did not know any other people who could represent the topics of blockchain and air taxis appropriately.

Publications

  • The Autobiography: Startup DNA - Fall Down, Stand Up, Change the World. Murmann Publishers. 2018. ISBN 3-86774-611-7 .
  • Europe can do better: How our continent finds new strength. A wake-up call for the economy. Author contribution. Edited by Thomas Sigmund u. Sven Afhuppe . Herder, Freiburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-451-39360-0 .
  • 10xDNA: the mindset of the future. Frank Thelen Media, ISBN 978-3982176406 .

Web links

Commons : Frank Thelen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bonn investor Frank Thelen: Skating as a philosophy of life. In: general-anzeiger-bonn.de . Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ https://www.wn.de/Startseite/Startseite-Schattenressort/3568298-13.-Skate-aid-night-Gaeste-beim-Charity-Abend-in-Spendenlaune-Titus-Dittmann-begeistert
  3. ↑ Marcel Hönighausen: Big check: TV investor Frank Thelen donates 10,000 euros for the skatepark in Beuel. July 19, 2018, accessed on June 22, 2020 (German).
  4. ↑ Drop-ins in the skate park: Höhle-der-Löwen Frank Thelen Interview “I really come from below”. In: Boardstation.de - Skateboard News, Videos and more. February 18, 2019, accessed July 6, 2020 .
  5. ↑ My Pivot: Frank Thelen on his personal turning point. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Loud, direct, no bullshit - that's Frank Thelen. November 15, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  7. ↑ wired.de: Loud, direct, no bullshit - that's Frank Thelen . (from November 15, 2017)
  8. ^ Database e42 . Start-up scene. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  9. ↑ e42 GmbH • Extract from the commercial register | HRB 17348. Retrieved April 27, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Frank Thelen's holding company becomes Freigeist Capital. In: Wiwo Online . Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  11. ↑ CEO Frank Thelen renames e42 to Freigeist. In: Kress Online . Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  12. ↑ https://www.die-wirtschaftsnews.de/frank-thelen-und-seine-investments/
  13. ↑ Interview: Investor Frank Thelen leaves “Die Höhle der Löwen” - “We are experiencing a digital emergency”. Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
  14. ↑ TV-Hammer: Frank Thelen leaves "Die Höhle der Löwen" for good on t3n.de, November 10, 2019.
  15. ↑ Why Angela Merkel is the best Federal Chancellor and I no longer have a party book. April 29, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Innovation Council is constituted in the Federal Chancellery. Retrieved December 13, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Frank Thelen: Frank Thelen - the autobiography: startup DNA - fall down, stand up, change the world . Murmann Publishers, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-86774-611-3 .
  18. ^ DWDL de GmbH: Christoph Schulte-Richtering: There is no television hell. Retrieved March 25, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Murmann Publishers GmbH: Frank Thelen - The Autobiography: Startup-DNA - Fall down, get up, change the world . 1st edition. Murmann Publishers, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-86774-611-3 , pp. 286 .
  20. ↑ Startup-DNA - book report. Retrieved October 14, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Frank, Thelen: 10xDNA The mindset of the future . 1st edition. Bonn, ISBN 978-3-9821764-0-6 .
  22. ↑ http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/bonn/stadt-bonn/Merkel-zeich-doo-aus-article996859.html
  23. ↑ Twisd AG: Mobile VPN for secure dial-in. Retrieved March 24, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Beat Balzli : TRADE: Financial borderline experience . In: Spiegel Online . tape 2 , January 7, 2002 ( online [accessed July 11, 2019]).
  25. ^ Vita - Frank Thelen (Founder, Investor, Geek). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 28, 2017 ; Retrieved April 27, 2017 .
  26. ↑ Bonn Commercial Register HRB 9862
  27. ^ Public announcement RegisSTAR. Retrieved March 25, 2019 .
  28. ↑ https://www.finanzen.ch/nachrichten/aktien/fujifilm-uebernnahm-ip-labs-149454
  29. ↑ Fujifilm press release . Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  30. ↑ Cynthia Castritius: Startup investor Frank Thelen: Where do investors get their money from? In: Focus Online . September 23, 2014, accessed October 14, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Frank Thelen on doo . TechCrunch TV. Archived from the original on June 21, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  32. ↑ The end of the trash can: Document app Doo puts an end to it. In: t3n.de , accessed on October 31, 2017
  33. ↑ doo launches Scanbot . Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  34. ↑ Scanbot 8 weeks . Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  35. ↑ t3n.de: Scanbot inventor Frank Thelen announces the next million exit . (July 10, 2018)
  36. ↑ All startups in which the original lion Frank Thelen actually invested at #DHDL. In: deutsche-startups.de. November 27, 2018, accessed on September 11, 2019 (German).
  37. ^ "Out of control" - Frank Thelen comments on the mud battle with "Von Floerke". March 15, 2019, accessed September 11, 2019 .
  38. ^ Henryk Hielscher: Frank Thelen vs. Von Floerke: "From my point of view, he is no longer sane". Retrieved September 11, 2019 .
  39. ↑ The von Floerke madness had a method. Retrieved September 11, 2019 .
  40. ↑ 12 million sales with spices: "It was never planned that way". In: NGIN Food. December 28, 2018, accessed on November 10, 2019 (German).
  41. ↑ Why Frank Thelen enters the beauty sector with a million dollar deal. September 4, 2018, accessed November 10, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Frank Thelen: "Little Lunch is the most successful start-up from 'Die Höhle der Löwen'". September 12, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
  43. ↑ This is how Lizza started after "Die Höhle der Löwen". September 27, 2017, accessed November 10, 2019 .
  44. ↑ "Luicella's": This is how the ice cream company is doing one year after the deal with the lions. September 24, 2018, accessed November 10, 2019 .
  45. ↑ Pumperlgsund from "Die Höhle der Löwen". Retrieved on November 10, 2019 (German).
  46. ↑ "Den of the Lions" start-up YFood receives 15 million euros. April 21, 2020, accessed June 22, 2020 .
  47. ↑ Thelen investment and a new name - the bottle with a fake taste was born. August 5, 2019, accessed November 10, 2019 .
  48. ↑ editorial: Freigeist invests in space startup Endurosat. In: StartupValley Magazine. May 19, 2020, accessed on June 23, 2020 (German).
  49. ↑ Hardt Hyperloop: Frank Thelen joins a Dutch start-up. In: WiWo founder. October 22, 2019, accessed November 10, 2019 .
  50. ↑ Frank Thelen invests in energy storage startup. December 6, 2018, accessed November 10, 2019 .
  51. ↑ Frauke Holzmeier: Lilium presents "Flixbus for the air". n-tv Nachrichtenfernsehen GmbH, May 16, 2019, accessed on October 3, 2019 .
  52. ↑ Frank Thelen invests in the Berlin blockchain startup Neufund. December 5, 2017, accessed June 22, 2020 .
  53. ↑ Hannah Schwär: That's behind the Powerpoint alternative in which Frank Thelen has invested. October 16, 2018, accessed June 24, 2020 (German).
  54. ↑ Smartlane founder Monja Mühling: Frank Thelen is investing millions in this woman's start-up. Retrieved November 10, 2019 .
  55. ↑ Niklas Wirminghaus: Frank Thelen tells the 6Wunderkinder story. Vertical Media GmbH, June 3, 2015, accessed on October 3, 2019 .
  56. ↑ Frank Thelen invests in Xentral company software. August 19, 2018, accessed June 23, 2020 .
  57. ↑ Florian Rinke: Frank Thelen - the beginning disenchantment of a "lion". In: Rheinische Post from April 30, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Thelen, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur and founder
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn