Klaus Hommels

Klaus Hommels (born February 17, 1967 ) is a German venture capitalist based in Zurich . He concentrates on seed and early stage investments, initially directly through Hommels Holding, and from 2012 through the venture capital fund Lakestar in Zurich, which he founded and through which he mainly invested in Internet companies; he has been involved with internet investments such as Skype , Facebook and Xing .

Career

He holds a Master of Science degree in Business Administration and a PhD from the University of Friborg (Finance). After graduating, he started at Bertelsmann as an executive assistant. He worked as managing director for AOL Germany (1995–1999) in the areas of business development, content and advertising. He then started at Apax Partners in Munich as a director (1999–2000). At the height of the dot-com bubble , he got out as a private investor. In 2006, after six years as a private investor, Hommels came to Benchmark Capital (now Balderton Capital) as a venture partner in London . In 2007 he founded Hommels Holding, which mainly focused on internet companies, and in 2012 he founded Lakestar.

Investments

Hommels invested in some internet companies early on. His successful investments have included Skype (acquired by Microsoft for $ 4.1 billion), Xing (IPO in 2006), QXL.com (acquired by Naspers Group) and Adjug (sold to Hubert Burda Media ). His current investments include Facebook, King, Stardoll, Woo Media, Klarna and Spotify.

Awards

Hommels was voted the most successful private entrepreneur in Europe in 2006 by the European business schools IESE, INSEAD and the University of St. Gallen and in 2019 on Forbes European Midas List.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Forbes.com: # 63 Klaus Hommels. Retrieved May 7, 2020 . 
2. ^ IESE Insight Klaus Hommels: The Midas King of Entrepreneurs. Retrieved December 4, 2019 . 
3. ↑ The Midas List Europe 2019. Accessed December 4, 2019 .