Klaus Hommels
Founder and Chairman, Lakestar; Chairman, NATO Innovation Fund
Klaus is one of Europe’s leading business angels and venture capitalists. He is also a prominent voice for the European Tech Ecosystem with the aim of strengthening Europe’s sovereignty in times of digital transformation. Klaus has repeatedly been recognised as one of Europe’s top Venture Capital investors, having invested in many major players in the tech sector. He was an early investor in companies such as Skype, King, Facebook, Spotify, Airbnb, Revolut, Klarna, Sumup, Zoom, Coinbase and Isar Aerospace. He founded Lakestar in 2012 after running his own Venture Capital fund, Hommels Holding. He chairs the board of directors of the NATO Innovation Fund and is a founding member of think-tank initiatives such as the Internet Economy Foundation and the European Center for Digital Competitiveness in Berlin. Klaus is part of Henkel’s digital board and the innovation boards of Handelsblatt and the Munich Security Conference. He is a member of the UK Capital Markets Industry Taskforce that consults the Chancellor of the Exchequer under LSEG leadership. Klaus was also the Chair of Invest Europe, the world’s largest association of private capital, from July 2022 to June 2023. He is involved with Ashoka to support those entrepreneurs that seek innovations for the good of society. Klaus started his career at Bertelsmann, before joining AOL Germany in 1995 as a board member. He was also a venture partner of Benchmark Capital Europe. He earned his PhD in finance from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
