Klaus Hommels

Klaus Hommels is one of Europe’s leading business angel investors 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.

Hommels has repeatedly been recognized as one of Europe’s top venture capital investors, having invested in many major players in the technology 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. Hommels is part of Henkel’s digital board and the innovation board of 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. Hommels 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.

Hommels started his career at Bertelsmann, before joining AOL Germany 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.