At Pioneers we guide companies through their transformation, empower them to unlock their innovation potential, and help them develop and scale new products, services, and business models.
Innovation-powered transformation and growth
Our Vision
We build a future where organizations have the capabilities to create sustainable value for society and the planet.
Our Mission
We help organizations achieve innovation-powered transformation and growth through proven corporate venturing methods.
Our DNA
We know the startup scene.
Since 2014 we work on startup collaborations and have built a large network for international scouting. We know how innovative business models can be developed and implemented through startup tools and methods.
We understand corporates.
Our team has 10+ years of experience in developing and managing corporate strategies. We understand the barriers of creating an entrepreneurial company and guide a successful transformation.
We deliver results and are execution experts.
During all our projects we never lose sight of the important things: Delivering innovation to solve people’s problems while at the same time returning the investments.
We create sustainable innovation.
In every project we consider the impact on the planet and CO2 creation and offer additional services for sustainable innovation.
Management and Senior Consultants
After 6 successful years at REWE Group, where he served as Head of Innovation & Digitalization at jö Bonus Club, Alex joins Pioneers as a partner and brings his deep expertise in B2C innovation to our team. His extensive knowledge supports corporate innovation clients in retail, banking, and financial services, further strengthening our innovation consulting services across various sectors.
Anton is Managing Director of Pioneers. A technology enthusiast specializing in helping corporates achieve their innovation goals through working with startups and building new ventures. He has experience organizing and planning hackathons, product design sprints, accelerators, and company building programs.
Christina works as a Senior Innovation Consultant at Pioneers. She gained experience as project lead in the establishment of a tech startup including product development and prototype testing as well as in a corporate setting by leading and implementing company-wide projects (digitalization/IT, restructuring, etc.) and strategy implementation. Her professional background includes experience in several sectors like energy, banking, the commercial office of the Austrian embassy as well as facility management and civil engineering/construction.
Julian is a Senior Innovation Consultant at Pioneers. His focus lies on innovation strategy as well as idea development and business model innovation. He has several years of experience in the management of digitalization and innovation projects. Most recently, he worked in the public sector. Having worked in the Austrian startup ecosystem before, he is an expert in navigating through the startup landscape and facilitating collaborations. Moreover, he has a strong academic background in strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship by having completed the SIMC Master at WU Vienna.
René Mähr is a digital innovator and entrepreneur, serving as Co-Founder of JTM Digital and General Manager of Wise Up, a corporate venture driving digital learning transformation. With a proven track record in venture building, product strategy, and business innovation, René combines strategic vision with hands-on execution to shape the future of digital ecosystems. At Pioneers, he leads the Digital Factory as Head of Digital, creating successful ventures that drive measurable impact for our clients.
Rupert is Head of Pioneers.Talent - our tailored offering of talent solutions for startups, scaleups, and corporate ventures. After a career in management consulting, he has developed into a trusted advisor in the headhunting business with a focus on executive roles and key functions in dynamic organizations.
Sophia is a Senior Innovation Consultant at Pioneers. Having worked for both a strategy consulting firm and a corporate venture builder, she combines methods from top management consulting and operational experience in launching and building startups.
Sophie is an Innovation Manager at Pioneers with a focus on innovation strategy work. She has more than 8 years of experience in developing digital strategies and in planning and managing digital transformation projects, both as a consultant and in the corporate world.
Thomas is Managing Partner at Pioneers. He recently joined the team after a career in strategy consulting at Contrast and EY Parthenon.Thomas has a strong track record in strategically transforming organizations in several industries – strategy, organization, performance management. Innovation from thought to finish is driving his work – digitalization and sustainability are the main levers.He is a strategist, innovator and entrepreneur, making strategy and innovation happen.
The Pioneers History
2024
Launch of Pioneers.Talent
Innovation needs visionaries to make it fly. That’s why we launched Pioneers.Talent – our tailored offering of talent solutions for startups, scaleups, and corporate ventures.
2023
Venture-Studio-As-A-Service
Based on our clients’ needs for flexible venture-building support and outsourcing of personnel resources management, we enlarged our service offering by the new product “Venture-Studio-As-A-Service”. This new model allows clients to operate and test a venture studio without building up internal resources from the beginning. After a successful test, clients can ramp up their own studio.
2022
Full Management Buyout
In 2022, the remaining startup300 shares were bought back by Pioneers to lay the ground for a further scaling phase of the Corporate Innovation and Venture Building services.
Launch of Pioneer.Climate and Pioneers.Peak
To increase our focus on sustainable innovation and our environmental and social impact, we launched Pioneers.Climate. A Pioneers “special force”, where we focus on helping clients measure their CO2 footprint and develop ESG strategies to get closer to Net Zero. At the same time, we started our own multi-corporate venture building hub – Pioneers.Peak. There, we work with first partners such as OMV, Porsche and fasthub BOSCH on validating internal ideas in a collaborative and creative environment.
2021
Roll-Out of Innovation Strategy and Setup Services
At Pioneers we want to contribute to a better future of society solving the big challenges of this planet. In 2021, we thus launched our Pioneers Innovation Framework that connects the larger corporate strategy to innovation execution. With a strong strategic anchor, we increase the chance of innovation success and thus the impact of any of our corporate innovation projects.
2020
Spin-off
Foundation of the Pioneers Innovation GmbH focusing on working hand in hand with corporates to build innovative solutions through venture activities.
2019
zero21 is launched
The network for corporates, founders, investors and entrepreneurs, enabling us to harness our services to benefit our community.
2018
Pioneers joins startup300
To grow our network and offer a scope of financial support, space and consultancy services, as well as networking and corporate collaboration.
2016
Pioneers Ventures
is created to further support our network of entrepreneurs, offering early-stage startups with funding from EUR 50 -100K.
2014
Innovation Consulting
is introduced in response to partners asking for our startup expertise and support with innovation activities.
2011
Pioneers Festival
is launched to expand our reach and engage a global network, offering unique access to European tech leaders.
2009
StartEurope is Founded
creating a network for startups, entrepreneurs and investors to drive innovation where it’s needed most.
