Inspire. Empower. Create.
Our Vision
Empowered innovators shape the future of society
Our Mission
We inspire and create pioneering venture activites.
Our DNA
We know the startup scene.
We have worked with startups right from the beginning and know how innovative business models can be developed and implemented through startup tools and methods.
We have a global reach.
For 9+ years we have delivered innovation outcomes across various industries and countries. As a result, we have a global network of startups, experts and partners across 50+ countries.
We deliver results.
During all our projects we never lose sight of the important things: Delivering innovation to solve real people’s problems while at the same time returning the investments.
Our Team Members
Andrea is senior innovation consultant at Pioneers. Being part of the European startup ecosystem for years, she got in touch with innovative solutions from a variety of industries. She facilitated startup-corporate cooperations, designed and executed acceleration and entrepreneurship education programs. She also supported the public sector providing advisory on designing national policies, strategies and programmes to further develop and fund the Hungarian RDI ecosystem - where she is originally from. She is a true “imagineer” - skilled in implementing creative ideas, translating them into reality.
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.
Ben is currently in the final stages of his innovation management master's degree at the New Design University in Lower Austria. With a bachelor's degree in product design, education in crafts, and professional experience working in the tertiary industry family business, he brings a diverse skill set to the table.
Christina works as an 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.
As an Innovation Manager, Jonathan focuses on corporate innovation and venture building within Pioneers. Having 6+ years of technology consulting experience, he has strong expertise in program management and a deep understanding of corporate technology strategy. Jonathan engaged in his own venture journey and helped to build the strategy and business model for a startup in the human resource area. Additionally, he has industry insights in Data Analytics, Payments, Insurance, Cybersecurity, Compliance, and Treasury.
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.
In his role as an Innovation Manager, Michael builds strong connections with corporate clients and further develops the business and digital products of Pioneers. He has a background in Economics and has worked for several years in the Berlin and US startup ecosystem in digital technologies such as 3D printing, machine learning or online education. He has built and managed new products and services in growth-stage startups and unicorn companies alike.
Michael is our expert in venture development. Having worked in 3 startups prior to Pioneers, he brings in vast know-how in how to develop new business models. He also helps clients introduce startup tools and working styles and developing customer-centric products based on iterative testing and validation.Having completed a full-stack software development program, he also provides the necessary tech skills to develop software products from design to production.Additionally, as an alumni of the Strategy, Innovation & Management Control Master (SIMC) at WU, he has also a strong academic background in innovation topics always challenging the tools and methods applied at Pioneers.
For over 18 years, Philip has worked on sustainability and strategy in China, Colombia, Switzerland, Austria and Central Asia. His work has focused on decarbonization, footprinting, carbon markets, green growth and sustainable innovation. He has an MBA from INSEAD and a MSc from London School of Economics. As Head of Climate, Philip will help clients connect their decarbonization, ESG and innovation agendas. Clients will be guided through understanding their corporate carbon footprint, prioritizing action areas and developing new business opportunities- in other words: “Innovation, with purpose”.
Sophie is an Innovation Manager at Pioneers with a focus on innovation strategy work. She has more than 5 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.
Alumni Advisors
Annabelle is exploring the boundaries of IoT and innovation at the NASDAQ-listed retail solution provider ITAB, where she serves as the Vice President R&D.Before her time at ITAB, Annabelle was part of the management team at Pioneers, where she led and developed a team of consultants and conducted various innovation projects for both, SMEs as well as blue chip companies.Besides being experienced in setting up international, multi-corporate accelerator programs from scratch, she has also worked in Venture Capital for a Silicon Valley investor and co-founded a fintech startup and one data ethics think tank in Munich. In her free time, Annabelle loves to pay it forward through mentoring young entrepreneurs and by contributing to the Pioneers Expert Board.
Harald is Manager and team lead at Pioneers and has run more than 30 innovation consulting projects for a variety of clients in different industries across the world. His passion is to work with innovative people on new products and services. He has extensive know-how in the field of intrapreneurship, startup-corporate collaboration and venture building where he delivers significant value to his clients by creating successful outcomes. He joined Pioneers Consulting services in the early days and helped building up the business unit.
Former tech entrepreneur now seasoned venture capitalist, Markus is a partner in Speedinvest’s sector-agnostic seed team. He is passionate about B2B software companies (led Impala, Upvest, Shapr3D) and consumer ventures (led SecondNature, Refurbed) that tackle under-digitised markets. Previously in charge of the fund’s pre-seed activities, he built a transverse portfolio of 40+ companies all across Europe.Earlier in his career, he co-founded an investor-backed logistics tech startup, advised multiple companies on their path to scale and ran his own venture. He has a background in Business Administration and Law.Globetrotter but Austrian at heart, Markus is a very active contributor to the local ecosystem. He lectures at the Vienna Technical University, runs initiatives to increase diversity in business leadership and holds board or advisory roles in several nonprofits and public institutions. In 2018, he was included in Forbes Magazine’s annual 30 under 30 list.
The Pioneers History
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
Focus on purpose-driven innovation
At Pioneers we want to contribute to a better future of society and use our know-how to support entrepreneurs solving the big challenges of this planet. In 2021, we have started the first initiatives on this topic and are collaborating with corporates and public organizations e.g. with the European Investment Bank on the Social Innovation Tournament to drive purpose-driven innovation.
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.
What we can do for you?
Corporate Services
Learn more about our innovation services for corporates and how we can help you bring new products and services on the road.
Startups Services
Learn more about how we support startups in their development and find open calls of our corporate partners for external innovation.
Job Opportunities
Learn more about our open job positions and opportunities to join our team. We are always eager to find like-minded innovation enthusiasts.
