Our Advisors & Venture Partners

Christian Bacher

Christian has been working in the areas of software innovation, sustainable development and startup ecosystems for more than 14 years, working as a consultant, growing and managing a corporate startup accelerator and most recently, founding his own company.

In particular, and this is also true for his commitment to Vireo Ventures, his heart beats for data-driven business models all over the places of Green- and Cleantech-solutions and Regenerative Finance (ReFI).

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Jason Rees

Jason has 25 years’ experience holding senior leadership positions at start-up, scale up and corporate level with a focus on strategy, operational and commercial delivery, and growth to exit.

He has served on multiple boards including a competitive Joint Venture and founded and ran a consulting start-up. He is excited and driven by the need to make the low carbon, electrified and digitised future a reality to make a more sustainable and equitable world. 

Johanna Holmström

Johanna has over 25 years experience in finance, strategy, venture capital and fundraising in the venture space, both for funds and start-ups. 

She has deep knowledge in the Nordic sustainable ecosystem, where she has recently also founded a company. 

Apart from supporting Vireo, Johanna is outspoken about sustainable growth, impact investing and the importance to include hardware in investment mandates, in order to save our planet. 

Niels Ellwanger

Niels has 30 years experience in the energy industry.

He is CEO of con|energy ag. Niels co-founded con | energy and several other companies and invests in companies within the energy & mobility sectors.

Niels holds a Diploma and a PhD from University of Duisburg-Essen.

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Philipp Elsen

Philipp is the founding partner of an international M&A firm and a seasoned dealmaker with deep knowhow in the eMobility, SaaS, and eCommerce space.

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Leveraging his global PE, family office and strategic investor network, he is focused on exits of founder-led companies. 

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After his studies in Lisbon and Maastricht, where he is a regular guest lecturer, he has worked in investment banking and founded several companies.

Thomas W. Thomas 

Thomas has more than 20 years of experience holding senior management positions in the energy industry, with a strong focus on strategy, portfolio/risk management, and large M&A and commodity transactions. Thomas was Managing Director at innogy Ventures GmbH, leading the venture capital activities for innogy SE (former RWE AG) focusing on series A to D financing rounds in Europe, North America and Israel. In this capacity, he was serving multiple boards of portfolio companies. In addition, he founded and ran two start-ups in consulting and e-commerce.

He holds a PhD in Economics from Witten/Herdecke University and was visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley.