Bastian is an Analyst in the b2venture fund team. He originally hails from Cologne. “I definitely think I have the open-mindedness and optimism that many associate with the Rhineland,” says Bastian with a smile.

His first love was football. He trained with the club 1. FC Köln while still in high school and was on track to become a professional player. However, he made the difficult decision to shift his focus towards his educational future and ultimately decided to quit football for good.

“I was laser-focused on football from a young age and sacrificed my social life for quite a long time, so once I got to university, I gravitated towards subjects that could have both impact and had a substantial social component. That’s why I got interested in startups.”

He did a work-study at Kaia Health as a bachelor student, where he was responsible for business development at the digital therapeutics startup and went on to write his bachelor’s thesis at the University of Münster on the promise of Artificial Intelligence for digital diagnostics in the medical field.

To enhance his technical expertise, Bastian pursued a Masters in Management and Technology at the Technical University of Munich and gained valuable experience in the field of venture capital, working with firms like Freigeist and Picus Capital.

At b2venture Bastian focuses on topics that center on data infrastructure and DeepTech, whether it be DevOps, cloud computing, or machine learning.

„Europe and the tech ecosystem here is well-positioned to capitalize on artificial intelligence. The continent has the know-how and knowledge base to build cutting-edge technology companies. It‘s just a matter of finding the right approach.“