Markus Kainz is the founder and CEO of Gateway Ventures. He leads the management and corporate strategy and is himself a passionate business angel and start-up mentor. Markus has been active as an entrepreneur and startup investor for more than 15 years and is eager to share his knowledge and experience with other investors.

Christian Gerencser is the Head of Portfolio at Gateway Ventures and has almost 20 years of experience in the financial sector. He can look back on many years of experience as managing director of an international asset management company. He has in-depth knowledge of financial markets, business development, operations and fund management. Christian’s extensive experience includes the management of domestic and international investment funds, UCITS funds and funds of funds. He has worked in various international environments and collaborated with companies in Asia, Europe and the US and is keen to utilise his knowledge, experience and network to support the startups on their path to success.

In addition, of promoting sustainable innovations in particular, one of Svenja’s biggest goals is informing more women about startup investments, getting them excited about this form of economic influence and lowering the inhibition threshold for entering startup investing. Also, because more female investors will increase the number of female founders and impact investments. For this reason, Svenja launched the Female Investors Network (FIN) at primeCROWD in 2020 and initiated the Mission #25to25 with the goal of 25% women in the startup-scene until 2025. Furthermore, she started to offer the FIN Academy in 2022 to share the basic knowledge for Female Business Angels to be.

Until December 2021, Matthias himself was the founder of a proptech start-up. For this reason, it is easy for him to meet founders at eye level. He is open-minded and loves to talk to founders about their vision. Since starting at Gateway, Matthias has also been involved in structuring & automating all processes. His background in computer science helps him a lot. During his studies in Austria and the US, Matthias has been involved in the VC & finance industry and conducted research in machine learning and portfolio optimisation.

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Julian is an Associate in Strategy and Business Development and works together with the management team on the further development of Gateway Ventures. He is also driving the optimisation of MPaaS with the aim of making the European startup market more efficient and building one of the largest investor networks in Europe. Julian has extensive experience in management consulting, corporate development and M&A and has already founded his own startup.

Growing up in a hotel and farming business in the far west of Austria, Adrian dedicated himself to the professional practice of alpine skiing at a young age. This sporting career later opened up the opportunity for him to study in the United States, where he was able to further deepen his knowledge of finance and international business management. During his stay abroad, he also had the opportunity to work in a business angel group for a year, which allowed him to gain valuable experience in the field of start-up financing.