We are your external venturing unit.
We work with a broad network of corporations, startups, and public partners, and we take operational ownership to turn innovation projects into structured implementation.
Hessen Innovation Summit · 2025External innovation, operationally delivered.
Since 2018, we've helped companies implement external innovation projects in a structured way: from a clear problem definition to a real-world pilot.
As an external Innovation Venturing Unit, we work operationally at the intersection of corporations, SMEs, scale-ups, startups, and public-sector partners.
Our departments — and the people behind them.
Structured, but fast. Pragmatic, but methodologically sound. Every department with a clear contribution to one shared outcome: external innovation that actually reaches companies.
Founders
We are Justin, Nico and Linh, the founders of ekipa. Our shared journey began back at university, building an initiative and learning that real impact happens when people take ownership and get things done.
With ekipa, we set out to solve a problem we had experienced ourselves: plenty of innovation in theory, but little real implementation. It quickly became clear that it is rarely ideas that are missing, but structure, operational capacity and methodological leadership to successfully integrate external innovation into companies.
That is exactly where we come in today. As a Corporate Venturing Partner, we help companies identify, validate, and operationalize external innovation as concrete pilot projects, collaborations, or strategic partnerships.
The people who make ekipa what it is.
Alexander Schießer
Venture Manager
Anastasia Chalagashvili
Consulting Analyst
Anika Horaczek
Senior Marketing Manager | Design
Anika Lorenz
Business Development Associate
Anna Nenninger
Venture Analyst
Aurelia Müller
Marketing Manager
Brian Rassmann
Marketing Manager | Video
Daniel Sander
Business Development Associate
Hannah Werner
Senior Venture Manager
Jacqueline Cyba
Marketing Associate
Justin Gemeri
Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Katharina Heby
Head of Consulting
Léa Daiz
Senior Innovation Consultant
Lidia Welldeabzghi
Head of Venture Management
Linh Phung
Co-Founder, CTO & Developer
Luna Rudolph
People & Culture Manager
Magdalena Dresse
Venture Analyst
Mariya Denysenko
Venture Manager
Nico Heby
Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Simon Buchwaldt
Venture Analyst
Sofia Gascon
Consulting Analyst
Venjamin Schuster
Venture Analyst
External innovation is no longer a nice-to-have — it's a must-have.
Markets change faster than internal structures can keep up. Anyone who wants to stay relevant has to bring innovation in from the outside. That's exactly why we exist: we bring it into implementation in a way that's structured and reliable — and that delivers real results.
Excited to actively shape external innovation?
