Team
Mission-aligned entrepreneurs and dedicated doers, driven to create a positive impact
Roger Lienhard
Founder & Partner
Roger Lienhard
Founder & Partner
Roger is our Evangelist and the Founder of the Blue Horizon Corporation and the affiliated Blue Horizon International Foundation. His primary objective is to generate synergies between the associated companies to ensure the maximum impact on the major global shift towards a more sustainable food system. He is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and sold several companies within the IT, advertising and online marketing industry.
Michael Kleindl
Founder &
Managing Partner
Michael Kleindl
Founder &
Managing Partner
Michael is our specialist for investments and is running our investment team. He is an experienced business angel and venture capital investor, serial entrepreneur and successful founder of a multitude of digital businesses during the last 20 years, including some early Food Tech investments. Michael holds a University degree from European Business School and his track record includes 2 IPOs and numerous exits of portfolio companies’ to prestigious buyers such as Amazon, Axel Springer, Deutsche Post DHL, Eventbrite, Just Eat.
Regina Hecker
Partner
Regina Hecker
Partner
Regina is Partner in our team in Zurich. She has many years of experience in business and science and worked for Evolva, Hoffmann-La Roche, Bank Vontobel, The University Children’s Hospital Zurich and the Max Planck Institute, Germany. She holds a PhD in Molecular & Cell Biology from the University of Zurich, a Master in Biotechnology Management from the IE Business School in Madrid, a Master of Engineering in Biotechnology and is certified in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.
Brendan Brazier
Venture Partner
Brendan Brazier
Venture Partner
Brendan Brazier is the co-founder of Vega, Pulp Culture, and Fire Road, bestselling author of the Thrive book series, Editor-in-Chief of alive magazine, and an Executive Producer of The Game Changers film. He’s also a former professional Ironman triathlete and a two-time Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion. Brendan is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on plant-based performance nutrition, and now invests in and works with socially responsible food & tech companies whose mandate is to fix our food system and reduce the environmental strain of food production.
Juergen Dieter
Mortag
Director Risk,
Compliance & Finance
Juergen Dieter
Mortag
Director Risk,
Compliance & Finance
Juergen is responsible for Finance, including Risk and Compliance. He spent many years’ structuring and managing alternative investment funds. Over many years he was involved in the international securitisation market and founded his own financing company. As an MBA graduate of ESCP, he experienced a genuinely European curriculum studying in Paris, Oxford and Berlin.
Mariana González
Investor Relations &
Associate
Mariana González
Investor Relations &
Associate
Mariana Gonzalez has 4 years of experience in retail and logistics, three of which dedicated to eCommerce. Growing up, she has been exposed to retail, having first hand experience in sourcing, buying and operations. Her family founded one of Mexico’s most successful retail businesses. Mariana Gonzalez joined the COSTCO eCommerce logistics team in 2014. Prior to that, she was part of Kipling Mexico sales team. She holds an engineering degree (Industrial Engineer) from Anahuac University in Mexico-City.
Tanmay
Annachhatre
Associate
Tanmay
Annachhatre
Associate
Tanmay is an Associate in our team in Zurich. He previously worked at Santander InnoVentures, Santander Bank’s venture capital fund, where he worked on early stage investments in the fintech space. He began his career at Cambridge Associates advising institutional investors on venture capital and growth equity investments. Tanmay holds an MBA from London Business School and BA in Economics (magna cum laude) from Carleton College (USA).
Teresa Muschik
Office Manager
Teresa Muschik
Office Manager
Teresa is our Office Manager in our team in Zurich. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Communication and has several years of experience in office operations & procedures and marketing. The last four years she has established a logistics start up in Switzerland. For a long time she’s also a passionate animal conservation worker in different countries of Africa.
Derek van Brussel
Analyst
Derek van Brussel
Analyst
Derek is an Analyst in our team in Zurich. He has 5 years of experience working with Corporate Development at a Private Equity portfolio company in Brazil. He holds an MBA from INSEAD (France/Singapore) and bachelor's degree in Economics from PUC-Rio (Brazil). His core competencies are finance, M&A, and corporate governance. He identifies and researches new investment opportunities and is part of the due diligence team.
Oliver Naef
Analyst
Oliver Naef
Analyst
Oliver is an Analyst in our team in Zurich. He has previously worked in the alternative fuel space for LafargeHolcim across South East Asia and a Swiss early-stage VC. He holds a master’s degree in Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology from the Imperial College London and a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from HKUST (Hong Kong). His core competencies are biotechnology, healthcare and nutrition. He identifies and researches new investment opportunities and is part of the due diligence team.
Julia Brinkmann
Intern
Julia Brinkmann
Intern
Julia is intern in our team in Zurich. She holds a bachelor’s degree Business Administration from Nordakademie Elmshorn in Germany and a master’s in management with specialization on Digital Transformation from the Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg Germany. Her professional experience includes working at Mushlabs in Berlin and Greenspoon in Hamburg. She’s passionate for high-intensity training and currently preparing for a half-marathon.
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Advisors
Our friends who help us make the right decisions
Frank A. Kühne
Food Industry
Frank A. Kühne
Food Industry
Frank is shareholder and chairman of the food ingredient supplier RAPS, as well as chairman of the ADALBERT RAPS foundation. Fifteen years ago, he took over the business from his father and guided it towards internationalization. RAPS is considered to be one of the leading savoury ingredients companies in Europe. Additionally, Frank is engaged in a handful of food tech startups ranging from growing to processing food, analytics and replacing existing food.
Giampaolo Cagnin
Food Ingredients
Giampaolo Cagnin
Food Ingredients
Giampaolo’s aim has always been to apply a disruptive approach to functional food ingredients and that’s how he founded Italiana Ingredienti in ’89 and Campus in ’05. Both companies have been acquired, Italiana Ingredienti by Chr. Hansen in ‘99 and Campus by Firmenich in ’18. Today he serves as Founder and Chairman at Hi-Food, an Italian company providing key functional ingredients to food companies, and as business Angel Investor in several startups.
Michael Rass
Food Technology &
Sustainability
Michael Rass
Food Technology &
Sustainability
Michael is Managing Partner of fjol, a leading consulting company for Sustainable Corporate Management. He has a vast expertise in the fields of recycling, efficient and resource conserving food production, sustainable procurement in global supply chains and successful sustainability marketing. In addition, he has a deep scientific background, advanced knowledge in food processing technology and fifteen years experience in marketing in the grocery retail trade.
Fernando
Valdes Bueno
Food Industry
Fernando
Valdes Bueno
Food Industry
Fernando since February 2016 has been a member of the Board of Directors of Nueva Pescanova. He is also a member of the Boards of Directors of Deoleo, Fruselva and the Spanish Food and Drink Federation (FIAB). He started his professional career in Unilever, where he worked from 1987 to 2005. In 2005 he joined Campofrío where he was the CEO of the Campofrío Food Group until 2015.
Nic Lindley
Biotransformation
Nic Lindley
Biotransformation
Nic has been actively developing process technology innovation for many years and was leading the Toulouse LISBP laboratory until 2015. He then moved to Singapore where he developed the A*STAR Biotransformation Innovation Platform, undertaking industry-facing R&D for food and consumer care speciality ingredients. From August 2019, he splits his time between the laboratories in Toulouse (TBI and TWB) and Singapore (BioTrans).
Dr. Martin Hintze
Food Technology &
Sustainability
Dr. Martin Hintze
Food Technology &
Sustainability
Dr. Martin Hintze has been active as an entrepreneur and investor since the early 1990s. In 1992 he founded Dr. Hintze & Co. OHG together with his brother Florian and has since then invested in residential and commercial real estate in Berlin and the surrounding area as a long-term portfolio holder, whereby the portfolio has also been expanded by numerous project developments. Through Hintze Holding GmbH, Martin has holdings in numerous growth companies, including in the Property Tech and Sustainable Nutrition segments. In parallel to his entrepreneurial activities, Martin worked for more than twenty years as an investment manager with an international investment company and for the last ten years he has been responsible for the European investment business as Managing Partner.
Martin has led the acquisition of companies throughout Europe in various industries and has served on the supervisory boards of companies in the industrial gases, mechanical engineering, specialty chemicals, cable network operations, construction materials, automotive supply, renewable energies/offshore wind energy, marine electronics and food industries, among others. Martin is a triathlete and long-distance swimmer and, together with his wife Asa, is particularly committed to environmental protection (Chairman of the Greenpeace Oceans Board) and children (Vice Presidents of Save the Children).
