About
For more than ten years I have worked on the same question: who owns the value created by artificial intelligence?
AI investor, entrepreneur and author based in Berlin.
01 — What I do today
Four roles, one subject.
I invest in AI companies through Asgard Capital and am a founding partner of AI.FUND. I host the Rise of AI Conference together with Veronika Westerheide. I write books, essays and columns. And I give keynotes and executive briefings for companies and institutions.
02 — The mission
An AI ecosystem in Europe. I have worked on it since 2014.
When I started investing in artificial intelligence in 2014, I was advised to stick to e-commerce instead. AI was not seen as a viable category. That same year I sat with ten people in a room at c-base in Berlin, talking about machines that think.
My intention has been the same from the start: that Germany and Europe build their own AI ecosystem. Not as a sales market for other people's technology, but with their own research, capital, companies and infrastructure.
The question behind it still drives me: who owns the value that artificial intelligence creates? Whoever owns the models, the compute and the distribution decides who owns progress. For Europe, that is the defining question of the decade.
03 — The path
From rural East Westphalia to Berlin.
04 — Why I can put things in context
It is a cycle.
I know many people in this market. So I get asked. Because I get asked, I see more than reports show — deals before they are published, problems before they turn up in studies, moods before they shift. Because I see it, I can put it into context. And because I can put it into context, people come back.
This is not a talent. It is the result of twelve years of working, investing, writing and being invited in this market. What I say on stage rarely comes from a report.
„One of the most networked minds in the tech and AI scene." (translated) Sascha Lobo, podcast „Tech, KI & Schmetterlinge", 28 January 2026
05 — Positions, as of 2026
What I want to be measured against.
My forecasts come with a date. These are the four positions I hold in 2026 — argued in full in my technology power model.
AGI is not coming soon
General artificial intelligence will not arrive in the foreseeable future. Most of what is said about it today is marketing.
Europe has lost the model race
The race for large foundation models has been decided strategically. Europe's opportunity lies in domain-specific application models, not in repeating other people's bets.
The biggest AI lever is the state
Close to half of economic output runs through the state, and that is exactly where the machinery is slowest. Standstill is the real dystopia.
Robotics will arrive as a thousand specialists
Not the one universal robot. The value sits in the layer below: sensors, control systems, compute.
06 — Books
Books.
2024 · German-language
„Die KI-Nation: Zwischen Dystopie und Utopie"
English working title: The AI Nation. What Germany and Europe need in infrastructure, capital, talent, research and digital sovereignty to stay capable of action in the age of AI. Presented at the German Federal Chancellery.
In progress
A novel in progress
Almost every story told about artificial intelligence is a warning. I am interested in the other case: a near-future Germany where it worked, and where the real questions begin.
07 — Biography for organisers
Ready to use.
40 words
100 words
250 words
08 — Private
Berlin.
I live in Berlin with my family. The time that does not go into stages, capital and writing belongs to them, often at our cabin in the woods, where most of my texts are written. Together with my wife Veronika Westerheide I host the German-language podcast „Unternehmer:Leben" about entrepreneurship, family and health.
A public overview of my career is also available on Wikipedia (German).