Congratulations, Nikolaus!

Nikolaus Futter, graduate of our Certified Business Angel Program in 2018 , has been elected to the “Business Angel of the Year 2020” by aws and the AplusB Gründerzentren.

For the past 12 years, one start-up investor has been elected to the Business Angel of the Year at the Business Angel Day. The election sets an important signal for the economy to create more awareness for venture capital in Austria and to mobilize private venture capital. Nikolaus Futter follows Markus Ertler, the winner of the previous year.

v.li. aws GF Bernhard Sagmeister, Business Angel of the Year Nikolaus Futter, Business Angel of the Year 2019 Markus Ertler and Viktor Pasquali, aws Programm-Manager. Fotocredit: aws / videosupport.at / Raffael Frick

From pioneer of digitization to full-blood business angel

The IT-enthusiast pushed ahead with the digitization of the family business, the Compass Group, so that by 1995 all the Group’s information was already available online. After three decades at the top of the leading provider of company information in Austria, Niki, as he is nicknamed, retires from the operative business at the beginning of the year to devote all his attention to his passion as a business angel.

Good intuition for the right start-ups

Nikolaus has already proven that he has the right sense for the right start-ups like Cyan, where he made a successful exit 2 years ago. Currently he has 17 start-up investments, such as the crypto-company Blockpit.

Learn what makes Niki tick, where he comes from, what he’s learned along the way, how he became a business angel and what makes a startup successful in his December 2020 “Fireside Chat” interview.

Business Angels in Austria

The most sought out sectors of investment in 2018 are software, e-commerce businesses and HealthTech/ life science startups. These sectors are followed by DeepTech, FinTech and marketplaces. If you are interested in investing in start-ups, we recommend you the Certified Business Angel (CBA)© training program, which is now also available in digital form. This high-quality training provides you with the necessary tools and knowledge to establish yourself as a business angel in the start-up scene. For more information click here.