Kai Buehler
Investor, Professor & Entrepreneur
Kai Buehler
Investor, Professor & Entrepreneur
Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
Overview
Work Experience
Professor of Digital Entrepreneurship & Startup Management
2016 - Current
In 2016, I started teaching Startup Management and Financing in the Master of Digital Business-program. My areas of research include Digital Entrepreneurship, Start-up Management, Climate Tech and Digital Transformation. See www.4TStartupScore.com for our current research on startup success factors and the 4T model. We also launched our new Open Innovation Platform, https://projectcologne.de/ , where we work with multinationals such as Microsoft, Viega, Deutsche Telekom and the Ford Motor Company to launch more university startups and spin-outs.
Founding Investor & Advisor
2021
WorldFund backs entrepreneurs building climate tech that can save at least 100Mt CO2e emissions per year.
Founder & CEO
2012
KARMAKARMA is a social impact community where users can see and track their impact on the world. We work with 150+ nonprofit partners and have defined tangible social impacts such as Giving a child a meal, Planting a tree or Feeding a rescued puppy.
Founder & Investor
2011
Partnering with visionary founders who transform everyday consumer experiences towards a more sustainable, healthier future. Investments include among others better-for-you and tech products like FUNQ, HealingCompany, fakespot (acq. by Mozilla), mimik, DueDash, Honey (acq. by PayPal), Vire/Storrito, Deskcloud, MightyVR, RewardFX, KarmaKarma, ...
Representative of the German State of NRW in California
2019 - 2021
NRW.INVEST is the economic development agency of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). As One-Stop-Agency for foreign investors, NRW.INVEST supports international companies with their investment projects and settlements in NRW throughout the entire investment process.
First Outside Investor&Advisor
2013 - 2021
Honey automatically finds and applies the best coupon codes online with just one click. Honey was acquired by Paypal in November 2019 for $4 billion. http://joinhoney.com
Co-Founder 5G Accelerator & Venture Partner
2019 - 2020
Quake Europe is a unique 5G accelerator focused on making seed level investments in 5G new media & tech startups. Partners include Deutsche Telekom and RTL. Our team boasts unparalleled access to the top players in finance, development, manufacturing, and distribution.
SVP and GM
2011 - 2012
Viggle is an entertainment marketing and rewards platform with an average monthly total reach of 23.6 million users. In my role as SVP and GM, I spearheaded the integration of new acquisitions and managed the existing Loyalize business platform with customers such as Motorola, yahoo Australia, Spike and MTV. We successfully launched Viggle in early 2012, quickly passed the million users mark and partnered with all major US TV stations such as Fox, NBC, ABC, Sony.
CEO
2010 - 2011
mobile messaging solutions (mms), Inc. was divested out of Verisign in 2009 (NASDAQ: VRSN). While serving as CEO of mms Inc, we processed over 1 billion premium and standard text messages for America’s top TV-shows such as American Idol, America's Got Talent, Deal or No Deal, Sabado Gigante, Survivor and Big Brother. Created unique app experiences and mobile solutions for Coca-Cola, Bell mobility, AT&T and the company grew 40% in revenues. Developed Watchpoints, first loyalty program for TV, which was acquired by Viggle in September 2011 (NASDAQ: VGGL).
CEO North America
2006 - 2010
I started MindMatics’ iTV-business in the US in 2006 and the company soon became the major mobile service provider for TV networks such as Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, Univision, BET, endemol. Successfully created new revenue streams and generated ancillary revenues of over $50M for interactive TV shows like Deal or No Deal and BET - Take the Cake. The MindMatics iTV business in the US was merged with mms, Inc. in early 2010.