Frank Thelen

Frank Thelen
Thelen in 2020
Born (1975-10-10) 10 October 1975
Bonn, West Germany
Occupation(s)Investor, businessman, author
TelevisionDie Höhle der Löwen
Websitefrank.io

Frank Thelen (born 10 October 1975) is a German businessman, investor and author based in Bonn.[1] He is best known as a former investor in the TV series Die Höhle der Löwen, the German version of Shark Tank.

Life

Frank Thelen first attended the Pädagogium Bad Godesberg and then the Carl-Schurz-Realschule in Bonn.[2]

Before turning to software engineering, Thelen's youth was primarly dominated by skateboarding and snowboarding. He still supports projects in this field today, such as "Skate-Aid" by Titus Dittman[3]. Thelen later began studying computer science at the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, but dropped out to build his first company. Today, he is active as an investor, entrepeneur, and author.

Thelen lives in Bonn and is married to orthodontist Nathalie Thelen-Sattler.[4]

Career

According to his own autobiography, Thelen founds his first company, Solter Solutions Media, in 1994. The company developed a platform for the production of multimedia CD-ROMs and merged with another company in 1996, resulting in Twisd AG, for which Thelen receivs 1.4 million DM in venture capital in 1997. The company developed and sold a Linux-based router that connected local networks to the Internet and enabled management via a web application.[5] In 1999, the company prepared for an IPO, but then had to file for bankruptcy in the wake of the bursting of the dot-com bubble.[6][7]

Thelen is also a co-founder of companies such as ip.labs and doo. ip.labs GmbH, founded in 2004, was an online photo service. The company got acquired by the Fujifilm Group in 2008. The estimated price of the acquisition was between 13 and 19 million euros. [8] Doo GmbH, which he founds in 2011 after leaving ip.labs, developed a central document management app. [9] Initially, venture investors Lars Hinrichs and DuMont Venture, among others, invested over ten million US dollars in the company.[10][11] After the original approach of the app failed, the doo app became the scanner app Scanbot in 2014 , and the company was renamed accordingly. [12] Scanbot started focusing more on selling their software to companies, and decided to sell their Scanbot app to the American company Maple Media in 2020, and the company then being renamed Scanbot SDK. [13] [14] In July 2025, Scanbot SDK announced its acquisition by the American technology company Apryse.[15]

As of 2014, he is the CEO of venture capital firm e42,[16][17] now Freigeist Capital,[18] which has invested in startups such as Wunderlist,[19][20] MyTaxi,[21] KaufDa, pitch,[22] Lilium, Hardt Hyperloop and Endurosat.

Thelen consults the Microsoft Ventures accelerator in Berlin,[23][24] and he also supports startups in German politics.[25] Together with the German State Minister for Digitization, Dorothee Bär, he is a leading member of the German Innovation Council.[26]

In 2012, Thelen spoke at the Founders Conference in New York and was given the "Innovate 4 Society Award" by Microsoft handed out by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that same year for his startup "doo".[27][28]

Thelen is an advocate of some form of universal basic income (UBI).[29] He supports startups in German politics.[30] Europe is in danger of falling behind in economic competition with the U.S. and China, he said, and to change that, Europe needs to show more commitment and unity.[31]

In 2014, he joined the German version of the TV show Dragons' Den (Shark Tank), called Die Höhle der Löwen, as investor.[32] He is also a regular guest in German talk show Hart aber fair.[33]

In 2018, his autobiography Startup-DNA – Hinfallen, aufstehen, die Welt verändern was published[34] and has been a bestseller for several weeks.[35] He is convinced that "The next decade will be the biggest challenge in humankind's history".[36] The same year, he became the first investor of Xentral.[37]

Awards

In 2012, Thelen received the "Innovate 4 Society Award" from Microsoft for the startup "doo". The award was handed over by Angela Merkel.[38]

Publications

  • Die Autobiografie: Startup-DNA – Hinfallen, aufstehen, die Welt verändern. Murmann Publishers. 2018. ISBN 3-86774-611-7.
  • Europa kann es besser: Wie unser Kontinent zu neuer Stärke findet. Ein Weckruf der Wirtschaft. Autorenbeitrag. Publisher: Thomas Sigmund & Sven Afhüppe. Herder, Freiburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-451-39360-0.
  • 10xDNA: Das Mindset der Zukunft. Frank Thelen Media, ISBN 978-3982176406.
  • Frank Thelen – Mein Leben, Meine Firma, Meine Strategie; Author: Volker ter Haseborg Publisher: Beat Balzli. GABAL Verlag, Offenbach 2022, ISBN 978-3-96739-094-0.

Homepage

Twitter Account

References

  1. ^ Kleideiter, Wolfgang. "Gäste beim Charity-Abend in Spendenlaune - Titus Dittmann begeistert". Westfälische Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  2. ^ Bonn, General-Anzeiger (18 September 2015). "„100 Köpfe: Wir sind Bonn": Frank Thelen: Skaten als Lebensphilosophie". General-Anzeiger Bonn (in German). Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  3. ^ Kleideiter, Wolfgang. "Gäste beim Charity-Abend in Spendenlaune - Titus Dittmann begeistert". www.wn.de (in German). Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  4. ^ AZ (21 April 2020). "Frank Thelen privat: So lebt er mit Frau Nathalie". www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de (in German). Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  5. ^ Tuma, Thomas (17 October 2023). "Zwischen Tollpatsch und Titan".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Twisd AG: Mobile-VPN für sichere Einwahl". Computerwoche (in German). Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  7. ^ "Vita - Frank Thelen (Founder, Investor, Geek)". de.frank.io (in German). Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  8. ^ "Fujifilm übernimmt IP Labs". finanzen.ch (in Swiss High German). Archived from the original on 22 February 2025. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  9. ^ Hüfner, Daniel (15 February 2014). "Endstation Papierkorb: Dokumenten-App Doo macht Schluss | t3n". t3n Magazin (in German). Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  10. ^ Butcher, Mike (2 December 2011). "Doo.net Gets $6.8M To Reinvent Office Paperwork — Oh Yes". TechCrunch. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  11. ^ Lomas, Natasha (19 April 2013). "Doo Extends Reach Of Its Document Management Cloud Software With Launch Of Android Reader App, iOS Coming Soon". TechCrunch. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  12. ^ "German startup Doo rebuffed acquisition interest from Dropbox prior to product shutdown; moves on with Scanbot". Tech.eu. 3 April 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  13. ^ "PlanRadar bekommt 30 Millionen - MapleMedia kauft Scanbot". deutsche-startups.de (in German). 4 March 2020. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  14. ^ Hüfner, Daniel (10 July 2018). "Frank Thelen will seine Scanner-App für Millionen verkaufen | t3n". t3n Magazin (in German). Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  15. ^ FinSMEs (10 July 2025). "Apryse Acquires Scanbot SDK and Accusoft". FinSMEs. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  16. ^ "German startup Doo rebuffed acquisition interest from Dropbox". Tech.eu. 3 April 2014.
  17. ^ "Freigeist". Gründerszene. 11 January 2022.
  18. ^ "e42: Frank Thelens Beteiligungsfirma wird zu Freigeist Capital". 21 August 2017.
  19. ^ Thelen, Frank (3 June 2015). "Wunderlist". frank.io. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  20. ^ "15 steps to launch your own startup in Europe - Part 5". 19 December 2013. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013.
  21. ^ Weis, Christian (3 September 2014). "Bonner Investor lag mit myTaxi goldrichtig". business-on.de.
  22. ^ "Frank Thelen". CB Insights.
  23. ^ "Microsoft Ventures partners with HTGF and Seedcamp – and eyes first deals in Berlin". VentureVillage. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  24. ^ "Wie Microsoft aus Gründern erfolgreiche Unternehmer macht". Morgenpost. October 2013.
  25. ^ "Live From Berlin — German Chancellor Angela Merkel Shines Spotlight On Tech Startups". TechCrunch. 7 March 2013.
  26. ^ "Innovation Council konstituiert sich im Bundeskanzleramt". Startseite (in German). 17 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  27. ^ "CEO Frank Thelen benennt e42 in Freigeist um". kress.
  28. ^ Bonn, General-Anzeiger (5 March 2013). "Bonner Software-Firma erhält Innovationspreis: Merkel zeichnet "doo" aus". General-Anzeiger Bonn (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  29. ^ Thelen, Frank. "Löwen-Investor Thelen: Das wahre Problem beim Grundeinkommen ist nicht das Geld". FOCUS Online (in German). Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  30. ^ "Innovation Council konstituiert sich im Bundeskanzleramt". Startseite. 17 May 2018.
  31. ^ "Investor and Entrepreneur Frank Thelen: It needs courage and constistency to build up European global players". handelsblatt.com (in German). Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  32. ^ "Drop Ins im Skatepark: Höhle-der-Löwen Frank Thelen Interview "Ich komme halt echt von unten"". Boardstation.de - Skateboard News, Videos und mehr. 18 February 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  33. ^ "Frank Thelen". www1.wdr.de (in German). 7 December 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  34. ^ "Frank Thelen Startup-DNA". Murmann Publishers GmbH | Shop. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  35. ^ "buchreport". buchreport (in German). Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  36. ^ "On a mission: The man who would save Germany's future tech". handelsblatt.com. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  37. ^ Mumme, Thorsten (19 August 2018). "Frank Thelen investiert in Unternehmens-Software Xentral". Business Insider (in German). Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  38. ^ Bonn, General-Anzeiger (5 March 2013). "Bonner Software-Firma erhält Innovationspreis: Merkel zeichnet "doo" aus". General-Anzeiger Bonn (in German). Retrieved 29 January 2021.
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