Roman Kirsch

Roman Kirsch is a German serial entrepreneur and investor in the tech- and consumer-internet-space.[1][2][3]

Roman Kirsch
Born
Roman Kirsch

(1988-07-03) July 3, 1988
Almaty, Kazakhstan
NationalityGerman
Alma materWHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
London School of Economics
OccupationTech Entrepreneur
Years active2003-present
Parent(s)Waldemar Kirsch and Helene Kirsch
Websiteromankirsch.com

Early life and education

Kirsch holds a business degree from the German business school WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management.[4] He also has a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics in Finance, Accounting and Management.[5] He also spent time at the University of Southern California[5] as well as the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

Career

At the age of 13, Roman set up a business of importing watches from China.[6] Later in 2003, at the age of 15, Kirsch founded his first company (a souvenir shop in Hamburg).[7] He worked for Bang & Olufsen, J.P. Morgan & Co. and Goldman Sachs, as an intern.[8]

In 2011 Kirsch founded Casacanda; a furniture company that was later acquired by Fab.com in February 2012.[5][7][9] He spent a year as the CEO of Fab Europe.[5]

In 2012 Kirsch started investing and building multiple companies. In 2012 Roman was a founding investor of Amorelie, which became the leading love-toys and lingerie company in Europe. In 2015 media company Pro7Sat1 acquired Amorelie, which is now valued at €100 million.[10]

In 2013 Kirsch, alongside Matthias Wilrich and Robin Müller, founded the Berlin e-commerce startup Lesara with Kirsch as the CEO of the company.[7][11][12][13] The company was awarded as fastest-growing tech company in Europe in 2016 by “The Next Web” and as the fastest growing tech company in Germany in 2017 by Deloitte.[14][15] In 2018, the company struggled with follow-on financing and had to close down, selling its assets to Ladenzeile, a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE.[16][17]

According to a podcast, through his Rapid Pioneers Group Kirsch has co-founded and invested into several consumer technology and brands with a focus on Europe.[18]

In 2015 Kirsch became the first investor and advisor in the Instagram-DTC-pioneer Fitvia.[19] In June 2019 stock-listed Dermapharm announced the acquisition of 70% of the shares in Fitvia.[20]

The total portfolio of the Rapid Pioneers Group consists of over 25 companies, including industry leaders such as Carprice, SevenSenders, Sunshine Smile, FlowerChimp and MoBerries.[21][22][23]

Awards and recognition

In January 2016, Forbes Magazine US listed Kirsch in its 30 under 30 Europe list for retail and e-commerce.[24] He is also a "Global Shaper” of the World Economic Forum Davos and a member of YPO.[25]

See also

References
  1. Li, Charmaine (16 May 2014). "Meet Roman Kirsch, the 25-year-old founder who sold his startup to Fab". Tech.eu. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  2. Heuberger, Sarah (23 July 2020). "Das sind die bisher unbekannten Investments von Roman Kirsch". Business Insider (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  3. Bracht, Anke. "Roman Kirsch: Disruption in the cosmetics industry". The Weberbank magazine. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  4. "WHU Alumni among Forbes "30 under 30"". WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. 2016-02-25. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
  5. "Roman Kirsch". TheEuropean (in German). 2 May 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  6. Anna, Isaac (2017-01-03). "Lesara's Roman Kirsch on how to build a fashion empire". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  7. "Fab Buys Casacanda For $11 million To Fight The Samwers In Europe". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  8. Lammers, Lena. "Wow. Diese 64 Talente aus Deutschland haben es in die Forbes 30 under 30 geschafft" (in German). Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  9. "Lesara expandiert nach Frankreich". derhandel.de. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  10. "ProSiebenSat.1 bewertet Amorelie mit fast 100 Millionen Euro". Gründerszene Magazin (in German). 2018-07-27. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  11. "Lesara Uses Agile Management and Data to Meet Retail Fashion Trends". insights.samsung.com. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  12. Nadya, Khoja (20 July 2016). "Changing Clothes: How Agile Retail is Disrupting the Fashion Industry". business.com. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  13. Lara, Martino (28 June 2016). "Roman Kirsch (Lesara): Il segreto del nostro ecommerce? Qualita, senza intermediari". startupitalia.eu. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  14. "Lesara is Europe's fastest growing company". Ecommerce News. 2016-05-30. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  15. "Gewinner Technology Fast 50 im Überblick". Deloitte Deutschland (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  16. Preuss, Simone (18 March 2019). "What led to Lesara's bankruptcy?". fashionunited.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  17. "Lesara hat Insolvenz beantragt | MDR.DE". web.archive.org. 3 August 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  18. "#24 How to run a company with 300+ employees in your 20s - Growth Show". pod.co. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  19. "Fitvia: Dieser deutsche Hidden Champion macht achtstellige Umsätze mit Detox-Tee". Daily (in German). 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  20. Schnor, Pauline (2019-06-07). "Pharmakonzern kauft Tee-Startup Fitvia". Gründerszene Magazin (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-08.
  21. Christina, Kyriasoglou (14 July 2016). "Warum ich die Zalando-App löschen musste". gruenderszene.de. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  22. "Der Schnäppchen-König". handelsjournal.de. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  23. "Seven Senders Funding & Investors - CB Insights". www.cbinsights.com. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  24. "30 under 30 Europe". forbes.com. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  25. "Shaper's Profile - ROMAN KIRSCH". globalshapers.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
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