Roman Kirsch

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Roman Kirsch
Roman Kirsch.jpg
Born
Roman Kirsch

(1988-07-03) July 3, 1988 (age 33)
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

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

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] Having come from a USD 1 billion valuation, Fab was ultimately sold for USD 15 million in a fire sale to Irish manufacturing company PCH in 2014.[10]

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.[11]

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][12][13][14] 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.[15][16]

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.[17]

In 2015 Kirsch became the first investor and advisor in the Instagram-DTC-pioneer Fitvia.[18] In June 2019 stock-listed Dermapharm announced the acquisition of 70% of the shares in Fitvia.[19]

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.[20]

In 2018, the company Lesara struggled with follow-on financing and had to close down, selling its assets to Ladenzeile, a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE.[21][22]

Awards and recognition[]

In January 2016, Forbes Magazine US listed Kirsch in its 30 under 30 Europe list for retail and e-commerce.[23] He is also a "Global Shaper” of the World Economic Forum Davos and a member of YPO.[24]

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. ^ a b c d "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. ^ a b c "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. ^ Nisen, Max. "How Fab.com went from a $1 billion valuation to a $15 million fire sale". qz.com.
  11. ^ "ProSiebenSat.1 bewertet Amorelie mit fast 100 Millionen Euro". Gründerszene Magazin (in German). 2018-07-27. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  12. ^ "Lesara Uses Agile Management and Data to Meet Retail Fashion Trends". insights.samsung.com. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  13. ^ Nadya, Khoja (20 July 2016). "Changing Clothes: How Agile Retail is Disrupting the Fashion Industry". business.com. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  14. ^ Lara, Martino (28 June 2016). "Roman Kirsch (Lesara): Il segreto del nostro ecommerce? Qualita, senza intermediari". startupitalia.eu. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Lesara is Europe's fastest growing company". Ecommerce News. 2016-05-30. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  16. ^ "Gewinner Technology Fast 50 im Überblick". Deloitte Deutschland (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  17. ^ "#24 How to run a company with 300+ employees in your 20s - Growth Show". pod.co. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  18. ^ "Fitvia: Dieser deutsche Hidden Champion macht achtstellige Umsätze mit Detox-Tee". Daily (in German). 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  19. ^ Schnor, Pauline (2019-06-07). "Pharmakonzern kauft Tee-Startup Fitvia". Gründerszene Magazin (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-08.
  20. ^ Christina, Kyriasoglou (14 July 2016). "Warum ich die Zalando-App löschen musste". gruenderszene.de. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  21. ^ Preuss, Simone (18 March 2019). "What led to Lesara's bankruptcy?". fashionunited.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  22. ^ "Lesara hat Insolvenz beantragt | MDR.DE". 3 August 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-08-03. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  23. ^ "30 under 30 Europe". forbes.com. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  24. ^ "Shaper's Profile - ROMAN KIRSCH". globalshapers.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
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