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Roman Kirsch

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Roman Kirsch
Born
Roman Kirsch

(1988-07-03) July 3, 1988 (age 36)
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

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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

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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]

In 2011, Kirsch founded Casacanda, a furniture company that was acquired by Fab.com in February 2012, marking one of the quickest exits in tech history for an e-commerce startup and making Kirsch one of the youngest founders to achieve this milestone.[5][7][8] He subsequently served as CEO of Fab Europe until the end of 2012, during which he oversaw the company’s expansion and its rise to unicorn status with a valuation of USD 1 billion.[5][9] Fab ultimately failed to sustain its growth and sold its remaining assets in a fire sale reportedly valued at just $15 million by 2015.[10]

In 2013 Kirsch, alongside Matthias Wilrich and Robin Müller, founded the Berlin fashion startup Lesara with Kirsch as the CEO of the company.[7][11][12][13] Despite rapid growth and recognition, such as being named Europe's fastest-growing tech company by The Next Web in 2016 and Germany's fastest-growing tech company by Deloitte in 2017, Lesara faced significant challenges. In November 2018, the company filed for insolvency after failing to secure a crucial €10 million bridge financing round. Operational issues, including delays from a newly opened €40 million logistics center in Erfurt, and discrepancies in financial reporting eroded investor confidence.[14][15][16][17]

Through his venture studio Rapid Pioneers Group, Kirsch has co-founded and invested in over 30 consumer tech and brand ventures across Europe.[18] In 2012 Roman became an investor of Amorelie, which grew into a leading female lingerie brand in Europe. In 2015 media company Pro7Sat1 acquired Amorelie, which is now valued at €100 million.[19] He was the first investor and advisor in Instagram-native wellness brand Fitvia in 2015,[20] which was 70% acquired by Dermapharm in 2019.[21] Other founding investments include K-Beauty brand Yepoda, HR-tech firm Global Talent Co., and coupon platform Lumaly.[22] The portfolio also includes green tech unicorn Enpal GmbH,[23][24] as well as Bending Spoons, LAP Coffee, everdrop, and Wild Cosmetics.[25][26]

In April 2021, Kirsch has raised $345m in an IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange for the investment vehicle Tio Tech. Kirsch serves as CEO of Tio Tech.[27] In April 2023, Tio Tech announced its shutdown after failing to complete a transaction within an agreed two-year deadline.[28]

Awards and recognition

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  • In January 2016, Forbes Magazine US listed Kirsch in its 30 under 30 Europe list for retail and e-commerce[29]
  • In 2017, the business magazine Capital listed Kirsch in its 40 under 40 list for young elites[30]
  • He is also a "Global Shaper" of the World Economic Forum Davos and a member of YPO[31]
  • In 2022, he as listed amongst the Top 50 Seed Investors in Europe by Business Insider. [32]

See also

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References

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  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". TechCrunch. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  8. ^ "Lesara expandiert nach Frankreich". derhandel.de. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  9. ^ Nisen, Max. "How Fab.com went from a $1 billion valuation to a $15 million fire sale". Quartz. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  10. ^ https://qz.com/300825/how-fab-com-went-from-a-1-billion-valuation-to-a-15-million-fire-sale
  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. ^ https://tech.eu/2018/11/12/german-online-fashion-startup-lesara-files-for-insolvency/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
  17. ^ https://www.fastgrowthbrands.exchangewire.com/2018/11/weekly-focus-europe-birchbox-unveils-new-site-design-aimed-at-casual-beauty-consumer-lesara-has-filed-for-insolvency/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
  18. ^ "#24 How to run a company with 300+ employees in your 20s – Growth Show". pod.co. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  19. ^ "ProSiebenSat.1 bewertet Amorelie mit fast 100 Millionen Euro". Gründerszene Magazin (in German). 2018-07-27. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  20. ^ "Fitvia: Dieser deutsche Hidden Champion macht achtstellige Umsätze mit Detox-Tee". Daily (in German). 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  21. ^ Schnor, Pauline (2019-06-07). "Pharmakonzern kauft Tee-Startup Fitvia". Gründerszene Magazin (in German). Retrieved 2019-06-08.
  22. ^ "Roman Kirsch: Disruption in der Kosmetikbranche". diskurs – Das Magazin der Weberbank (in German). 28 January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  23. ^ Ksienrzyk, Lisa (18 October 2021). "Softbank macht Enpal mit neuer Riesenrunde zum Unicorn". Business Insider (in German). Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  24. ^ Forinyak, Eva (18 October 2021). "Solar Company Enpal Becomes Germany's First "Green Unicorn"". GTAI – Markets Germany. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  25. ^ Christina, Kyriasoglou (14 July 2016). "Warum ich die Zalando-App löschen musste". gruenderszene.de. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  26. ^ Lunden, Ingrid. "Enpal closes out Series C with $174M from SoftBank for tech to make it easier for homeowners to make the switch to solar energy". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  27. ^ Martin, Iain. "HelloFresh Founder Lists $300 Million SPAC For European Tech Buyouts". Forbes. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  28. ^ "Tio Tech a Shutting Down | DealFlow's SPAC News". 12 April 2023.
  29. ^ "30 under 30 Europe". forbes.com. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  30. ^ "Seite nicht gefunden". Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  31. ^ "Shaper's Profile – ROMAN KIRSCH". globalshapers.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  32. ^ Kanetkar, Julie Bort, Shona Ghosh, Callum Burroughs, Michael Cogley, Tasmin Lockwood, Hasan Chowdhury, Riddhi. "Seed 50: The best of Europe's early-stage investors". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-04-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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