A veteran of Deutsche Bank, having joined in 2001 as relationship manager in corporate banking, before moving into more business development roles, Joerg Landsch climbed the ranks and has now headed the bank’s global corporate VC activity since 2020.
“What will happen now is you will have an industry of products developed around generative AI,” says Landsch about the flurry of AI excitement across the market. “Governance, cybersecurity, methods of seeing whether there is any bias in there – how do you make sure as an organisation that you govern the LLM morals correctly and there is no ‘black box’?
“Those types of tools which exist around the actual models themselves will be great investments. Those will be great solutions we will see in the near future.”
Tools which exist around the actual models themselves will be great investments. Those will be great solutions we will see in the near future.
One such startup that the CVC invested in is AI-powered banking assistant software FinanzGuru. The portfolio also includes data analytics platform Kodex AI, carbon accounting software provider Plan A and compliance and payroll platform Deel, as well as an LP position in seed-stage investor High-Tech Gründerfonds.
Landsch says AI and ESG are the biggest priorities for the CVC, followed by cybersecurity, cloud software and the future of work. In addition to its venture investments, the unit also incubates new ventures through an entrepreneur-in-residence programme.
He also publishes his advice and knowledge about corporate venture capital through a newsletter on the Substack platform.
Looking back at the first quarter, Landsch foresees that the drop in VC deal count is nearing its bottom, but he does not predict a real comeback of mega-funding rounds.
Landsch holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from HZ University of Applied Sciences, MBAs from University of Toronto and University of St Gallen. He also graduated from Harvard Business School’s programme for leadership development.
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