Business angel Thomas Schmidt from Leipzig is like “Business Angel of the Year 2022” been awarded. Schmidt was awarded the “Golden Nose” for his “good nose” in his start-ups. For the 22nd time Angels Netzwerk Deutschland (BAND) awarded the “Goldene Nase” in the “Business Angel of the Year”, which is the oldest award of its kind. The special feature: only the founders of the Angel Investor holdings have the right to propose.
This year’s prize winner Thomas Schmidt comes from Leipzig. Between 1991 and 2005 he was involved as founder and CEO in the development of three software companies in Leipzig. After the last exit in 2005, Schmidt worked until 2018 as CEO of “TomTom Telematics” and then, after another unicorn-rated acquisition under Bridgestone Mobility Solutions, helping the B2B SaaS solution “Webfleet Solutions” to become the number 1 in internet based fleet management in Europe and beyond to stand out. So Schmidt knows the inner workings of a start-up from his CV and knows where the pitfalls lie.
Thomas Schmidt is an electrical engineer by training and has only called himself an electrical engineer since 2021 “Full-time business angel”. His experience as a serial entrepreneur but also as a managing director in building a global software company now helps him enormously as a business angel. His current portfolio includes startups with a focus on software, the Internet of Things and automation. He currently holds a total of eight holdings.
He says about his success Thomas Smith: “It’s just an amazing feeling. A big thank you goes out to “my” startups and scale-ups Actaport, Ducktrain, DeskNow, munevo GmbH, IO-Dynamics, Seventh, Peeriot GmbH and PIONIX GmbHwho named me “Business Angel of the Year” and evaluated my work so that I could enter the top 5 candidates. What a nice feedback! And by the way each of the others would have that Top 5 Angels nominated Alf Arnold, Alexander Bruehl, Wilfried Gillrath and Tobias Wittich deserves such an honor, as do many other angels who do their best every day to advance Germany as a place of innovation.”
Thomas Schmidt also praises “his start-ups” for the green clover. And almost all the companies that have suggested it have one thing in common: On the one hand they underline Schmidt’s many years of management experience, but also on the other the expertise not only to finance a company, but also to advise it strategically and operationally. The keywords “full commitment”, “empathy”, “pragmatism” or “commitment” are also mentioned several times.