Alexander Kolloge, investment manager at ABB Ventures, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2026.
Alexander Kolloge joined ABB Ventures in early 2024, moving from Danish manufacturer Danfoss, where he worked in a team covering technology-focused M&A alongside venture investments. That mix of acquisitions and early-stage investing is where he says his enthusiasm for venture took hold, particularly through exposure to startups with scalable business models and emerging technologies.
At ABB Ventures, he invests on behalf of the electrification business unit, which accounts for roughly half of ABB’s operations. The model is deliberately decentralised, with each investment anchored to a specific business division, with collaboration and co-creation built in from the start. For Kolloge, this proximity to the operating business is the unit’s defining strength, allowing the team to go beyond capital and help startups build credibility, access industrial customers and scale more effectively.
What he enjoys most is seeing the outcomes of a successful collaboration or investment – the results from combining a startup’s technology and ambition, with the access and resources the unit can provide.
“One area where we want to be more bold is horizon three investments, where it is not really known today how the landscape will look in the future.”
The team wants to focus more on frontier technologies that could deliver big impact down the road, such as quantum computing and its potential impact on data centres.
“One area where we want to be more bold is horizon three investments, where it is not really known today how the landscape will look in the future,” says Kolloge.
“It is very exciting to see how bold ideas can really turn into action when the collaboration works well.”
Newcomers to the industry, he says, should focus heavily on building a strong network, staying close to industry experts and immersing themselves in ecosystem knowledge. For him, the appeal of the role lies precisely in that exposure, watching new ideas move from early concepts into real-world applications that shape how industries operate.
The Rising Stars are early-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Rising Stars 2026 here.
