Vivian Titze, investment manager at Henkel Ventures, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2026.
Vivian Titze has built a resilient network in the VC ecosystem and has made a name for herself in the industry through robust portfolio management at Henkel Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of the German manufacturer of adhesives and consumer brands.
Titze joined Henkel in 2021 as an intern in the company’s open innovation and incubation division. She transitioned to the ventures arm a year later as an investor and portfolio development manager, a role that encompasses the entire venturing process from sourcing deals to due diligence to taking board seats and building networks internally and externally.
She enjoys the responsibility she has for the entire investment process and that she is able to combine her analytical skills with her passion for innovation and entrepreneurship.
“You need to be resilient enough to always challenge the conventional thinking that is out there, even when it is uncomfortable.”
“My highlights are diving into the future, being able to develop my own thesis, the responsibility I get to work with the greatest minds out there in terms of startup founders and our great industry experts that we have here at Henkel,” says Titze.
Bringing new perspectives is a core part of her role. “You need to be resilient enough to always challenge the conventional thinking that is out there, even when it is uncomfortable.”
Her focus is on sustainability and consumer technologies. She is also looking at developing new VC products that allow the ventures team to adapt to the evolving venture capital landscape, while enabling faster decision-making in line with the pace of the startup ecosystem.
The Henkel Ventures team invests from the corporate parent’s balance sheet through two internal funds with a total of €300m in assets under management. The team invests from seed to series B in startups globally, with ticket sizes between €500,000 and €5m.
Titze is particularly excited about AI-driven technologies in material science, as well as startups working at the intersection of consumer health and longevity.
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.
