German AI spinout centre hires Möller

^{Photo: K.I.E.Z. / Viktor Strasse}

K.I.E.Z., a Germany-based entrepreneurship centre for artificial intelligence startups backed by multiple institutions in Berlin, has hired Laura Möller as its new director.

Möller was an investment manager with Burda Principal Investments, a corporate venture capital unit of publishing group Hubert Burda Media, from June 2021 to December 2023.

At K.I.E.Z., Möller follows in the footsteps of Tina Klüwer, who left at the end of last year to join the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Möller is also an angel investor with Paolo Ventures and has served as a board director and observer for multiple startups. She spent much of her early career at IBB Ventures, working for the venture capital arm of local development bank Investitionsbank Berlin from 2014 to 2021.

K.I.E.Z. is an initiative by Science & Startups, the association of tech transfer offices of TU Berlin, Free University Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin and the latter two’s affiliate university hospital Charité. It was created to help commercialise artificial intelligence research and runs incubator and accelerator programmes.

Möller said: “With K.I.E.Z. and its more than 50 AI companies, an entirely new university startup ecosystem has emerged in Berlin over the past two years. My mission is to strengthen K.I.E.Z.’s focus on private sector players so that we can establish Berlin as a sustainable location for AI innovations.” [translated from German by Global University Venturing]