How Carsten Kraus Picks Winners: AI-Driven Startup Investing from Germany’s Top Business Angel
- Jörn Menninger
- 12. Mai
- 5 Min. Lesezeit
Startup Investing Powered by AI and Insight
What do Facebook, OpenAI, and your startup have in common? Potentially everything—if you can impress Carsten Kraus, Germany’s Business Angel of the Year. In this exclusive interview with Startuprad.io, Kraus opens up about his unique approach to startup investing, which blends deep technological understanding with AI-driven evaluation tools. Whether you're a founder, tech entrepreneur, or investor, this deep dive into his strategy offers a masterclass in modern startup investing.
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The Art of Startup Selection: Filtering Through the Noise
Carsten Kraus, serial entrepreneur and AI advocate, receives up to ten startup pitches each week. To handle this flood of ideas, he created a proprietary AI system that filters and annotates startup pitch decks, flagging issues like weak sales experience or non-patentable technology.
“You always fear missing the one hidden gem that becomes the next Facebook or OpenAI,” says Kraus.
His AI acts as a smart gatekeeper, allowing his team to prioritize high-potential startups and feeding structured data into a database for trend analysis. This proactive approach is especially crucial in the competitive German startup and DACH startup ecosystem, where speed and accuracy in investment decision-making are key.
Key Takeaway: AI-powered startup filtering allows for scalable, data-driven decision-making, helping investors spot red flags and opportunities faster.
Why Carsten Kraus Prioritizes Technology Over Teams
Unlike many investors who focus on the startup founding team’s pedigree, Kraus emphasizes technological innovation. With a deep tech background, Kraus believes he can identify groundbreaking innovations early on.
"Most investors come from finance. I come from tech, so I can truly evaluate if a startup’s technology is a game-changer," he explains.
While Kraus does evaluate factors like market size (requiring a total addressable market over €1 billion), team fit, and business models, his edge lies in his ability to assess the technical merit of a solution. This is especially relevant in AI startups, robotics, and deep tech ventures in Germany.
People Also Ask:
What does Carsten Kraus look for in startup technology?
He evaluates if the tech is defensible, patentable, ahead of competitors, and based on solid foundations—not just buzzwords.
Learning from Missed Opportunities and Mistakes
Even seasoned business angels miss great investments. Kraus shares a story where he passed on a startup founded by two young entrepreneurs due to scheduling delays. Within months, they raised €2 million on a €10 million valuation.
Kraus also invested in a profitable company that lacked ambition, reminding founders and investors alike: not all profitable startups scale.
Red Flags That Make Kraus Walk Away
Kraus has a clear list of deal breakers:
Incompatibility with founders
Lack of transparency
Unoriginal or easily replicable tech
"One team claimed a chemical discovery. Five minutes on Google showed it already existed."
He also supports single-founder startups, referencing his own success scaling FactFinder to 100+ employees solo.
Featured Snippet Optimization:
What are Carsten Kraus’s startup pitch red flags?
Inability to collaborate with founders
Misrepresented or non-defensible technology
Lack of patentability
Low transparency
Inside Kraus's Portfolio: Innovation and Intelligence
Kraus currently manages 15 active investments, qualifying him for BAND's exclusive "Freaking Angel Circle." Among these is Vaillant, a UK-based startup using AI to detect and counter social media attacks, protecting brands and political figures.
"Coordinated attacks are real. Vaillant’s AI defends companies under digital siege."
People Also Ask:
What does Vaillant offer to clients?
Detection of coordinated social media attacks, plus countermeasures like press support and legal strategies.
The Speed of Scale: A Surprise Hardware Exit
Kraus recounts a rare success story where a pre-revenue hardware startup exited within 18 months. The company demonstrated transformative AI-integrated tech and was quickly acquired.
"It was pre-revenue, pre-customer. But the prototype was so good, a major buyer acquired them."
Carsten Kraus’s Investment Thesis and Flexibility
While Kraus prefers pre-seed deals and avoids startups valued over €5 million, he remains flexible. One exception: Hybrid LiDAR, a startup developing high-resolution, cost-effective LiDAR sensors for robotics and autonomous systems.
Emerging Technologies: Betting on Robots and Deep RL
Asked about future bets, Kraus singles out two technologies:
Deep Reinforcement Learning (Deep RL): Core to advancements like DeepSeek.
Robots + Large Language Models (LLMs): Enabling natural-language-commanded robotics across industries.
“The real revolution will be robots that understand and act on everyday language.”
He sees vast potential for AI-powered robotics startups in Germany and Europe.
How AI Will Reshape Startup Investing
Kraus predicts widespread adoption of AI by VCs and angel investors. Tools will shift from research support to decision-making aids that proactively identify investable startups.
"Our AI helps us decide—not just generate 75-page PDFs to justify decisions."
Expect more German and European investors to build proprietary models for startup screening.
Barriers in the German Startup Ecosystem
Kraus criticizes regulatory overreach, specifically the EU AI Act, which causes uncertainty among Mittelstand companies. He calls for reduced bureaucracy, faster company setup times, and simplified tax reporting for pre-revenue startups.
“Innovation needs freedom—not fear of compliance fines.”
What Makes European Founders Stand Out
Kraus sees an edge in Europe’s tolerance for long-term innovation over short-term KPIs. Disruptive ideas with longer timeframes may thrive better under German and EU investors than in the U.S.
Closing Advice for Founders
Kraus urges founders to:
Delay VC funding until their innovation has traction
Choose investors who add value beyond cash
Avoid deals that limit flexibility or strategic vision
"One wrong investor can destroy your company. Choose wisely."
Conclusion
Carsten Kraus offers a unique blend of AI-powered evaluation, deep tech expertise, and startup empathy. His strategies highlight the future of smart investing in the German and DACH startup ecosystem. From using AI to sort pitch decks to hands-on help refining loss functions, Kraus is not just investing—he’s innovating how investment works.
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About the Author:
Jörn “Joe” Menninger is the founder and host of Startuprad.io -- one of Europe’s top startup podcasts that scored as a global Top 20 Podcast in Entrepreneurship. He’s been featured in Forbes, Tech.eu, Geektime, and more for his insights into startups, venture capital, and innovation. With over 15 years of experience in management consulting, digital strategy, and startup scouting, Joe works at the intersection of tech, entrepreneurship, and business transformation—helping founders, investors, and corporates turn bold ideas into real-world impact.
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