KTM boss Stefan Pierer wants to be an angel investor; sets up new startup fund

KTM boss Stefan Pierer wants to be an angel investor; sets up new startup fund

Austrian websites are abuzz with news of a new €5 million startup fund being setup by KTM boss Stefan Pierer. The original news seems to have appeared in the Monday (December 16, 2013) edition of an Austrian language business magazine called ‘trend’.

Details are sketchy, but thanks to Google Translate we have pieced together that Pierer wants the fund to start investing by March 2014. Focus will be on startup and growth companies in the automotive industry.

While this funding activity is expected to stay outside the KTM group structure, the translated text does suggest that KTM will provide significant support to any potential ideas coming out of portfolio companies.

As translated:

“In Austria, the money is not the bottleneck, but in many cases it lacks the ability to engage at a very early stage to review the marketability of the idea,” says Pierer who wants to be an active angel investor. As such, it is of particular concern to him, the founders of the KTM Group to provide the network available and to provide a contact to customers so a reality check of the concept and made first reference projects can be implemented.

Sources: Format and Wirtschafts Blatt