Oliver Holle (AUT)

Oliver is a serial entrepreneur with deep experience in the mobile and internet industry. While still a student in 1992, Oliver founded SYSIS, one of the first European internet startups that took smart, interactive games to the exploding online market. Supported by 2 rounds of VC financing, Sysis acquired customers from around the globe, such as Time Inc. and Ericsson with, whom Oliver managed to built a global strategic partnership. In 2000, Oliver sold his first business, FUNDAQ, a subsidiary of SYSIS that pioneered the field of online virtual stock markets.

Facing the challenge of the internet crisis, Oliver turned SYSIS’s focus towards mobile, which resulted in 2004 in the formation of 3united AG, a local 3-way merger that created a top European player in the mobile content industry. Leading 3united, Oliver oversaw 2 years of rapid growth. Even more important, 3united was one of the few mobile startups that boasted a positive EBIT margin of more than 40%. Early 2006, 3united was acquired by VeriSign Inc. at a valuation of USD 67m.

Post transaction, Oliver relocated to California, to take on the global responsibility for VeriSign’s mobile media business as Vice President. Late 2007 he took on the responsibility of SVP for product management across all mobile assets of VeriSign (3united, mQube, Lightsurf and Unimobile). Mid-2008, Oliver left VeriSign to start his new company, The Merger.

In 2011, Oliver set up Speedinvest. Speedinvest is an Austrian investment fund, following the Super Angel model, that is fundamentally different from the “classic” Business Angel and VC models of startup financing. They work by pooling investments from Business Angels thus leading to higher investment sizes and work actively with the entrepreneurs, not only by coaching them or giving advice, but by taking management roles in the start-ups and offering a unique link to the US with an office in the Silicon Valley. Raised in 2011 with an total volume of 7 million Euro Speedinvest invests in start-ups in the mobile and internet industries.

Oliver has a BA in business administration from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration as well as an MPhil in Economics from Columbia University.