Munich Startup: What does Lynkt do? What problem do you solve?
Fabian Starkbaum, Co-Founder and CEO of Lynkt: In many companies, valuable expertise remains unused because it is scattered across systems, hidden in the minds of employees, or buried in unstructured data like emails. This means employees waste an average of 25 percent of their working time searching for knowledge, and when experts leave, a lot of know-how is lost.
Lynkt solves this problem by creating a digital twin of corporate knowledge, training AI with it, and giving every employee access to the right information at the right time. Imagine you have an employee who has absorbed every piece of new knowledge since the company was founded, can answer any question, and becomes smarter with every conversation – that’s Lynkt.
This way, companies save time, increase productivity, and create the foundation for data-driven decision-making. Our focus: we especially help industrial mid-market companies efficiently network complex data structures and knowledge silos. This ensures that information is available precisely when it’s needed.
But Lynkt goes beyond simple information retrieval. We create the foundation for the future of knowledge work – an era in which AI not only supports, but proactively takes on tasks.
Efficiently networking complex data structures and knowledge silos
Munich Startup: But there are solutions like that already!
Fabian Starkbaum: Numerous search solutions on the market are too generic, developed for corporations or the new economy. There is a lack of tailored solutions for industry. Lynkt offers more than a simple “keyword search”: using an enterprise-wide knowledge network and the RAG method (Editor’s note: RAG = Retrieval Augmented Generation is an optimized technique for natural language processing), we deliver not just hits, but customized, context-based answers based on the company’s specific data and processes. Our vision: we think beyond just a search function.
Lynkt lays the foundation for a new era of knowledge automation: intelligent agents that independently complete tasks – from report generation to complex workflows. We help companies advance their AI strategy and prepare them for the age of AI.
With Lynkt, intelligent AI agents will independently complete tasks in the future
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Fabian Starkbaum: Our CTO Michael Cieslak knows the practice firsthand: he himself worked as a technician in repair and noticed how difficult it is to access the right knowledge internally. Later, as an early developer at Snapchat, he introduced technologies that integrated augmented reality and platform solutions – approaches that we now develop further and use in our own platform.
I already built a startup with YouGrow that enabled motivated people to switch into software development. A critical bottleneck there was knowledge transfer – how do you get a person job-ready in just three months? The key is “just-in-time” learning. Today we can no longer learn everything in advance. Knowledge is not static; it changes faster and faster. This inevitably creates growing demand for intelligent employee assistance systems. The first idea for Lynkt emerged from this realization. We want to enable companies to fully leverage their probably most important competitive advantage – their know-how – and make it available to every employee in every language.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Fabian Starkbaum: First, there’s the integration issue. In industrial mid-market companies, various, sometimes older IT systems are often in use that first need to be connected. Cultural acceptance is also a challenge. Many employees are accustomed to existing workflows and need to trust a new AI-based solution. But we also see this as precisely an opportunity. When we demonstrate how our platform concretely helps with their work, understanding of AI develops and people enjoy working with our solution.
First pilot projects are already underway
Munich Startup: How is business going?
Fabian Starkbaum: First pilot projects with mid-market companies are already running very successfully. We were able to reduce search times by up to 90 percent and shorten solution times in customer service by up to 60 percent. Interest is high, especially among manufacturing operations with complex processes, because we deliver measurable efficiency gains.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Fabian Starkbaum: Munich offers a dynamic environment with access to renowned research institutions, established tech companies, and a strong startup scene. You find the mix of tradition and modernity at every level here – from beer gardens to cutting-edge innovation hubs. For us as a team, Munich is a thriving location to grow quickly while building a stable network. As someone from Hesse, I needed a bit of time to switch from “Brötchen” to “Semmel.” But now “Servus!” is just as natural as “Gude!” And the vibrant network here makes it easy for me to feel completely at home.
Munich Startup: Risk or security?
Fabian Starkbaum: We focus on innovation and deliberately take risks to create something new. We also see increasing risk appetite among our customers. I think we live in such a fast-moving time that it has become impossible not to take risks without risking being left behind.
