The Munich-based IOT startup Konux is strengthening its team with three top-class new additions, all of whom bring with them many years of management experience from various industries: Sébastien Schikora (formerly Tesla), Benjamin Jansen (formerly T-Systems International) and Dr. Thomas Kolar (formerly Accenture) are the new Vice Presidents of the Konux management team.
The board also includes CEO Andreas Kunze, his two co-founders Dennis Humhal (COO) and Vlad Lata, and CFO Maximilian Halser. Lata, previously CTO, will assume a strongly externally focused strategic role for the company as the new Vice Chairman.
Konux combines smart sensors and analytics based on artificial intelligence and enables railway companies to improve the availability of their assets and thus punctuality through predictive maintenance planning.
Tesla man Schikora now Vice President Engineering
After almost two decades in the USA, Sébastien Schikora to his hometown of Munich. He most recently worked for the automotive company Tesla and was responsible for the software components of energy products such as Powerwall and Powerpack as “Senior Manager Energy Products – Software”.
As Vice President of Engineering, Schikora primarily focuses on the development and launch of new products and is also further expanding the company's highly innovation-driven engineering team. What particularly appealed to him about his new challenge was "getting to know a new industry with enormous digitalization potential." Rail transport is one of the most important means of transportation for industrialized societies, and one in which one cannot simply invest enough.
Jansen takes over the topic of sales
New Konux Vice President Sales is Benjamin JansenAs Vice President of Global Sales at Nemetschek Allplan, he was responsible for worldwide sales and drove the digital transformation – away from traditional software sales and toward the then-new subscription-based models (cloud and SaaS models). Most recently, Jansen served as Director of Cloud Channel in the Digital Division of T-Systems International, serving key accounts. He says:
"I will contribute the knowledge I have built up over the last 20 years to Konux to further advance the exciting and promising topic of digitalization in the railway industry."
Kolar comes into management with a lot of experience
The long-time Accenture managing director Dr. Thomas Kolar As Vice President Customer Delivery & Success, he is responsible, among other things, for the successful implementation of customer projects.
“To ensure the complete satisfaction of our customers after the contract has been concluded”,
is Kolar's stated goal. He can draw on his extensive experience in project delivery in the Communications, Media and Technology industry segment at Accenture. He worked for the consulting firm for a total of 23 years in various roles. After this long, successful time in a global company, he wanted to contribute his diverse knowledge to a dynamic startup, Kolar explains his decision to join Konux to come on board. He currently serves Munich-based clients in three countries.
“Operationally perfectly positioned for the next growth phase”
Konux-Managing Director Andreas Kunze With the new additions to the management, the company sees itself as “perfectly positioned operationally for the next growth phase.” Following the recent contract signings with additional industrial customers and the successful Series B financing round Nothing now stands in the way of our next expansion goal of being active in over half a dozen countries by the end of the year.
