Agri and AI startup ready for the scale-up phase

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21.08.2020
Frank Starrmann & Marc Vontobel

EcoRobotix, provider of fully autonomous weeding robots appointed Frank Starrmann as Chief Financial Officer to support its scale-up and international development. At Starmind, current Chief Executive Officer Oliver Muhr has handed over to cofounder Marc Vontobel, who will be the acting CEO as the company undergoes a leadership transition.

Since its foundation in 2014, ecoRobotix has been supplying the agricultural sector with its next-generation, autonomous weeding robots that reduce the environmental impact of farming while lowering costs for farmers. The company is currently running a series B funding round with the goal to expand into key European countries and to enhance its products.

The company has welcomed Frank Starrmann as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to support its growth phase. Prior to joining ecoRobotix, Starrmann was the managing director of Innogy Venture Capital (IVC), a fund management company that invested in young European technology companies working on renewable, distributed and smart energy. His portfolio comprised start-ups like Kiwigrid, Airec, Heliatek and enercast.

Before becoming an investor, Frank was a specialist and then an executive for RWE and innogy group where he led national and international business divisions covering renewable generation, project development and portfolio management. Frank has a diploma in industrial engineering and business from the University of Karlsruhe and a PhD in energy economics from the University of Cologne.

Starmind names new acting CEO
Starmind unlocks employees' collective intelligence and expertise to supercharge productivity, innovation and career development. Patented artificial intelligence identifies subject matter experts across enterprises, accesses undocumented knowledge and generates employee skill profiles that are the foundation for upskilling, re-skilling and workforce planning. With customers in over 100 countries including Bayer, Telefónica, the United Nations (UN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Starmind has helped businesses worldwide gain over $1.4 billion as a result of productivity savings.

Starmind’s AI tool has been of particular value to employees during this challenging time of remote work. Connecting the know-how of remote workforces and providing employees with access to a wealth of knowledge has led to a 37% increase in usage across all Starmind networks.

The company has announced that Marc Vontobel is named acting CEO after Oliver Muhr, Starmind's current CEO has decided to pursue other opportunities. As the co-founder of Starmind, Marc is the mastermind behind Starmind's product and platform and has been instrumental in Starmind's success. Marc is also an active member of the Forbes Technology Council and the Global Panel of the MIT Technology Review.

(Press release/ran)
Photo: Frank Starrmann (by Igor Laski) & Marc Vontobel

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