We drive equitable participation of women as founders and investors in venture capital — powered by network, experience and wholeheartedness.
our principles
We foster wholesome personal growth.
We challenge you to grow in all aspects of your life, passing that power on to everyone around you. We believe that healthy leaders create healthy organizations.
The Foundation of the Auxxo community is our abundance mindset.
We connect you with people who share experience, networks, ups and downs – an environment where you’ll feel safe, nourished and free to build your own company.
We drive a feminist changemaker movement.
We come together and invite you to join the social purpose of creating a reality where values of caring, authenticity, vulnerability and trust govern how we treat people and build companies.
Our Team
Alena Redeker
Principal
Alena is passionate about constantly educating herself on new topics, creating valuable connections, speaking to inspiring founders and creating an impact by bringing more women into the ecosystem. Before joining Auxxo, Alena lived in Lisbon to complete her Master in Finance and worked in restructuring, M&A, and an early stage startup in Berlin. Besides sourcing female founders and managing our fund operations, Alena loves to travel, do sports, and enjoys to cook with friends and explore the culinary spots of each city.
Bettine Schmitz
General Partner
Tine is a believer in the unharnessed potential of female founders. She previously worked as a strategy consultant, product manager, accelerated nearly 100 companies at Axel Springer Plug and Play and has made nearly 20 angel investments. A trained mathematician, Tine loves to crunch numbers, preferably in her weekly focus sessions. Out of these sessions Tine loves to spend her time cooking and eating with family and friends, on her road bike or on her yoga and meditation mats.
Dr. Gesa Miczaika
General Partner
Gesa’s mission is to promote equitable representation of women as founders and investors in the venture capital industry. She has a background in strategy consulting and in startups. Amongst others, Gesa was the first employee at Blacklane and a Venture Partner at Entrepreneur First and is now the Deputy President of the German Startups Association. She mostly spends her free time meditating, doing sports, hiking in the countryside, going to the sauna and having quality time with her friends and family.
Melanie Higgs
CFO & Operating Partner
Melanie is a finance expert with over 20 years of experience across consulting, corporate finance, and venture capital. Throughout her career, she has often been the only woman in the room, an experience that drives her ongoing commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in the finance industry. Based in Berlin, she enjoys discovering the city with her toddler, traveling to new places, and creating lasting memories. When she’s not exploring the world, you’ll likely find her dancing it out on an indoor cycling bike, her favorite way to combine movement, music, and mindfulness.
Fabiola Hochkirchen
Initiating Partner
Fabiola is one of the founders of Auxxo. We greatly value her sharp intellect, extensive investment experience across various stages, and genuine commitment to impact. Fabiola is an experienced Angel Investor and brings a wealth of expertise in Private Equity. In her free time you will find her with her four children and husband aboard their small vintage sailing boat in the Baltic Sea.
Dr. Sophie Pollok
Venture Partner
Sophie is a dedicated advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the world of startups and investment and has initiated numerous impactful initiatives in the political arena. In addition to her significant political involvement, Sophie brings a unique background to our team. She started her career as a VC lawyer in an international law firm before building a B2B SaaS unicorn. When Sophie is not busy sourcing deals or supporting our portfolio companies, you can find her on her spinning bike, spending time with her family in the great outdoors or throwing parties for her friends.
Christian Schad
Venture Partner
Christian is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience founding, building, and scaling companies across diverse industries. Alongside his business ventures, he has remained deeply committed to political and social causes most notably founding Hanseatic Help, one of Europe’s largest privately organized refugee relief NGOs. As a co-founder of Planet A Ventures, one of Europe’s leading greentech VCs, Christian supports the Auxxo leadership team with a wealth of investment and company-building experience. At the heart of it all, Christian is a devoted family man, his wife and three children are his greatest priority.
Steffen Maas
Venture Partner
Steffen is a dedicated advocate for technological innovation and AI within the startup ecosystem. He brings deep, hands-on leadership experience to our team, having previously served as the CEO of a data science consultancy. Currently, Steffen is focused on bringing innovation and funding to the blue economy and runs an AI-powered accelerator for startups, while driving fund automation and scouting as a Venture Partner. In his free time you can likely find Steffen sailing on the Alster or in the Mediterranean Sea, diving in distant waters, or training for his next HYROX challenge.
Magdalena Oehl
Venture Partner
Magdalena combines hands-on founder experience with deep ecosystem access and has been driving better conditions for founders through her work with the German Startup Association and Startup Teens. As co-founder of TalentRocket, a female-founded HR-Tech company, she built Germany’s leading career platform in the legal market with a strong focus on AI-enabled matching and capital-efficient, profitable growth. When she’s not sourcing exciting teams or supporting portfolio founders, you’ll most likely find her with her family – or with a book in hand (usually both).
Dr. Leopold von Schlenk-Barnsdorf
Advisor in Value Creation
Leopold is passionate about bridging the gap between Europe’s traditional family business economy and innovative startups and venture capital ecosystem. He completed his PhD at the Witten Institute for Family Business on business model innovation and startup collaboration, and built his network as a community builder at Alphazirkel, one of Germany’s leading family business networks. After that, he helped to establish the family business initiative at UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s leading startup hub and today works with Auxxo, translating industrial access and family business networks into tangible outcomes for portfolio companies. As a 5th generation shareholder and board member of SCHLENK SE and active Family Business Angel, he brings early-stage B2B (deep) tech startups unique access to industrial know-how and sector-specific networks. When he’s not connecting founders with their next corporate partner, you’ll find him exploring the Alps or swimming lengths in the lakes around Munich.