Bastian Nominacher
About Bastian Nominacher
Bastian Nominacher is co-founder and co-CEO of Celonis, the process mining and process intelligence company based in Munich. He founded it in 2011 with Alexander Rinke and Martin Klenk while the three were students at the Technical University of Munich. Celonis describes his current remit as the European and Asian regions, Operations, HR, Security and overall business strategy.
Before Celonis he worked at Ernst & Young, Accenture, IBM and United Domains. He holds a master's degree from TUM in finance and information management.
He is based in Munich and speaks publicly about the German and European startup ecosystem. At the Munich Startup Festival 2026 he said the problem in Europe is not a lack of ideas or talent.
Sifted listed Nominacher fifth among the most active DACH operator angels, with 6 deals in 2022-23. It reports that his first angel ticket was in the 2018 Series A of Talentry, a social recruiting platform, alongside Carsten Thoma. CB Insights records Talentry as a merger exit in June 2022.
Other rounds he joined include DataGuard's €61M Series B in September 2022 and the 2022 Series A of Vertice. Sifted also reports the 2022 Series B of Keelvar. He was also an angel in Kubermatic's $6M seed round, led by Nauta Capital, alongside Martin Klenk.
In February 2026 he was one of the angels in Qontext's €2.7M pre-seed round. HV Capital led the round, with Zero Prime Ventures also participating. Qontext is a Berlin startup building an independent context layer for AI agents and workflows.
In September 2026 he joined Atira's $15M seed round as an individual investor. Accel led the round, and Atira also disclosed a $2.5M pre-seed. Atira is a Munich company building a multi-agent AI platform that automates sales engineering for industrial manufacturers.
He also invested in the pre-seed round of Munich's Datagon AI, which applies AI to production quality data. Tracxn additionally lists Mercura (seed, December 2025), Manex AI (seed, June 2025) and Linexa (April 2026) among his investments.
His public deals are mostly enterprise software and AI companies in Germany and wider Europe. Stages range from pre-seed to Series B, and he usually invests alongside other founder angels or a lead VC. Several of his AI investments target industrial or enterprise operations.
NFX Signal lists an investment range of $5K to $50K with a $25K sweet spot. That figure comes from a third-party profile, not a statement from Nominacher. He has not published what he looks for in a pitch.
- Atira: AI orchestration for industrial sales engineering; $15M seed led by Accel, September 2026.
- Qontext: context layer for AI agents; €2.7M pre-seed led by HV Capital, February 2026.
- Datagon AI: AI for production quality management; pre-seed round (date not confirmed).
- DataGuard: privacy and compliance platform; Series B, September 2022.
- Vertice: SaaS purchasing platform; Series A, 2022.
- Talentry: social recruiting platform; Series A in 2018, his first angel ticket.
- Kubermatic: Kubernetes platform; $6M seed led by Nauta Capital.
- celonis.com/insights/authors/bastian-nominacher
- crunchbase.com/person/bastian-nominacher
- sifted.eu/articles/most-active-operator-angels-dach
- dataguard.com/press/dataguard-series-b-funding-announcement
- munich-startup.de/en/105934/pre-seed-financing-datagon-ai
- thesaasnews.com/news/qontext-raises-2-7m-pre-seed
- pulse2.com/qontext-2-7-million-pre-seed-funding
- atira.ai/news
Investing activity
Bastian Nominacher appears in 2 AI deals tracked by the Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $15M. The rounds are mostly Seed and Pre-seed, with a median round size of $15M. The most recent are atira (Seed, $15M, Sep 2026) and Qontext (Pre-seed, €2.7M, Feb 2026).
Bastian Nominacher most often invests alongside Accel, Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Fortino Capital Partners and Marc Bitzer, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Bastian Nominacher
Who is Bastian Nominacher?
He is co-founder and co-CEO of Celonis, which he started in 2011 with Alexander Rinke and Martin Klenk. He also invests as an angel in European software and AI startups.
Which AI startups has Bastian Nominacher invested in?
Public announcements show Atira (Seed, September 2026) and Qontext (Pre-seed, February 2026). He also backed Datagon AI at pre-seed. Tracxn lists Mercura and Manex AI as well.
What check size does Bastian Nominacher write?
He has not stated a check size publicly. NFX Signal lists a $5K to $50K range with a $25K sweet spot, but this is a third-party estimate.
What stage does Bastian Nominacher invest in?
His public deals run from pre-seed through Series B. Recent AI deals are at pre-seed and seed, usually alongside VCs such as HV Capital and Accel.
Does Bastian Nominacher invest outside Germany?
Yes. His portfolio includes London-based Vertice, and Tracxn lists Germany, the United Kingdom and two other locations. Most of the companies are European.
How can founders reach Bastian Nominacher?
He is active on X at @bastinominacher. No personal website or public pitch process was found. His investments are usually announced alongside other angels or a lead VC.
Is Bastian Nominacher an angel investor?
Yes. Bastian Nominacher invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Bastian Nominacher invested in?
Bastian Nominacher's AI investments include atira and Qontext. The 2 rounds on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Bastian Nominacher invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Bastian Nominacher has invested at Seed and Pre-seed, with a median round of $15M.
Who does Bastian Nominacher co-invest with?
Bastian Nominacher's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Accel (1 deal), Ann-Kristin Achleitner (1 deal), Fortino Capital Partners (1 deal), Marc Bitzer (1 deal) and BOOOM (1 deal).