Hanno Renner
About Hanno Renner
Hanno Renner is a co-founder and the CEO of Personio, a Munich-based HR software company for small and medium-sized businesses. Personio was founded in 2015 by Renner, Ignaz Forstmeier, Roman Schumacher and Arseniy Vershinin. According to the EU-Startups podcast page, it has raised a total of $724 million.
Before Personio, Renner worked as a yacht skipper to fund his studies. He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering and Technology Management and an MS in Technology and Management from the Technical University of Munich and the Center for Digital Technology & Management (CDTM). He was also a visiting graduate student at Columbia University. He is listed as co-founder and chairman of the Personio Foundation.
Tracxn dates his startup investing to 2019, starting with Remberg, and lists 32 portfolio companies. Crunchbase lists 30 personal investments and PitchBook lists 30. The counts differ because each database tracks different deals, so treat them as approximate.
Tracxn lists three portfolio exits: Localyze, Spiff and Zavvy. Other companies named on investor databases include Gitpod, Gigs, Leapsome, WorkMotion, Tacto and PowerUs. Dates and check sizes for most of these are not public.
Renner was one of the angels in CodeWords' $9M seed round in May 2026. The London company builds Cody, an AI agent that turns plain-language requests into running business workflows. Visionaries led the round, with firstminute capital, Sequel and Illusian also participating.
Other AI-related names in his portfolio, per PitchBook and Tracxn, are Manex AI, Parloa and Avoltra. PitchBook describes Parloa as a provider of AI agent management. Investment dates for Parloa are not confirmed in the sources I found.
Investor databases describe him as an angel who backs pre-seed and seed companies, mainly in enterprise software, B2B SaaS, HR tech and future of work. Tracxn lists his investments across Germany, the United States and three other countries, and the Shizune directory lists Germany, Sweden and the United States. He has also invested in a database company (CedarDB), where he is listed as an angel on the company's site.
I found no public statement from Renner on his check size or on what he looks for in founders, so none is given here.
- CodeWords: London AI agent platform for business workflow automation; seed round, May 2026.
- Regulate: seed round, May 2026 (Tracxn lists the round at $1.65M).
- Avoltra: seed round, 2025 (listed by Tracxn and PitchBook).
- CedarDB: database software company; Renner is listed as an angel investor.
- Manex AI: AI company listed in his portfolio by PitchBook and Tracxn.
- Parloa: AI agent management company listed in his portfolio by PitchBook.
- Gitpod: developer platform, cited by Tracxn as a notable investment.
- Gigs: cited by Tracxn as a notable investment.
- Localyze, Spiff and Zavvy: listed by Tracxn as portfolio exits.
Investing activity
Hanno Renner appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $9M. The most recent is CodeWords (Seed, $9M, May 2026).
Hanno Renner most often invests alongside Visionaries, Andrey Khusid, Robert Gentz and François Chollet, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Hanno Renner
Who is Hanno Renner?
He is the co-founder and CEO of Personio, a European HR software company based in Munich. He also invests as an angel in early-stage startups.
Does Hanno Renner invest in AI startups?
Yes. He was an angel in the $9M CodeWords seed round in May 2026. PitchBook and Tracxn also list Manex AI and Parloa in his portfolio.
What stage does Hanno Renner invest in?
Investor databases list pre-seed and seed. His recent listed deals, CodeWords, Regulate and Avoltra, are all seed rounds.
What is Hanno Renner's check size?
It is not public. The round totals shown on databases are for the whole round, not his individual check.
What sectors does Hanno Renner back?
Databases list enterprise software, B2B SaaS, HR tech and future of work, plus AI and developer tools such as Gitpod and CedarDB.
How can founders reach Hanno Renner?
He has a public LinkedIn profile, linked on this page. I found no personal site or X account for him.
Is Hanno Renner an angel investor?
Yes. Hanno Renner invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Hanno Renner invested in?
Hanno Renner's AI investments include CodeWords. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Hanno Renner invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Hanno Renner has invested at Seed, with a median round of $9M.
Who does Hanno Renner co-invest with?
Hanno Renner's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Visionaries (1 deal), Andrey Khusid (1 deal), Robert Gentz (1 deal), François Chollet (1 deal) and Kieran Flanagan (1 deal).