Cornelius Boersch studied business administration at the European Business School, the Paris Business School, and the University of Colorado. He completed his doctorate at the University of Essen, later serving as an honorary professor there.

Entrepreneurial Ventures

Boersch is a serial entrepreneur who has been a pioneer in the angel investing and VC markets in Europe since 1991. During his studies, he founded his first company, Sabeco GmbH, a precursor of the German electronic health card and parent company of ACG AG, an RFID smart card broker. When ACG AG went public on the stock exchange in Germany (NEMAX 50) in 1999, it had a valuation of more than 1 billion euros.

Two days after ACG AG went public, the market crashed. But Boersch wasn’t deterred. He sold his shares of ACG AG in 2000 and began his next venture: working as an investment manager in venture capital. From that point, he launched several other RFID-based companies, including Smartrac and Identiv, both of which launched IPOs in the mid-2000s.

Mountain Partners AG

In 2004, Boersch and Daniel S. Wenzel co-founded Mountain Partners AG, an investment company focusing on technology startups and venture capital firms in growth regions such as Latin America and South-East Asia, as well as tech and VC in the established European startup landscape. Today, Mountain Partners has 12 international hubs and has invested in more than 120 companies.

In 2019, Boersch founded another VC company, Conny & Co, which concentrates on geographic growth markets as opposed to specific industries. Conny & Co’s portfolio includes Flash Coffee, Albo, and Luuna, among others.

Boersch has been a long-time advisor to Dr. Guido Westerwelle, the former German foreign minister. In 2009, Boersch organized his election campaigns and created the first digital election campaign in Germany.

Books

Between 2006 and 2009, Boersch published four books, all of which can be found together in the book, Summa Summarum. In 2020, he co-authored a book titled Future Missed? Which delivers a hopeful outlook; despite Germany missing out on early digitization, it caught up during the COVID-19 pandemic and has the potential to become a global digitization leader.

In 2024, he co-authored a book titled, One, which includes insights, success stories, and expert opinions to help entrepreneurs achieve professional success and personal happiness.

Notable Investments

Cornelius Boersch’s investments focus mainly on internet startups. Since 1995, he has invested in more than 350 companies, 14 of which went public and 50 of which made healthy exits. Some of his best-known investments include Alando.de (predecessor of eBay Germany), Lieferando (Dutch online food ordering and delivering company), Kavak (Mexican online marketplace for used cars), and reBuy (an online marketplace for used electronics in Germany).

Boersch is a certified super angel of the European Investment Fund (EIF), an 800 million euro program that mirrors investments of selected business angels. In practical terms, the EIF matches virtually all of his startup investments 1 to 1.

In terms of investment philosophy, Boersch stresses the importance of resilience. He is known to say that he is “well-practiced in losing money,” perhaps ironic coming from a man who became a millionaire at age 20. But in truth, he has lost a lot of money, and he has also made a lot; the life of an investor is full of ups and downs. The crux is not giving up.

In the News

In 2007, Cornelius Boersch initiated the first Entrepreneurs Day (Unternehmertag) at Tegernsee, Bavaria, a networking event for entrepreneurs and investors. The three-day event is now held annually and is one of the most popular conferences in the European VC and private equity industries.

According to Boersch, what makes Entrepreneurs Day so significant and different from other networking events is that his priority isn’t profit; his priorities are people and community. He aims to give attendees the most enjoyable, value-laden experience possible, with no ulterior motives.

In 2009, Boersch was elected “European Business Angel of the Year.”

In 2021, Boersch entered the Sri Lankan market through Mountain Lion Ventures, becoming one of the earliest global tech investors to commit to post-COVID recovery. So far, Mountain Lion has invested nearly a million US dollars in Sri Lankan tech development.