Management change at 27pilots: Dr. Martin Fink takes over from founder Gregor Gimmy

After seven years at the helm, Gregor Gimmy hands over the management of 27pilots to Dr. Martin Fink and dedicates himself to the further scientific development of the venture client model.

Munich, June 2025 - 27pilots, the consulting and technology company that specializes in venture clienting, is undergoing a change in leadership: Founder and CEO Gregor Gimmy is handing over the management of the company to Dr. Martin Fink, previously Vice President Venture & Technology, in June 2025. In future, Gimmy intends to focus more on research and teaching on the venture client model, which he launched at BMW in 2014 and turned into an independent discipline with the founding of 27pilots in 2018.

On the way to becoming an international venture client platform

27pilots was founded in 2018 as the first company to focus exclusively on venture clienting. This involves the strategic use of start-ups as a source of innovation, without investment or incubation.

Our vision is clear: we want to make companies around the world radically more competitive through startup innovation. In future, the focus will increasingly be on expanding the three business areas of Venture Client Advisory, Operations and Technology

Dr. Martin Fink, Managing Director 27pilots

Since the takeover by Deloitte in 2023, a joint international offering has been created that combines consulting, operational implementation and technology. The change at the top is intended to drive further scaling.

Software platform at the heart of the growth strategy

A key lever for the next growth phase will be the further development of the company's own software platform. The aim is to provide customers with holistic, scalable and data-based support for their venture client activities. Starting with the identification of suitable start-ups through to integration into the company's own innovation portfolio.

Gregor has established a new discipline with his vision and commitment. We would like to thank him for his pioneering work and look forward to continuing the success story together with Martin Fink.

Daniel Könnecke, Partner responsible for Innovation & Incubation at Deloitte

From business to science: Gimmy plans research focus

Gregor Gimmy is now embarking on a new chapter in the service of science. The 27pilots founder wants to contribute his entrepreneurial experience to the academic debate on venture clienting in the future.

Although the model has now arrived in leading companies and universities, scientific research is still in its infancy. I see great potential to close the gap between practice and theory.

Gregor Gimmy

His aim is to establish venture clienting as a new academic field and thus lay the foundations for how companies can generate real competitive advantages through targeted collaboration with start-ups. Gregor Gimmy was also a formative voice for the venture clienting world at Startbase. In a two-part interview (Part 1, part 2), which was conducted in collaboration with our partners from LBBW, he explained in detail the fundamentals, principles and strategic advantages of the venture client model he developed. The articles are still among the most-read content about corporate startup cooperations on the platform.