Sebastian Kurz invests in his first start-up

Austria's ex-chancellor is embarking on a new career as an investor. His first target: a medtech.

Austria's former chancellor Sebastian Kurz has made his first startup investment, according to a report by Profil. According to the report, the former chancellor bought shares in Medaia GmbH, an Austrian medtech company founded in 2019 and headquartered in Graz.

Customers will be able to perform skin cancer screening at home using the Skinscreener app. According to the startup, the software determines the likelihood that a lesion in a particular location is cancerous. Users would then have the option to be advised to see a dermatologist unannounced based on that assessment.

Kurz joined Thiel Capital, Peter Thiel's firm, in February 2022. He is a co-founder of PayPal and a self-described Trump supporter. However, there had already been hints of Kurz's own investment ambitions. The Kurier, for example, had first reported in July 2022 that Kurz intended to work with former Deutsche Bank supervisory board member and Austrian investor Alexander Schütz via AS2K Beteiligungs GmbH.