Lawyer with over 20 year of experience.

Founder and Manging Partner of UrbanTech Fund 2bX, focussing on sustainable and disruptive city development ventures.

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Co-Founder of Flink: Scaled the company to a European market leader in quick commerce - growing to 12,000+ employees across 140 locations in 18 months.

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Transition to Circus: Sold stake in Flink at $2.85 billion valuation in 2021 before founding Circus to focus on AI and robotics.

Over a decade of leadership in global foodservice operations and tech-enabled restaurant innovation.

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At RBI: Head of Global Engineering - led cross-functional teams across 4 major brands to deliver next-gen restaurant systems, combining hardware, software, and design innovation.

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Drove industry-wide transformation by launching automation solutions with franchisees, VCs, and tech partners.

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At Yum! Brands: Led operational standards and improvements across Europe, driving performance at scale.

Former CEO of a warehouse robotics startup. Ilona held senior roles at Gorillas, Zalando, and Panalpina—leading multimillion-euro supply chain programs and commercial teams across Europe, Asia, and North America.

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Blends operational depth with a sharp commercial edge. Expert in complex sales cycles, C-level negotiations, and scaling tech from concept to market.

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Also a university lecturer in IT & Logistics, teaching tech implementation and business transformation to Master’s students.

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Fluent in Chinese with an MBA from Frankfurt School of Finance.

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Over a decade of experience in robotics, automation, and advanced manufacturing.

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At Arrival: Led global industrialization as Director of Manufacturing Engineering—delivering end-to-end production systems across the electric vehicle portfolio.

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At Nissan UK: Drove deployment of robotic assembly lines, innovative manufacturing processes, and autonomous delivery systems across multiple vehicle models.

Global business executive with 15+ years experience in the international foodservice industry - including senior management roles at industry leaders like RATIONAL AG, BRITA or Liebherr with up to 250 million Euro P&L responsibility.

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Max started his career as a chef in Michelin starred kitchens, worked in Europe, the US and Asia, holds an Executive M.B.A in general management as well as a doctoral degree from the University of Worcester about sales strategy development within the foodservice industry environment.