Entrepreneur · Mentor · Speaker · Board Member
Antoine Leboyer
Managing Director at TUM Venture Lab · AI innovator · Sought-after speaker on entrepreneurship, AI and technology.
Entrepreneur · Mentor · Speaker · Board Member
Managing Director at TUM Venture Lab · AI innovator · Sought-after speaker on entrepreneurship, AI and technology.
As seen at
About
Antoine Leboyer is the Managing Director of the TUM Venture Lab for Software and Artificial Intelligence, where he advises over a hundred university-led startups.
From 2008 to 2020 he served as President and CEO of the Swiss software group GSX, leading it through international expansion until its acquisition by Martello Technology. His entrepreneurial journey became the subject of a Harvard Business School case study — taught in MBA programmes worldwide.
He initiated Virtual Hravuta — a Torah-focused AI chatbot — and a member of the boards of both tech companies and cultural organisations. A classical music journalist at heart, he brings rare intellectual breadth to every stage and boardroom.
News & Upcoming
First article on Substack — a deep dive into the four structural barriers holding European startups back: a VC gap (0.4% vs 1% of GDP), pension-fund under-allocation (100× less than the US), absent public-procurement mandates, and internal-market fragmentation equivalent to a 110% tariff on services.
Read on Substack →Speaking at Darkeinu: One Story, Many Journeys, the centenary international conference of the European Union for Progressive Judaism, bringing together communities from across Europe and beyond.
View Programme →Five sessions covering B2B sales and marketing for high-tech startups:
06 May · 20 May · 03 Jun · 17 Jun · 01 Jul
Why has Europe produced only 13 tech companies worth over $10B in 50 years — 70× fewer by value than the US? A deep dive into four structural failures: a VC gap (0.4% vs 1% of GDP), pension-fund under-allocation (0.02% vs 2% to venture), absent public-procurement mandates, and internal-market fragmentation equivalent to a 110% tariff on services. Published simultaneously in English and French.
Sebastian Mallaby spent three years with Demis Hassabis researching his biography of the Nobel Prize-winning co-founder of Google DeepMind — on AGI risks, European deep tech, and what DeepMind's journey means for founders.
Listen on Spotify →
Taught the first case study built on personal work with TUM Venture Lab startups — covering VC readiness and negotiation as part of the Quantum Semiconductor Venture Lab fellowship programme.
Presentation with Amanda Birkenholz (UVC Partners) on preparing your fundraise — from defining your mindset and goal to building your pitch deck and setting up a data room.
Michael Brand (TraxSurf) & Jonas Dunkel (DeepGolf) on applying AI to elite athletic performance — replacing guesswork with data.
Listen on Spotify →Founding engineer of Mobileye & advisor to the Israeli Government on AI ethics — on why moral frameworks matter for AI entrepreneurs.
Listen on Spotify →Panel discussion at Institut français München on the foundations, uses, ethical issues and future of AI in Europe.
View announcement →
Expert session at the Stuttgart Migrant Accelerator Kickoff — empowering migrant founders to start up in Germany.
More info →Writing
A selection of posts and reflections published on LinkedIn — on venture building, artificial intelligence, and the human side of startups.
Companies spend over $180 billion per year on procurement talent and just $10 billion on software to support it. On Lio's $30M Series A led by a16z — and why AI agents are about to fix procurement's fundamental technology failure.
Read on LinkedIn →During Munich Security Conference: the MSC Startup Hub and the European Defence Tech Hackathon ran side by side — proof that startups are now central, not peripheral, to European defence innovation.
Read on LinkedIn →European games startups don't need to move to California. TUM Venture Lab just launched a dedicated gaming division — because gaming sits at the convergence of AI, immersive tech and narrative design.
Read on LinkedIn →They worked nothing like me and cared far less about the company than I did. And that's exactly why it worked. On the crucial difference between co-founders and employees.
Read on LinkedIn →Reflections from Europe's premier innovation conference: Bill Gross on AI, defence tech, gaming, and the European ecosystem finding its voice.
Read on LinkedIn →Scott Adams passed away. A personal tribute to the satirist who gave a generation of engineers and managers a mirror — and a story about a note I received from him in 1994.
Read on LinkedIn →Quantum Diamonds has the potential to revolutionise semiconductor testing via quantum sensing. Their €152M plan to build the world's first production facility of its kind — in Munich — marks a startup turning into a global player.
Read on LinkedIn →Speaking
AI Innovation
The Virtual Hravuta is an AI chatbot purpose-built to support the study of Torah — a focused LLM scoped to a specific knowledge domain rather than a generic model. Building it generated entrepreneurial lessons about product focus, user trust, and the limits of AI that Antoine now shares on stage worldwide, including at the 2024 DLD Conference.
"Will chatbots replace rabbis?" — DLD Conference 2024
Podcast
The TUM Venture Lab podcast where Antoine interviews VCs, founders, and academic leaders — delivering unfiltered conversations about what building companies really looks like.
Governance
Antoine brings operational experience as a CEO, deep sector knowledge in software and AI, and an international perspective to board-level work.
Munich-based deep-tech company
Global religious organisation · Member, International Leadership Committee
Cultural & community institution · Former board member
International portfolio of technology firms · Board roles
Advisory Board
Next-gen semiconductor testing via diamond-based quantum sensing · TUM spin-out · Advisor
AI-powered sizing for fashion e-commerce, reducing returns & boosting conversion · Munich · First advisor & supporter
Contact
Available for speaking engagements, board positions, podcast collaborations, and strategic advisory.