Automate

Burhan was the first employee at Gridizen, a UK PropTech company, where he was responsible for technology and product. During his time there, he designed, architected, and launched the UK’s first ESG reporting tool for the social housing sector. In addition, Burhan was the co-founder and CTO of Mentyoo, an EdTech startup focused on bringing mentoring to underrepresented communities.

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Burhan holds a first-class Master’s degree in Theoretical Physics from Imperial College London, where he specialized in climate modeling. He leads the development of PT1’s internal technology stack (”SIA”) and AI initiatives.

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Since 2022, Burhan has been a member of the PT1 investment team. Today, he serves as Managing Director UK, leading all of PT1’s activities in the UK market. At PT1, Burhan leads the firm’s work on AI & Robotics in the Built World as Chapter Head for the topic.

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In his spare time, Burhan enjoys climbing, cooking (currently working his way through the Noma Guide to Fermentation), tabletop gaming (Pathfinder), and blogging at bp.simple.ink.

As early as 1998, Anja joined her first startup immediately after finishing her A-Levels (Abitur), initially as an intern in the finance department. This startup was one of the first companies co-founded by Nikolas Samios in Munich. She quickly assumed more responsibility in the growing company and soon replaced the previous COO/CFO in all his duties.

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Parallel to her work in financial management, organizational development, and general management, Anja studied part-time at the British OU University in Milton Keynes and received both a Master’s in International Finance and an MBA.

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After many years of first-hand experience in corporate management, Anja increasingly specialised in supporting other founders and their shareholders in growth and turnaround situations and structured numerous financing rounds, mergers, and exits, often taking on interim CFO mandates. Together with Nikolas Samios, she also set up Brandenburg Ventures GmbH, the VC investment entity of MP3 inventor Prof. Karlheinz Brandenburg and advised numerous listed companies on corporate venture capital programs, portfolio and M&A aspects.

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Together with Nikolas, Anja is co-author of the venture capital standard reference book DEALTERMS.VC. She is furthermore a member of the Extended Board of Directors of the Startup-Verband (German Startup Association).