Mario Götze's Recent LinkedIn Posts

I'm always curious when I hear something about innovative technologies. But this time, I was right in it. Last week, I had the chance to do the Bundesliga International GmbH's first-ever hologram interview. From our practice facility to a TV studio thousands of kilometers away within a second. From the inside, the interview did not feel that different from others. I was in a green room, looking at the screen, where I saw the interviewer. But there's obviously much more technology behind it: cameras covering every inch of the body from 360°, then transmitting the hologram into the TV studio setting. The result appeared highly realistic. The real benefit of the hologram lies with the customer. It creates a sense of personal closeness for the fans. We did this experiment together with an Arabic TV station. So, obviously, their viewers are geographically far from Bundesliga pitches. But having a player appear in the local TV studio creates a much stronger connection. Now, the technological setup prevents holograms from being used in normal interviews on the pitch. But I think it should definitely be used more often in specific situations. How do you think about new technologies in sports broadcasting?

Building a startup is a lot about speed. But it's not about maximum speed, it's about the right speed. Growth is a primary criterion for startups to succeed and raise external funding. You need to expand reach, build a customer base, and scale your business. The crux is doing this fast but without damaging your business. A startup has to establish robust processes to be ready to scale. Otherwise, it might overstrain and collapse. This robustness was one (of many) aspect(s) that impressed me at Brickanta. They managed to close an $8M seed funding round led by Northzone in just 2 weeks. Brickanta is an agentic AI platform for construction companies that addresses the urgent need for digitalization in the industry. Since closing the round, they've also quadrupled their team, expanding engineering, product, and forward-deployed delivery. With the funding, Brickanta will continue to scale across Europe. Excited to follow their process closely!

The “not going to wait” era 💯 I read this term in Front Office Sports' recent newsletter and couldn't have phrased it better myself. Said by NFL quarterback and entrepreneur Sean Clifford, it perfectly depicts the change in athletes' behavior over the last few years. In the past, the career path was: Play, retire, then figure it out. Nowadays, more and more athletes have realized that it is worthwhile to enter the 'second phase' early. I'm convinced that both phases can overlap without damaging each other; on the contrary, it is even beneficial. When an athlete's career peaks, they have the most leverage in terms of popularity and impact, which is ideal for fostering business. On the other hand, you can profit from engaging in business, as I did by investing in health-related technology that I use myself. The article also highlights the significance of LinkedIn, which serves as a bridge between sports and business and as a platform for communication and networking. From personal experience, I can tell that LinkedIn offers many opportunities. I've already learned about startups I later invested in, connected with, or worked with founders and other angel investors for mutual benefit. Spencer Jones, a basketball pro who was also featured in the article, said that a LinkedIn follower carries much more value than one on any other platform. This is because on LinkedIn, users not only act as private individuals but also in their respective roles, and their disposition to engage in business is far greater than on other social media platforms. LinkedIn itself has announced that, since 2021, the number of athletes on the platform has increased by 31%, which is great. But I feel like it is still too low, given the need to develop a long-term plan for post-career.

I know that AI is all over the place now. And I think rightfully so. There's definitely enormous potential in the technology. But not every tool is good just because there's AI in it. For me, the truly impactful tools differentiate themselves by not just replacing human tasks but going beyond that, delivering additional value. Lio (formerly askLio) is a perfect example of this. The world's first multi-agent system for procurement automates time-consuming manual tasks and, beyond that, sources across every category, prepares, analyzes, and renegotiates every contract. By doing so, companies can reduce manual work by 85% and secure incremental savings of 10%. Already trusted by dozens of large companies in the US, Lio has secured $30M in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from SV Angel, Harry Stebbings, and Y Combinator. Happy to also be part of it!

There are two key aspects I look for when investing in startups: their transformative potential and their impact. Seamflow definitely checked these boxes. The startup tackles the issue that in the EU alone, an estimated 25,000 medical devices are currently awaiting certification. Certification processes can take more than 20 months, slowing down the launch of life-saving products. Seamflow embeds AI into certification workflows, helping teams organize documentation, coordinate reviews, and focus on expert judgment rather than administrative tasks. By reducing operational friction, the company can cut certification timelines to under three months. By now, Seamflow has expanded into additional industries that involve testing, inspection, and certification (TIC). To continue scaling their business, they have collected $4.5M in seed funding from Northzone and Initialized Capital, with participation from Entrepreneur First and Nebular. Excited to follow your journey Konstantin Klingler and Yusufhan Kircova!

Big congrats to Corridor for securing $25 million in a Series A round led by Felicis, bringing Corridor's valuation to $200 million. For me, this is what venture investing is about. Surely, I also benefit from a rising evaluation. But most notably, it is inspiring to see a startup start with a vision, build something from scratch, and scale it within several months to become a leading business in its sector. It's a main reason I engage in early rounds: you can witness the most transformative phase of the company. Corridor observed a trend as it started and grew alongside it, becoming increasingly significant. Over the last few months, there has been a shift from all code being written by humans to the vast majority being written by AI. And insights show that, as with human code, there are regular security holes and weaknesses, while the speed and complexity of new code rise. Corridor's AI system, therefore, scans the code and issues alerts when vulnerabilities arise as the software is being written. This helps humans to make informed decisions on how to fix the problem before the code goes live. Keep up the great work, Ashwin Ramaswami and Jack Cable! 👏

💯 Bundesliga games for Eintracht Frankfurt! Even though I clearly envisioned a different result in our match against Bayer Leverkusen, this number makes me very proud. Soccer is a team sport. So, I would always put team success over personal accolades. We cannot be content with the loss and the last stretch of games we played. However, I feel like we took steps in the right direction, as the whole team played with courage and fought until the end. We will work hard to turn things around with our new coaching staff! I still want to share some thoughts on this personal milestone as it represents more than just a number. In fact, I've never reached 100 games for a club in a single stint before (only if you add all of the Dortmund years). And to be honest, I probably wouldn't have imagined reaching such a number when I moved to Frankfurt four years ago. But the club and the fans made me feel home from the beginning. At this stage of my career, being healthy and able to play games isn't something I take for granted. So, I'll enjoy every game that I add to these 100! And believe me when I say that we will give our all to finish the season on a good note 🦅❤️

I’ve come across this kind of story several times now in the context of startups. A family-owned business faces struggles due to digitization and changes in society and consumer behavior. Passing on the business to a family member of the next generation suddenly becomes doubtful. So, instead of just continuing the business, said family member looks for a solution - and eventually this solution becomes much bigger than the family business. So was the case with Benedikt Nolte. In response to rising pressure in wholesale, he, Matthias Heinrich, and Oliver Birch founded Plato. This AI software automates and optimizes sales and distribution processes, with a particular focus on wholesale. They realized that many businesses in this segment used outdated tools that failed to deliver the desired results and consumed much of the workers’ time. Plato’s AI agent solves this problem by not only automating tasks but also functioning as a recommendation system, freeing up time for customer meetings. The software is already used by several of the biggest wholesale dealers in Germany. Raising $ 14.5 M in a seed round led by Atomico, the startup aims to expand its offerings and targets new markets. Best of luck on this mission 🤞

Five and a half years ago, I was at a very decisive point in my career. And it brought me to the point where I started exploring a new path that, as of today, has become a very important pillar. In 2020, I suddenly was without a club - a feeling that I didn't know at all. But my contract at Borussia Dortmund ended, the Covid pandemic locked down big parts of society, and my son was born way too early. While I was looking for my next club, I also got the feeling that I need a longer-term perspective. Something that defines me off the pitch. So after I made my first startup investment, somewhat by accident, I realized this is something I want to delve into further. Talking to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, I described my approach to investing, my successes and failures (and there were definitely some on both sides), and how I use the technology that I invest in myself. One main challenge for me and my company Companion-M is time. I can probably use 10-15% of my time for it; the rest is for soccer, training and my family. But when you don't have that much time, it is harder to build knowledge, which again makes it more difficult to make informed decisions. So, one key aspect was building a trusted team and a strong network I could rely on and learn from along the way. This means I can scale my involvement based on the time I have spare. Looking back, I'm glad I had those couple of months when I felt a bit lost. It helped me reflect and get clear on where I want to set my focus. And it ultimately led me to join a fantastic club at Eintracht Frankfurt and to find a passion that will someday become a profession.

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