Josef Krautkraemer
Managing Partner
Get their honest, personalized take on your startup.
Sign in to pitch Josef →At a glance
- Full Name
- Josef Krautkrämer (anglicized "Krautkraemer")
- Title
- Managing Partner / Managing Director (Geschäftsführer); currently the appointed Liquidator of the firm
- Firm
- Krautkraemer GmbH (trading as "Capital Acquisition Consulting" / formerly "The Lead Factory GmbH")
- Firm Type
- Family office / angel investor and business-development consultancy
- Investment Stage
- Seed / early venture stage
- Target Company Profile
- Early-stage start-ups and young founders taken "from the start-up idea to the development of the company"
- Sector Focus
- Technology-leaning — mobile computing, security, gaming and ICT reflect his own operating background; the firm also advises on structured company financing and non-food/textile retail
- Geographic Focus
- Germany / Europe (with a US and international operating network)
- Location
- Grevenbroich / Neuss, near Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Background
Josef Krautkrämer is a German technology executive turned family-office investor. According to biographical summaries carried on investor databases, he was educated across Germany, the UK, France and the USA, studying technology (computer science), economics (an MBA) and philosophy of economics (the latter at the FernUniversität in Hagen). Note that he should not be confused with the historical physicist Josef Krautkrämer (1913–2000), inventor of the first ultrasonic non-destructive testing device and co-founder of the Krautkrämer ultrasonic-testing company (now Baker Hughes' Waygate Technologies).
His operating career spans international industry: early industrial experience in seawater desalination and super-mini computer systems, followed by co-founding one of the first electronic ticketing and boarding systems ("etix") together with a Swiss-based corporate venture, active in Germany and the USA. After that business was sold to its corporate-venture partner, he returned to the computer industry in a series of international management roles for European, Japanese and US companies, concentrating on mobile computing, security, gaming and ICT.
Around the turn of the millennium he stepped back from corporate industry to run the family office and focus on supporting young entrepreneurs. He operated through Krautkraemer GmbH, founded in January 2004 (originally registered as "The Lead Factory GmbH"), which combined a family-office/angel investing posture with hands-on business-development and management consulting under the "Capital Acquisition Consulting" brand.
Public company records (Northdata / Handelsregister Mönchengladbach, HRB 8157) show that Krautkraemer GmbH entered liquidation on 4 January 2023, with Josef Krautkrämer serving as liquidator, and the entity was recorded as terminated on 27 November 2025. Founders researching him today should treat the firm as a legacy vehicle that has been wound down rather than an actively deploying fund.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests and advises at the seed / idea-to-early-company stage, positioning himself as an "Unternehmensentwickler" (company developer) who takes founders "from the start-up idea to the development of the company."
- Operates as a family office / angel rather than an institutional fund — capital is his own, decisions are personal, and support is hands-on (management coaching plus structured financing advice).
- Sector affinity mirrors his operating history: technology, mobile computing, security, gaming and ICT, with additional consulting activity in company financing and non-food/textile retail.
- Value-add is framed around operational and financing help ("Managementberatung," "structured financing of companies in Europe" under the Capital Acquisition Consulting trademark) rather than passive capital.
- Publicly disclosed check size and formal fund terms are not available — consistent with a small, personal family-office vehicle.
Notable Investments
- etix (electronic ticketing & boarding system) — his own co-founded venture (with a Swiss corporate-venture partner, Germany/USA), an early electronic ticketing/boarding system that was later sold to its corporate-venture partner. This is a founding/operating venture rather than an angel investment, but it is the clearest documented company he built.
Unlock the full research
Get how to approach them, recent activity, sources, contact links — plus pitch their AI twin for a candid read on your raise.
One-time. Stays unlocked for you.