Christoph Gerlinger | |
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![]() Christoph Gerlinger, 2008
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Born |
Hessen, Frankfurt am Main, West Germany |
July 27, 1967
Nationality | German |
Alma mater | JW Goethe University (1988 - 1992) |
Occupation | Founder and CEO of German Startups Group Berlin GmbH & Co. KGaA |
Known for | Founder and CEO of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG |
Christoph Gerlinger (born July 27, 1967 in Frankfurt/Main, West Germany and raised there) is a German venture capitalist and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as the founder and CEO of the venture capital investor German Startups Group, which is publicly listed on the . Prior to that he was a senior executive and entrepreneur in computer and online games companies since 1996. He was CEO of the MMO Games publisher Frogster Interactive Pictures AG[] (now Gameforge Berlin AG), listed at Frankfurt stock exchange from 2006 until its takeover in 2010. Gerlinger was named one of Germany's most 50 interesting young entrepreneurs by a leading German business magazine.
Gerlinger earned a master's degree in Business Administration and Management from JW Goethe University Frankfurt am Main in 1992.
Early in his career, Gerlinger was CFO of the German subsidiary of Psygnosis (Sony Group)(1996 - 1998). Later he was CFO and Co-Founder of CDV Software Entertainment AG (1999 - 2001), listed at the from 2000 until 2010, before serving as General Manager of Atari's German entity Infogrames Deutschland GmbH (2002). In early 2005, Gerlinger founded the MMO Games Publisher Frogster Interactive Pictures AG. He was Frogster's long standing CEO and worked with the team during its critical growth phases. He left Frogster at the end of 2011. He then founded German Startups Group, which was released publicly on 27 July 2012. German Startups Group became the second most active venture capital investor in Germany since 2012.