grandcentrix GmbH
Who we are and where we come from
Our identity
Our Roots
Our History
Founded in 2010 as a product startup in Dortmund, we have undergone a transformation or two ourselves (in addition to various moves). In the beginning, we were only a service provider for "apps", which were brand new at the time, but soon we also developed the appropriate backends inhouse.
With apps for live TV productions, we then also ventured steps into the emerging "cloud" technologies, pushing not only us but also the cloud operators to their limits. Shortly after, we connected the first washing machine for a well known German company in 2014. The next step began with our involvement with a start-up from Düsseldorf: approached as a pure trade fair app development, we soon found ourselves in the middle of building an electronics lab to bring the Toniebox to life.
A steady growth, both in terms of workforce and customers, made us a modern service provider and consultant with our own products and a broad solution portfolio in 2019. This also convinced Vodafone GmbH, which acquired 100 % of our shares as of January 1, 2020.
Our goal: Connect your products.Management Team
Matthias Krömer
Managing Director & CEOAs the former Director Corporate Strategy at Vodafone, Matthias brings his extensive experience to grandcentrix. During his 16 years at Vodafone, he was always at the forefront of innovation projects and responsible for the progress in strategic and new areas of technology.
As CEO of grandcentrix, Matthias continues to represent the first mover spirit and, together with our team, is further expanding our expertise as an IoT solution provider.
Ralf Rottmann
Managing Director & FounderRalf is founder, Managing Director and innovation driver of grandcentrix. He charts our fundamental strategic course. After the successful exit of his previous company to Alcatel in 2008, Ralf ensures a permanently questioning and thus self-renewing visionary dynamic at grandcentrix.
Ralf is also a former board member of the non-profit IOTA Foundation in Berlin and a member of Minister Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart's Digital Advisory Board NRW.
Martin Willnow
Managing Director & FounderMartin is founder, Managing Director and the commercial backbone of grandcentrix. His stated credo: sustainable growth on a stable basis.
Martin's more than 15 years of experience in selling software solutions for large companies ensures that grandcentrix always balances the economic and qualitative interests of its clients with a keen sense of proportion.
His favorite programming language: Excel.
Christian Pereira
SVP Sales & OperationsAs a member of the grandcentrix management team, Christian is responsible for sales, operations and project organization. As a long-time mastermind of connected product service systems, he is excited about improving our world with innovative projects.
Dr. Christoph Biermeier
VP Human ResourcesAs a member of the Executive Management of grandcentrix, Christoph is responsible for our personnel and organizational company structure. His passion is for fast growing organizations.
Paul Haigh
VP SalesPaul joins grandcentrix coming from Vodafone Group IoT. He co-founded Vodafone's IoT business in Germany in 2011 and was responsible for IoT sales in the Multinational segment for the entire DACH region since 2013.
Raphael Heinrich
VP Finance & ITRaphael is our man of numbers. He ensures that we grow on an economically stable basis and are able to plan ahead. As one of our first employees, Raphael knows the grandcentrix business very well and helps us to carry out our growth course.
Roland Hänel
VP Embedded EngineeringRoland's many years of experience in the IT industry and his deep understanding of the IoT market are helping us to shape the next chapter of our transformation into an IoT powerhouse. He holds a degree in electrical and communications engineering from RWTH Aachen University and co-founded GINKO AG.
Stephan Hochhaus
VP ProductsStephan transforms recurring challenges in the IoT environment into solution components and products. These serve as the basis for our projects and give us the necessary freedom to focus on the truly project-specific challenges.
Sven Gebhardt
VP Impact & InnovationIn his role as VP Impact & Innovation, Sven is responsible for the external presentation of grandcentrix and the evaluation of new technologies, often combined with prototypical implementation.
Timo Josten
VP Software EngineeringAs a member of the Executive Management of grandcentrix, Timo is responsible for our Competence Centers and thus for the most staff-intensive part of our value creation.