New leadership propels startups towards accelerated growth

Jennifer Yohannes, the former CEO of Kartenmacherei, Europe's leading provider of personalized stationery, has joined Librio as its new Chief Product Officer. Jennifer Yohannes has many years of experience in building and scaling personalized products. She accompanied Kartenmacherei on its way from a start-up to a successful company with sales of over 90 million euros. Later, as Chief Commercial Officer at the parent holding company Celebrate Company, she was also responsible for the sales of the Rosemood and Mintkind brands. In her new role, she will help to further expand the offering and establish Librio as one of Europe's leading family brands. Since its foundation in 2017 as a publisher of personalized children’s books, Librio has sold over 750,000 books in more than 100 countries. After a successful CHF 1 million crowd-investing campaign, the company is about to enter a new phase of growth

Technis welcomes new CTO
After an outstanding journey as Head of Engineering, Oktawia Kata will step into the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Technis, the Swiss startup software company that centralizes data on a single platform. Oktawia has 10 years of experience in software engineering, technology leadership, and strategy. From navigating high-compliance enterprises to driving innovation in fast-moving environments, she brings a wealth of experience that makes her the perfect fit to lead Technis’ engineering efforts. In her new role, she will oversee a team of 20 data scientists, product managers, designers, and software

Kandou has new CEO
Semiconductor company Kandou is now Kandou AI as part of its new strategy, focused exclusively on its goal of democratizing artificial intelligence. The company is developing revolutionary AI fabric solutions that will enable customers spanning four markets (AI Inference, AI-Training, CXL based memory platforms and Rack connectivity) to build cost-effective, scalable AI systems.
In line with the strategic redirection, Kandou AI has made leadership changes, with Srujan Linga as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Srujan Linga was previously the Senior Investment and Financial Structuring Director of CHIPS for America program at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he helped to drive the United States leadership in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Prior, he spent 16 years working at Goldman Sachs in several leadership roles building new entrepreneurial business lines. With expertise in semiconductors and AI along with business leadership, he brings a visionary approach to driving Kandou AI’s mission. Srujan will be based in the United States. He will support Kandou’s new AI strategy to produce semiconductors for AI cloud-service and hardware providers in the US. The company is developing Founder and former CEO Amin Shokrollahi, will now become Chief Technology Officer (CTO), building on the company’s strong heritage of market-leading silicon to revolutionize AI infrastructure.

Bionomous welcomes Chief Business officer
Along size welcoming new board members, Bionomous has appointed Raghu Behara as new Chief Business Officer (CBO) to lead the company’s commercial strategy and partnerships. To this end, Bionomous has developed EggSorter, a cost-effective device that automatically screens, sorts and dispenses small biological entities (from 0.5 to 2 mm). Raghu Behara, with his extensive experience in Life Science and Industrial Manufacturing, will be responsible for the company’s commercial strategy and market expansion, particularly in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific regions as well as developing strategic partnerships. Raghu previously served as Head of Life Sciences North America at Festo and has a proven track record in scaling for growth, business development and market expansion.

CytoSurge appoints Chief Commercial Officer
Cytosurge AG, a leading biotech company in single-cell manipulation and cell engineering solutions, announces the appointment of Magid Haddouchi, as its new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), effective as of April 1, 2025. Haddouch brings over 15 years of international experience in diagnostics, life sciences, and medical devices. Prior to joining Cytosurge, he served as CCO at VirtaMed, spearheading global commercial strategies that delivered strong market growth, launched innovative offerings, and built trusted partnerships across scientific and clinical communities. At Cytosurge, he will lead the company’s commercial growth strategy, strengthen customer engagement, and scale strategic partnerships across the academic, biotech, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Promotion: Squirro appoints new COO
Squirro, a leading enterprise GenAI platform provider, has promoted its Chief Marketing Officer, Lauren Hawker Zafer, to the role of Chief Operating Officer. As the strategic architect and operational lead at Squirro, Hawker Zafer will play an essential role in turning the company’s ambitious vision into execution. During her tenure as CMO over the last 15 months, Hawker Zafer has made a significant mark, shaping Squirro’s brand perception as a global, innovative and award-winning company. She has become one of the AI industry’s most esteemed keynote speakers and a prominent member of the Women in Tech Council.

She founded and hosts Squirro’s popular podcast ‘Redefining AI’ which has an ever-growing following of 50,000 AI enthusiasts. The show explores the broader societal, economic, and political implications of AI, delivering a platform for independent and informed education. In 2024, the podcast won the prestigious New York Digital Award, while Hawker Zafer was personally recognized for her commitment to making AI accessible and understandable with a Top AI Voice badge for her contributions to LinkedIn. In July last year, she also won a Squirro stellar leadership award for her leadership style, a combination of empowerment and accountability.

(RAN)
Image: Jennifer Yohannes, Oktawia Kata, Srujan Linga, Raghu Behara and Lauren Hawker Zafer