Katharina Schild, Vice President Cathay Innovation

Who is Katharina Schild?

I’m a Munich native with a deep curiosity about the world and a strong belief in approaching life with optimism. Growing up close to nature instilled in me an appreciation for taking moments to step back and staying active more generally helps me recharge and keep perspective. At my core, I’m driven by a love for human connection, openness to new experiences and a desire to make the most of the opportunities life offers.

Professionally, I started my career in corporate development and strategic innovation, where I worked on a wide range of initiatives, from M&A and post-merger integrations to large organizational transformation projects. Experiencing first-hand how organizations operate and evaluate new technologies gave me a deep appreciation for what actually drives customer adoption and real business impact. That perspective is incredibly valuable today when assessing startups: Is a solution a nice-to-have or does it create meaningful value for customers?

Over the past decade, I’ve lived and worked across Munich, London, Boston, New York and now Berlin, always drawn to dynamic environments where I can learn quickly and collaborate with ambitious, thoughtful people. Today, as an investor at Cathay Innovation, I’m fortunate to partner with entrepreneurs who are building technology-driven companies that have the potential to transform industries and create positive change at scale.

What experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

I often think of it like assembling a puzzle over time, each experience and person along my way adds another piece. A common thread throughout has been an intrinsic excitement to push myself out of the comfort zone. Living and working across different locations had a big influence on me. Starting fresh in new environments can be both exciting and humbling and being exposed to different cultures and perspectives taught me to remain open-minded while staying grounded in my values.

Throughout my career, I’ve been very fortunate to work with exceptional managers who trusted me with significant responsibility from early on. Just over a year into my first job, I moved to London to take on a Chief of Staff opportunity, which pushed me to grow quickly and reinforced the importance of ownership and accountability. Another formative chapter was leading strategy and financial planning for a major TV channel during Covid. Navigating a period when viewership surged while advertising revenues collapsed, while overseeing the channel’s P&L, reinforced how important thoughtful decision-making and strong teams are in uncertain times.

Those experiences ultimately led me to venture capital. I realized that what energizes me most is identifying emerging opportunities, partnering with visionary founders and placing thoughtful bets on bold ideas, while constructing a diversified portfolio. What I love most is the intellectual challenge of constantly thinking about where the world is heading and which ideas have the potential to shape it.

How would you explain what you do to an 8-year-old?

I’d say that I’m very fortunate because my job allows me to meet incredibly smart, ambitious and passionate people every day who are working on big ideas to solve important problems. If I believe the idea could grow into a strong company that solves a real problem, I provide the means - in terms of capital and support - to empower those entrepreneurs on their growth ambitions so their solutions can reach more people at scale.

When you make an investment decision, what is the single most important criterion?

There’s rarely just one factor. At its core, venture investing is about building strong conviction around three elements in particular: team, product and market. I have a deep appreciation for exceptional founders, because building a company requires resilience, ambition and the ability to navigate uncertainty over a long period. At the same time, the product needs to solve a real problem and the market must be large enough to support meaningful growth. When those three pieces come together, that’s usually where the most compelling opportunities emerge. And while rigorous analysis plays an important role, venture investing is also about developing thoughtful intuition about the future the founders are trying to build.

What concrete actions would most effectively increase the number of female founders?

Representation matters a lot. When people see role models who look like them, it makes the path feel more possible. Encouragingly, we are seeing gradual progress, with more capital flowing to female founders than a decade ago. But the overall share of venture funding going to women remains disproportionately small, which underscores that there is still a lot of work to do.

One important lever is encouraging entrepreneurial thinking earlier on. If young women grow up seeing entrepreneurship as a viable and exciting path and are encouraged to take risks, experiment and build, it becomes much easier to make that leap later in life. Mentorship, strong communities and early supporters can make a significant difference.

In my view, increasing diversity among investors is critical, because investment decisions are often influenced by pattern recognition shaped by past experiences. If most decision-makers have historically backed a similar profile of founder, it is not surprising that the same patterns keep repeating. Venture capital still has relatively few women and broadening the perspectives around the table is essential to expand the set of founders and ideas that are recognized and funded.

What are you most proud of in your journey so far?

What I’m most proud of is having had the courage to change direction when I realized my path could be more closely aligned with my values and intrinsic interests. Looking back, I’m grateful I trusted my curiosity and chose the path that felt most meaningful and authentic.

Do you have a role model? If so, who and what do you admire most about them?

Rather than one specific role model, I’ve been inspired by many people I’ve worked with and met along the way. I often find myself admiring different qualities in different people, whether it’s their courage, thoughtfulness, intellectual curiosity, resilience or many other traits I deeply respect. Many of those inspirations actually come from people closest to me, including friends and peers, who demonstrate these qualities in their own unique ways.

What I tend to admire are leaders who combine ambition with humility, people who set high standards, empower others and remain deeply curious. Those are qualities I strive to cultivate as I continue to advance on my own career journey.

Follow Cathay Innovation here to learn more about their story and connect with Katharina via Linkedin.