BCG Digital Ventures London appoints Manuela Rabener as Partner
The Digital Ventures wing of Boston Consulting Group has appointed Manuela Rabener as a Partner in its London office. Former McKinsey & Company consultant Rabener arrives following two decades as an innovator and entrepreneur, and is the third major appointment at BCGDV across its global operations in 2019.
Founded in 2014 as the venture wing of Boston Consulting Group, BCG Digital Ventures (BCGDV) is a corporate innovation, incubation, and investment firm. The group works to invent, launch, scale, and invest in industry-changing new businesses with the world’s most influential companies. Now in its fifth year, BCGDV has expanded its footprint across the globe, with innovation centres and satellite locations in four continents.
Covering the energy, industrial goods, insurance and financial sectors, its multidisciplinary team of entrepreneurs, operators, and investors work cross-functionally, helping clients move from paper to product to business in less than 12 months. The firm has overseen the creation of a number of innovative apps, including the Wonderbill energy platform and a new travel app in London, in partnership with Shell. BCGDV also helped De Beers to produce Tracr, enabling end-to-end traceability in the diamond industry.
The firm’s global headcount has seen rapid growth thanks to this workload. At present it stands at around 1,000 members – 130 of whom are stationed in BCGDV’s London office. The office has more than doubled in size since 2016, and its expansion has continued with the news that Dr. Manuela Rabener has arrived at BCGDV as a Partner in London.
Rabener began her career in 2002 at the management consultancy McKinsey & Company, working in the firm’s Munich, New York, Dubai, Cologne offices over the span of her seven-year stay. Having consulted for banks as well as consumer goods and retail clients, in 2009 she founded her own e-commerce platform for children’s articles, Shoparella. This was the first of a list of innovative retail platforms Rabener would found, before joining Scalable Capital in 2015. Shifting her focus to the FinTech sector, Rabener co-founded the firm’s UK wing, working as Chief Marketing Officer at the firm, where she remains a brand ambassador.
A German in the UK
This means Rabener arrives at BCGDV as one of the most renowned German start-up and tech entrepreneurs, a reputation which will further strengthen the firm’s management team. Joining as a Partner, Rabener is the third top hire to join BCGDV in Europe this year, following new Partners Donata Hopfen (formerly CEO of Verimi and Head of the Management Board at Axel Springer’s BILD Group) and Konstantin Urban (CEO and co-founder of Windeln.de).
Commenting on her new challenge, Rabener said, “As a passionate entrepreneur, I find it incredibly exciting to accompany a start-up from initial idea to successful market entry. Topics such as big data, AI, and the increasing digitisation of services in general continue to offer huge opportunities – not only for new business models, but also for solving current societal challenges. So I’m all the more excited to be part of BCGDV, the world’s largest venture builder, and to contribute to many more successful founding stories.”
BCGDV Global Managing Director Stefan Gross-Selbeck meanwhile stated, “We started in 2014 with the goal of developing new business models together with the world’s most important companies. Over the past five years, we have successfully launched more than 80 new digital businesses around the world. Ella Rabener has an impressive track record and exactly the right experience to scale innovative business models internationally.”
Ajay Chowdhury, Managing Director of BCGDV in London added, “Our FinTech teams have already built very successful companies, including Wonderbill and Nist. FinTech will play a key role in the next wave of digitisation. With her extensive experience as a digital entrepreneur, Ella Rabener will find an excellent ecosystem at BCGDV in which to develop business models that move entire industries.”
