F.A.Z., August 26, 2025, No. 197, Economy, p. 20

Mannheim’s software hope

Alberto Zamora has quickly turned a start-up into a thriving company that has captured the imagination of many observers. It’s all about the pitfalls of bureaucracy.

Alberto Zamora is very aware of his own rise to success. And he sounds as if he himself is a little surprised at what has been possible in his professional life. About twenty years ago, he was still working on the assembly line at Audi, says the Spaniard. Today, he is an entrepreneur – which is actually crazy. Especially since he is not an entrepreneur in a tiny niche or an everyday industry, but something of a German software hopeful. With the Mannheim-based company Osapiens, he has established an internationally active company that has captured the imagination of many observers.

This was already the case when Osapiens won the German Start-up Award in the “Rising Star” category in 2022 – and also when renowned investors demonstrated their confidence in the young company, founded in 2018, with their investments. The Munich-based investment company Armira provided €25 million in a first round of financing, while Goldman Sachs provided as much as €120 million in a second round. Money for so-called ESG technology: Put simply, Osapiens addresses one of the major concerns – and one of the tedious obligations – of German and international companies. It’s about sustainability requirements, the analysis of supply chains, customers, products, manufacturing conditions and much more. The bureaucratic effort involved is enormous, and many companies say they are not in a position to do this in terms of personnel, finances or content. 

It is a politically controversial issue, with keywords such as location weakness and competitive disadvantages coming into play. At Osapiens, on the other hand, they say: “We handle everything related to these reporting requirements using software and artificial intelligence.” The company now has around 1,800 German and international corporate customers, including medium-sized companies and large corporations, as well as 500 employees. The former start-up has become a thriving business.

Its face is Alberto Zamora – even if he doesn’t like that description. Although he is the most visible member of the management team and represents the company externally, he is only one of three founders. That’s why he says: “We at Osapiens are not a one-man show, so I’m not the Elon Musk of the company. On the contrary, my co-founders do some things much better than I do.” He is referring to Matthias Jungblut and Stefan Wawrzinek, who are the main shareholders alongside him: “We are completely equal and see ourselves as a team, no ifs, ands, or buts.” Zamora, born in 1976, says with a wink that he is the CEO of Osapiens because his co-founders are younger than him. It’s as if he is in the front row because of his age. 

His career path is likely to be more decisive than his personality, which is atypical for a man in his position. Zamora studied journalism and communication sciences at the University of Salamanca, followed by a distance learning degree in economics. He started his career as a developer and consultant at SAP, a very different caliber of German company. 

The DAX-listed company from Walldorf also had its headquarters in Mannheim in its early days, as did Mercedes-Benz. This prompted the city’s mayor, , to place Osapiens in the same league as these heavyweights that had long since moved on, as Zamora likes to recount. Mannheim, according to the mayor’s warning and wish, must not lose this promising company as well.

Currently, this is not an issue, as Osapiens is thriving at its headquarters not far from Mannheim’s main train station. The company is Zamora’s third start-up, and it is intended to be his last. Previously, the most notable development was the start-up Movilitas, which was launched in 2006, was active in the pharmaceutical industry, and focused on digital tracking and monitoring of goods. Even back then, much of the focus was on cloud software, as is the case today at Osapiens. Ten years after its founding, Zamora sold Movilitas to the American industrial group Honeywell, which has tens of thousands of employees and most recently generated sales of just under 40 billion euros. 

With Osapiens, it’s the other way around: the company is now in a position to make acquisitions itself. Especially after the second round of financing and the entry of Goldman Sachs, it has enough liquidity to look around the market. But Zamora says he knows from his time at SAP, among other things, that integrating acquisitions also ties up energy and is not a sure-fire success: “We have large reserves and could make acquisitions.” He also receives offers every week: “But we see ourselves as a ‘product company’ that has the best product on the market, and that’s why acquisitions are not a goal in themselves – they would have to serve our products. That’s why we will always examine very carefully before making acquisitions.”

Especially since the issue of sustainability is under pressure and regulation in this field is characterized by hesitation, ambiguity, and uncertainty, he says. This applies to the EU, but extends far beyond it. “In the US, the issue of sustainability is currently secondary. In some cases, companies tend to be at a disadvantage if they emphasize or implement it. But that will change again in a few years; the pendulum will swing back.” For the time being, he is happy “if I can show by my example that foreigners can also achieve something and give something back to Germany.” The US is “also so economically strong because such biographies are more common and taken for granted there.” UWE MARX

Caption:

Alberto Zamora 

Photo Michael Braunschädel

Author(s):  Marx, Uwe

© Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH, Frankfurt. All rights reserved. Provided by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Archive.