Thomas
von der Ohe

Co-Founder, CEO

WHAT DRIVES ME

You come across an opportunity to positively impact societies around the globe maybe once in your lifetime. An opportunity to truly make a difference. Our unique approach to autonomous driving gives us this chance: redefining how people move in a better way. Building and shipping a product with this great team is what drives me day and night.

BACKGROUND

Launched Zoox’ first self-driving vehicle on public streets as leading Technical Program Manager in Silicon Valley, launched Amazon’s first Echo as leading Technical Program Manager on Device Software, Founded two (funded) mobility companies. M. Sc. Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University.

Fabrizio
Scelsi

Co-Founder, CTO

WHAT DRIVES ME

Building products together with an amazing team based on cutting-edge technology to serve a greater purpose and solve problems – for the people, for our planet.

BACKGROUND

Manager of an engineering team in Silicon Valley to build autonomous shuttles, built teams and various mobility products: electric race cars, e-motorcycles, light electric vehicles, electric passenger vehicles, including one of the most successful electric delivery vehicles in Germany. RWTH Aachen, Imperial College London.

Bogdan
Djukic

Co-founder, VP Engineering & Teledrive Experience

WHAT DRIVES ME

Vay is aiming to launch the first vehicle without a safety driver on public roads in Europe. This involves exciting engineering challenges, many of which have never been worked on before, ranging from autonomous vehicle technology, cybersecurity, backend, machine learning and safety-critical SW. Coming up with engineering solutions to these topics is something that I’m super excited to work on at Vay.

BACKGROUND

Team Lead at Microsoft, Senior Software Engineer at Skype. M. Sc. in Computer Science from Belgrade University.

Mariona
Bosch

VP Programs and Engineering Operations

WHAT DRIVES ME

Working closely with people from different cultures and professional backgrounds (hardware, software, operations, etc.) gives me the chance to learn new ways of approaching projects, structuring teams, and setting up processes every day. The results of this incredible teamwork are hugely rewarding, and visible in each step of our product.

BACKGROUND

Part of the management circle at AUDI AG, responsible for the implementation of prototypes at early development stages of new products (innovation vehicles, concept and pre-series vehicles, show cars, design models, testing single parts, PoCs, 3D-printing)

Justin
Spratt

CBO - Business & Corporate Development

WHAT DRIVES ME

What drives me is to work on goals that have a big impact on society. Additionally, I wanted to work with the smartest and most innovative people in the tech world. That’s better at Vay than any other company I’ve spoken to recently.

BACKGROUND

Responsible for global strategic partnerships at Uber, where he focused on deals with automotive OEMs, vehicle fleet operators, vehicle battery technology companies and electrification infrastructure providers. Was CEO and chief growth officer at Quirk. Began his professional life at Morgan Stanley as a fixed income trader after studying economics and finance. Built the first startup incubator in Africa in 2002 and has been mentoring founders of technology startups for over ten years. He is an angel investor in software technology and holds board positions in some of these companies.

Irene
Molins

Director of People

WHAT DRIVES ME

Driven by a passion for fostering vibrant organizational cultures, I am a seasoned leader specializing in People and Culture. Throughout my career journey, I’ve championed initiatives to empower teams, from crafting recruitment strategies aligned with core values to implementing data-driven processes for optimal People Operations.

BACKGROUND

My background spans roles where I’ve spearheaded the establishment of People departments from scratch and led teams through significant growth. I thrive on continuous learning, embracing remote/hybrid cultures and cutting-edge HR technologies. I leadled innovative solutions to optimise processes and initiatives that rewarded InfoJobs a “Best Place to Work”.
Outside of work, my passions for mountains and my dog, reflect my eagerness to explore the wild and love for 4-legs companions.

David
Gossow

Senior Principal Software Engineer

WHAT DRIVES ME

After having worked in autonomous robotics research for a long time in the Silicon Valley, I am thrilled to be working at a company that is finally bringing this technology into people’s everyday lives.

BACKGROUND

Tech Lead at Google Tango in Mountain View, Research Engineer at Willow Garage, yoga instructor since 2018.

Johanna
Loomis

Lead Industrial Designer

WHAT DRIVES ME

What drives me at Vay is the enthusiasm and passion for a vision that is embedded in the company culture, and at the same time the strict discipline in its implementation.

BACKGROUND

Industrial Product Design Lead at TEAMS DESIGN GmbH for over six years, started as a Trainee in Shanghai City. Worked as Industrial and Product Designer at LOTHAR BOHM ASSOCIATES LIMITED, Lutz Herrmann Design, Indeed Innovation and Werksdesign.

Vladimir
Bilonenko

Director of Software Engineering

WHAT DRIVES ME

Helping engineers to do their best and most important work. Elegance in software. Bringing ideas from books to real life and from one domain to another. Going from A to B fast.

BACKGROUND

Software Generalist. Maps and Mobility Geek (Lon, Lat not Lat, Lon). High Load at Yandex, Geo Analytics and Last Mile at HERE Maps, Mobility Platform at Daimler. Conway’s Law Enthusiast.

ALINA
PRESTI

Teledriver

WHAT DRIVES ME

A car enthusiast, driven by cars, driving and technology.

BACKGROUND

Nursery school teacher. Driver at Skoda’s start-up Caredriver.

Claire
Eagan

Director of Legal

WHAT DRIVES ME

I’m passionate about leveraging technology to democratize transportation and revolutionize the mobility landscape.

BACKGROUND

Senior Counsel Product & Strategy at Uber handling catastrophic loss claims and litigation, 13 years of experience in product & safety advising and risk mitigation, J.D. University of Illinois at Chicago.

EIC Scaling Club network selects Vay as one of Europe’s highest-potential deep tech scale-ups

Apr 3, 2024

  • The EIC Scaling Club supports Europe’s leading tech startups. Backed by the European Innovation Council, the flagship programme of the European Commission, the programme aims to grow the value of selected businesses and maximize the companies’ positive global impact.
  • Vay was nominated by Hyundai Motor Group through its Cradle subsidiary and selected as part of a highly competitive selection process in the ‘smart mobility’ category. 
  • Vay develops automotive-grade technology for remote driving (“teledriving”), paving the way for sustainable and driverless mobility services.

BERLIN, April 3, 2024 – The European Innovation Council (EIC) Scaling Club has unveiled its selection of 48 firms to join its first cohort of deep tech startups. As one of the selected companies, Vay will join a select cohort of companies to engage with investors, corporate innovators, mentors, media firms and other industry stakeholders.

Vay is privileged to have been nominated by the Hyundai Motor Group through its Cradle subsidiary for the exclusive EIC Scaling Club. Once nominated, Vay was fortunate to beat out hundreds of other businesses to get a place in the Smart Mobility cohort. 

“Joining the EIC Scaling Club is an outstanding achievement for Vay. Together, we show that Europe can lead in innovation on a global basis,” said Justin Spratt, Vay’s Chief Business Officer.

Backed by the European Innovation Council, the EIC Scaling Club’s mission is to significantly grow the value of the selected world-class businesses, helping to drive European economic growth in order to deliver positive global impact.

“On behalf of all the partners working together to turn the EIC Scaling Club into a ‘catalyst for scale’, we welcome the first 48 companies into the fold and are delighted that Vay is part of the mix. In unison with our investors, corporate, mentor and media stakeholder members, we will ensure that the selected deep-tech companies derive as much value for their businesses as possible, as fast as possible,” said William Stevens, co-founder and group managing director of Tech Tour and coordinator of the EIC Scaling Club.

The EIC Scaling Club will provide its members with valuable industry connections, partnership opportunities, fundraising support, leadership mentoring and coaching, media visibility, recruitment, and more.

About the EIC Scaling Club:

The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.

The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefited from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond. The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership with Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.

For more information and a contact form, please visit EICScalingClub.eu 

Vay press contact:
[email protected]
+49 176 60404217