The operator
Thomas Breitenbaum
Twenty years of P&L leadership, from Austria's largest-ever IPO to a founder buy-in of his own — now looking for one more company to carry forward.
Thomas Breitenbaum has spent two decades in senior operating and finance roles across Austrian and German banking, consulting and industry — most recently as the operator behind his own founder-succession acquisition.
Career stations
2024 – present · CEO & Co-Owner, MikroVeda GmbH Led the management buy-in of a fermented-supplements producer in Kevelaer, North Rhine-Westphalia, alongside two co-investors, financed with 70% debt. He has run the company since closing and is now completing his transition out of day-to-day management to focus fully on ORENDA.
2023 – 2024 · CEO & Co-Founder, Kassiopeia Invest GmbH Set up an investment holding company.
2012 – 2023 · Senior Management Executive, BAWAG Group Head of Retail Lending, delivering EUR 100M+ in annual profit uplift; business-side lead of Austria’s largest-ever IPO (EUR 1.9bn); a trusted counterpart to U.S. private-equity sponsors.
2010 – 2012 · Senior Consultant, SHS Unternehmensberatung Restructuring and operating-model programs across banking, retail and B2B industry.
2005 – 2010 · CFO, Mandarin Group Finance build-up and judicial restructuring across Austria, Central & Eastern Europe and China.
Earlier · UniCredit Bank Austria · UNIQA Insurance Group · Raiffeisen Data Service Center
Why the MikroVeda buy-in matters
Thomas sourced, financed and personally led MikroVeda’s buy-in in November 2024, then spent the following months building trust with its team before making a single structural change: a disciplined first-hundred-days approach he intends to repeat with the next founder who trusts him with their company.
Repositioning the commercial model, renegotiating B2B margins and building a digital acquisition funnel followed only once the business was properly understood — a real preview of how he plans to work with ORENDA’s next acquisition.
The name
Orenda is a concept recorded among the Iroquois Confederacy’s Six Nations — the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora — first documented in 1902 by the Smithsonian ethnologist J. N. B. Hewitt, himself Tuscarora. It describes the force resting within all things, and the ability to unlock it through will, skill and one’s own action: historically a practice among hunters and healers, and in business a close cousin of agility, resilience and impact.
“A disciplined first-hundred-days approach he intends to repeat with the next founder who trusts him with their company.”
Talk to Thomas directly
Every conversation starts with Thomas — no analysts, no intermediaries.
If you're weighing your options for your company's next chapter, a short call is the easiest way to see if there's a fit.