Traxit: 19 Former Tractive Leaders Now Invest Millions Into Startups
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The name says it all. Traxit is a blend of Tractive and Exit, and it points straight at the deal that made some of the people behind it very rich. After Italian app group Bending Spoons acquired the Upper Austrian scale-up Tractive, 19 former members of the Tractive leadership team have founded Traxit GmbH together and are putting part of the proceeds into the next generation of startups.
Among them are Tractive founders Michael Hurnaus and Wolfgang Reisinger, along with Bernhard Trauner, formerly VP Finance at Tractive, and Maria Rupprechter, formerly chief of staff. Trauner and Rupprechter also serve as managing directors of Traxit GmbH.
A Low Seven-Figure Sum, All of It Their Own
The investment vehicle is starting with capital in the low seven figures, contributed by the 19 members themselves. The team is not disclosing the exact amount. Individual tickets will typically range between 50,000 and 150,000 euros. Every final investment decision is made by an internal investment committee that assesses each opportunity along a fixed process.
The focus is on early-stage companies that already generate revenue. Traxit is most interested in consumer-facing business models, recurring revenue, combinations of hardware and subscription, and companies in pet tech, the very segment where Tractive grew big with its GPS trackers for dogs and cats. There is no fixed geographic focus, though a meaningful share of the investments is meant to go to Austrian companies.
Four Commitments Already Signed
Traxit made four investment commitments before its official launch. Two of the first holdings are Austrian, one from Upper Austria and one from Vienna. One further investment goes to Germany and one to the United Kingdom. The companies themselves have not been named yet.
The 19 members bring more than 100 years of combined Tractive experience, plus stints at Microsoft, Amazon, Trivago, Zalando and KPMG. Their expertise spans strategy and internationalization, marketing, growth, data and AI, as well as software engineering, product, finance and operations.
Beyond capital, portfolio companies are meant to get access to that know-how through sparring calls, workshops and introductions to talent, partners and other investors.
“We want to be the angel investor for founders that we would have wished for ourselves in the early days,” says Michael Hurnaus, founder and former CEO of Tractive. He points to his own early years, when the Runtastic founders and Hansi Hansmann backed Tractive with experience, contacts and hands-on advice as well as money. “With Traxit we want to pass on exactly that kind of support.”
“When we invest, we want to be reachable for the founders,” says Rupprechter. “Sometimes that means a two-hour workshop, sometimes an introduction to a specific person, and sometimes simply a sparring session with someone who has been through the same thing.”
Rupprechter on the Job Cuts at Tractive
The Bending Spoons exit left a second story behind in Upper Austria. The Italian buyer, which paid around 770 million euros for Tractive, cut more than half of the jobs shortly after the takeover. Asked about those cuts, Rupprechter says Bending Spoons made the decision without involving the former Tractive leadership team. The group will handle some functions itself and cover others with AI.
“We are glad that some of the colleagues affected by the cuts have already found new jobs,” Rupprechter says. She is confident the rest will find new opportunities quickly, because Tractive employed excellent and talented people and because there is a strong community of Tractive friends and alumni.
The departure of the leadership team itself went according to plan and follows the usual pattern for Bending Spoons acquisitions, Rupprechter explains. Most of the leadership team left the company within the first weeks after the takeover. Founder Hurnaus had announced his own exit at closing.
The Cycle After an Exit
Traxit repeats a pattern the Austrian startup scene has seen before. After selling Runtastic to Adidas, its founders invested in a long list of young companies and passed on capital, experience and networks. The Tractive founders have been active as business angels for years and have built up a growing deal flow that way.
“A working startup ecosystem needs this cycle,” Hurnaus says. “People build companies, gather experience, ideally achieve a successful exit, and then invest capital, know-how and time in the next generation.”
