The Hague, February 5: Unknown Group is delighted to announce the appointment of Giels Brouwer as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Brouwer joins Unknown Group as a seasoned entrepreneur and specialist in product development, machine learning and data intelligence. He previously founded leading sport performance analytics scaleups, SciSports and BallJames, where he will continue to remain active as a shareholder and advisor to the board. 

Under his direction, both SciSports and BallJames pioneered a data-driven approach to scout football players, which was adopted by the world’s leading football clubs such as Olympique Lyon, Leeds United and Ajax. In recent years, SciSports have built a fully-automated solution that quantifies the quality, potential and value of every professional football player in the world. In 2017 SciSports received the award for Most Innovative Football Company in the World by the HYPE Foundation.

As CTO, Brouwer joins Edward de Jager (Chairman), Hendrik Halbe (CEO), Madelon Bangma (CFO), Hans Peddemors (Chief Investment), Jurgen Nieuwenhuijsen (COO), Jochem Cuppen (CCO) and Andy Mosmans (CMO) in Unknown Group’s leadership team. As an early-stage venture capital and business development firm, Unknown supports founders and industry leaders to successfully bring innovations to market. 

Speaking on his ambitions as CTO, Brouwer said: “My biggest passion is to flag and identify hidden gems. This is what drove me to start SciSports and grow it into the global market leader. I am eager to leverage all this experience by building a state-of-the-art scouting engine in the startup industry with Unknown Group. We will grow our tech team that will drive innovation and create scalable products within the Unknown Group and our portfolio ventures.”

“Unlocking the world’s talent to solve the challenges of the next ten years. That’s what drives us at Unknown Group. That talent is not only found in places like Silicon Valley. With Giels strengthening the team we take another huge step in our ability to find talented founders in all corners of the world.” said Unknown Group’s COO, Jurgen Nieuwenhuijsen.

Brouwers appointment as CTO comes in the same week as the merger announcement between Unknown Group and VenturesOne. Giels Brouwer concludes: ”I have known Unknown Group since their first Get in the Ring event on which we participated as SciSports back in 2012. Over the years, I’ve stayed in touch with the leadership team of the company. The recent merger with VenturesOne gives Unknown the extra edge to go beyond known and I am delighted to join these bright minds on this exciting adventure.”

For media enquiries:

Rayhaan Imam

rayhaan@unknowngroup.com

(+31) 633 477 292