# Matthias Wagner

> Matthias Wagner is the German-born co-founder and CEO of Flux, the San Francisco-based AI hardware design platform that turns text prompts into production-ready circuit boards in a single browser tab. Before Flux, he produced the Crazy Frog 'Axel F' ringtone that accumulated nearly 3.8 billion YouTube views, led product teams at Facebook for Moments, AR ads, and Oculus VR, and built digital signage company 42 media group out of a friend's garage at age 24. He founded Flux in 2019 out of frustration that hardware tooling had not evolved in decades, and by 2026 had grown the platform to over 1 million sign-ups and raised $37 million in funding led by 8VC.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Flux
- **Organizations:** Flux, 42 media group, Hochzeit.de, Meta (Facebook), General Assembly, Singularity University
- **From:** Germany
- **Nationality:** German
- **Education:** System and Telecommunications Engineering, Otto-Hahn Schule, Telecommunications Engineering, Siemens AG
- **Known for:** Co-produced Crazy Frog 'Axel F' which accumulated nearly 3.8 billion YouTube views, Music career: sold over 1 billion units globally with multiple platinum and gold records, Created ringtone that knocked Coldplay from #1 spot on UK charts

## Career timeline

- **~2004** — Began working in product and technology roles
- **2005** — Founded 42 media group (digital signage) from a garage in Germany at age 24; won German Entrepreneur of the Nation award
- **~2005-2014** — Songwriter, producer, and record label owner; work with Universal Music, Sony, EMI, and BMG; sold over 1 billion units globally; produced Crazy Frog 'Axel F' (3.8B YouTube views); created ringtone that knocked Coldplay from UK #1
- **~2014-2019** — Co-founded and served as CTO of Hochzeit.de
- **~2015-2019** — Product manager at Facebook (Meta): led Moments App team, worked on AR ads and Oculus VR
- **2018** — Met future 8VC investor Francisco Gimenez at Burning Man's Hotel California camp while leading construction of a 3-story open-source interlocking structure
- **2019** — Founded Flux (October 2019) in San Francisco
- **~2021** — Served as product management instructor at General Assembly; mentor at Singularity University
- **2024** — Flux surpasses 100,000 users; launches Flux Copilot AI-powered hardware design assistant
- **2025** — Flux raises $10M Series A (Outsiders Fund, Bain Capital Ventures); reaches 1 million sign-ups; launches AI Hardware Engineer
- **2026-02** — Flux raises $27M Series B led by 8VC; total funding reaches $37M; company has 110 employees

## Achievements

- Co-produced Crazy Frog 'Axel F' which accumulated nearly 3.8 billion YouTube views
- Music career: sold over 1 billion units globally with multiple platinum and gold records
- Created ringtone that knocked Coldplay from #1 spot on UK charts
- Won German Entrepreneur of the Nation award at age 24
- Founded Flux, which grew to 1 million+ sign-ups and 6.5 million devices designed
- Raised $37M total funding for Flux including $27M Series B led by 8VC
- Attracted board members John Lilly (Figma) and Tom Preston-Werner (GitHub founder) to Flux
- Led Moments App product team at Facebook (Meta); also worked on AR ads and Oculus VR

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Flux raises $27M Series B led by 8VC; total new investment $37M including previously unannounced Series A
- **2026-02** — Flux surpasses 1 million sign-ups and has facilitated design of nearly 6.5 million devices
- **2025-10** — Flux launches AI Hardware Engineer — full agentic AI that takes user from text prompt to manufactured board
- **2025** — Flux launches Copilot Knowledge feature, allowing AI to learn individual engineers' working styles and preferences

## Links

- Website: https://flux.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthias-wagner-5220b047
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/matthiaswagner
- GitHub: https://github.com/natarius
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/BuildwithFlux

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/matthias-wagner
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-25