# Niels Tonsen

> Niels Tonsen is a German entrepreneur based in Berlin, co-founder and CEO of turian and co-founder and former CEO of Lamoda. After working with Rocket Internet projects including Groupon and Zalando, he helped launch Lamoda in 2011 and build its fashion-commerce business around owned logistics and try-before-you-buy delivery. He left Lamoda in March 2018 and now works on AI assistants for business administration at turian. He has also invested in Foodfox.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at turian
- **Organizations:** turian, Lamoda, Rocket Internet
- **Nationality:** German
- **Education:** European Business School Oestrich-Winkel, University in Santa Barbara, California (not named in the interview)
- **Known for:** Co-founded Lamoda and served as CEO from its launch until March 2018., Helped build a fashion-commerce model combining owned fulfillment, delivery and try-before-you-buy service., Led Lamoda during its $130 million investment round in 2013.

## Career timeline

- **Age 16** — Started an online venture with a friend combining local shop listings, product advertising and requests for services.
- **Before 2011** — Worked with Rocket Internet on projects including Groupon and Zalando.
- **Late 2010** — Moved to Moscow to prepare the launch of Lamoda, having never previously visited Russia.
- **2011** — Co-founded Lamoda with Dominik Picker, Florian Jansen and Burkhard Binder; served as CEO.
- **2013** — Lamoda received a $130 million investment from Access Industries, Summit Partners and Tengelmann.
- **2016** — Discussed his angel investment in Foodfox alongside Florian Jansen.
- **2018-03** — Left Lamoda; Florian Jansen succeeded him as CEO effective March 1.
- **2022** — turian lists 2022 as its founding year; Tonsen is co-founder and CEO with fellow founders Dominik Picker and Tilmann Roth.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Lamoda and served as CEO from its launch until March 2018.
- Helped build a fashion-commerce model combining owned fulfillment, delivery and try-before-you-buy service.
- Led Lamoda during its $130 million investment round in 2013.
- Co-founded turian, which builds AI assistants for sales and supply-chain administration.
- Invested in Foodfox, which was acquired by Yandex.Taxi in 2017.

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Published an article on order management systems and AI automation on turian’s blog, dated October 8.
- **2025-09** — Published a turian article comparing OCR and AI for document workflows, dated September 8.

## Links

- Website: https://www.turian.ai/authors/niels-tonsen
- LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/niels-tonsen-99819427

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/niels-tonsen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-20