Aleph Alpha founder Jonas Andrulis has stepped down as CEO after six years leading the company.
Citing internal documents, German current affairs publication Table Briefings reports Andrulis has quit as CEO and will serve as chairman of the company’s advisory board.
Once billed as Germany’s answer to OpenAI, Aleph Alpha was seen as a national champion comparable to Mistral in France, raising a $500m Series B in 2023, backed by the Schwarz Group, Bosch Ventures and SAP.
But the company struggled to keep pace with the global AI race, ultimately pivoting from building LLMs (large language models) to advising governments and other businesses on how to use the technology.
A management shake-up in July saw Reto Spörri, former CEO of Lidl’s commerce division, join the company as co-CEO, alongside Andrulis. The company’s chief growth officer Ilhan Scheer has reportedly been appointed co-CEO alongside Spörri.
Aleph Alpha originally aimed to reveal details of that next phase in its “strategy day” in September, though the event has been rescheduled to November to align with the 100-day milestone of Spörri’s appointment, the company said.
Sifted approached Aleph Alpha for comment.
