Mission

Kalea Ventures identifies
meaningful problems —
then builds and backs
ventures to solve them.

Founded by Patrik Deuss, a serial entrepreneur, founder coach, and investor to build things that matter and help others do the same.

The Story

Built a company with 50 people and multi-million revenue. Hit a wall. Sat in silence for 10 days. Came back clearer. Now building the next thing — with AI.

2013
Cheapster — First Exit
Founded an e-commerce venture while still at university. Made high-performance mountain bike components accessible to more riders — democratizing technology developed and tested in racing. Exited.
2016
LEDCity — Cleantech at Scale
Founded a smart lighting company with one bold mission: save enough energy to shut down a nuclear power plant. Raised CHF 7M+, hired 100+ people, replaced 250'000+ inefficient lights across Switzerland, Germany and Spain.
2025
10 Days of Silence
After LEDCity, I did a Vipassana meditation retreat. No phone, no speaking, no distractions — just the mind. Then a yoga teacher training and certification. It wasn't a sabbatical. It was recalibration.
2026
Kalea Ventures
Building AI-powered products, coaching founders, speaking at conferences and universities, and investing in tech companies solving meaningful problems. Sharing honest lessons from the startup world — success, failure, and everything in between.
What I Do
01
Build AI-powered ventures

Less complaining. More building. I create AI-powered companies from scratch — from the first idea to scale. If the problem is meaningful and the timing is right, we build.

02
Enable Coaching & Motivating

I work directly with founders — as a coach, sparring partner, and board member. Keynotes at conferences. Guest lectures at universities. Hard-won lessons, shared honestly.

03
Back Investing

I invest in companies building technology with real impact — AI, sustainability, energy, robotics. Where the founder's mission and the market moment align.

About
Patrik Deuss
Patrik Deuss
Founder & CEO, Kalea Ventures

As a teenager, I competed in downhill mountain biking at an international level — chasing speed, precision and the constant search for improvement. Later, that same drive turned into building companies. For many years, I approached life like a competitive sport. Bigger goals. Bigger challenges. Bigger companies.

After building LEDCity, I found myself sitting in complete silence for ten days during a Vipassana meditation retreat. No phone. No laptop. No books. No speaking. Just observation. More than 100 hours in 10 days on a meditation cushion. That experience changed how I think about ambition.

I still love building. I still love technology. I still love solving difficult problems. But today I no longer build to feel worthy. I build because creating meaningful things is endlessly fascinating. And I believe AI is the most powerful technology humanity has ever created. Through projects like YogaBuilder, I help people doing meaningful work benefit from it, bring more consciousness to the world — and share what I learn along the way.

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