Oliver Thylmann is a German serial entrepreneur based in Cologne and co-founder of Giant Swarm, a Kubernetes platform company he started in 2014 with Henning Lange and Timo Derstappen.
He studied physics at RWTH Aachen and co-founded his first company, the statistics service STATSnet, as a student in 1999. From 2003 to 2005 he worked on the performance advertising product at OnVista Media and later earned an MBA from the Open University Business School.
Together with Henning Lange he co-founded Ormigo in 2005, a platform connecting local merchants with international traffic sources, which was sold to a Yellow Pages publisher in 2010. Their next company, the performance advertising network adcloud, was acquired by Deutsche Post DHL in 2011, with both remaining as managing directors.
At Giant Swarm, Oliver focuses on customers, people and culture. The company runs managed cloud-native platforms for enterprises across Europe. He serves on the Governing Board of the NeoNephos Foundation, a Linux Foundation Europe project advancing open-source digital sovereignty, co-hosts the German tech podcast Die Nerd Show, and is active as an angel investor. In Cologne he is a member of the Cölner Club.
01.At a glance
Based in
Cologne, Germany
Current
Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Giant Swarm
Board
Governing Board, NeoNephos Foundation (Linux Foundation Europe)
Podcast
Co-host, Die Nerd Show (since 2020)
Education
Diplom in Physics, RWTH Aachen · MBA, Open University Business School
Co-founded with Henning Lange and Timo Derstappen in Cologne. Giant Swarm runs cloud-native Kubernetes platforms for enterprises so their developers can focus on building products.
2008
adcloud
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Performance advertising network, co-founded with Henning Lange in Cologne. Acquired by Deutsche Post DHL in 2011.
Local merchant connection platform, co-founded with Henning Lange in Cologne. Connected local businesses with international traffic sources. Acquired by a major Yellow Pages publisher in 2010.
