How do you build a billion-dollar quick-commerce company from Berlin, then walk away to build something entirely different? Oliver Merkel has done exactly that. As founder of Flink, he helped build one of Europe's fastest-scaling grocery delivery companies, before founding Blocks, an AI company now helping startups cut cloud costs by up to 28.7%. At The Delta Campus, Oliver joins us for an in-depth fireside chat about scaling through hypergrowth, spotting your next company from inside your own operations, and what it really takes to build more than one category-defining business.
Register for EventOur Hero Founder Series with Oliver Merkel on The Delta Campus.
What does it take to build a billion-dollar quick-commerce company, and then walk away to build something entirely different?
Oliver Merkel has done both.
After leading the retail practice as a Partner at Bain and BCG, Oliver founded Flink, the Berlin-based quick-commerce company that scaled at breakneck speed to a landmark valuation. Along the way, he lived the operational chaos of hypergrowth firsthand, including cloud costs that were consistently high and kept climbing.
That experience became the seed for his next company. Oliver is now the founder of Blocks, an AI company building an autonomous agent, Major Tom, that monitors, manages, and optimizes cloud infrastructure spend for startups and scaleups, already saving companies up to 28.7% on their AWS bills.
Across his ventures, Oliver has raised more than $1 billion in funding and personally invested in more than 60 startups as an angel investor.
At The Delta Campus, he'll join Leo Ginsburg for an in-depth conversation about the leap from consulting to founder, scaling a company through extreme hypergrowth, spotting your next problem to solve from inside your own operations, investing in the new company of the Gorillas founder, and building AI products for the infrastructure layer.
A conversation about reinvention, capital discipline, and building more than one category-defining company.
Gründerszene x The Delta is the monthly pulse of the Berlin startup ecosystem, bringing together around 200 founders, investors, operators, corporates, and enablers who are building the future together. This is the place for real conversations, meaningful connections, and ideas that aim to make an impact from Berlin.
🕖 18:00 – 19:00 | Arrival, Welcome Drinks and Finger Food
🗣 19:00 – 19:10 | Welcome by The Delta & Gründerszene
💡 19:10 – 19:30 | Inspirational talk
🔥 19:30 – 20:30 | Fireside chat: Leo Ginsburg x Oliver Merkel
❓ 20:30 – 20:45 | Audience Q&A
🥂 20:45 – 23:00 | Networking, Drinks, Finger Food & Music
Oliver Merkel - Founder of Flink
Oliver is the founder of Blocks, an AI company transforming cloud infrastructure management. Previously, he founded quick-commerce company Flink. He has raised more than $1 billion for his ventures and invested in over 60 startups. Earlier in his career, he was a Partner at BCG and Bain.
Leo Ginsburg - Head of Gründerszene
Leo leads Gründerszene, Germany’s most influential startup media platform at Axel Springer. He is also the host of the Business Class podcast, where he speaks weekly with leading entrepreneurs and top executives about their lives and careers.
Amazon Web Services powers the cloud infrastructure behind the world's fastest-growing startups and enterprises. As the world's most comprehensive cloud platform, AWS gives builders the tools to move from idea to scale without limits.