VNR Group Acquires Majority Stake in AI and Mobile App Studio Tappz
Investment expands VNR Group’s technology portfolio while accelerating Tappz’s growth in the U.S., Australia and Europe
Bad Godesberg/Grünwald, September 9, 2026 — VNR Group has acquired a majority stake in Tappz, a fast-growing mobile app studio specializing in artificial intelligence, further expanding the group’s international technology and software business. Tappz will retain its entrepreneurial independence and existing leadership, with a focus on accelerating product development and international growth.
The studio will carry on doing what it does best: building new apps, marketing them and launching them internationally. VNR Group brings five decades of experience in media, digital business models and international growth. Consumer AI apps are breaking through right now. The advantage goes to teams that can build, test and scale in several markets at once. That is what Tappz has been doing since 2023.
“Our commitment to the app studio, Tappz, is a long-term partnership among equals, with Jonas, Chris and the whole team,” says Richard Rentrop, CEO of VNR Group. “Tappz has built exactly the kind of business we want to partner with: an entrepreneurial team that moves quickly, understands emerging technology and knows how to turn new ideas into products consumers actually use. They have already shown they can build and scale apps internationally. Our job is to give them the resources, the reach and the stability to build more of that.”
Jonas Tillges, CEO and co-founder of Tappz, adds: “With VNR Group we have a partner who shares our strategic vision. That frees us up to concentrate even harder on what we do best: building new apps and taking them international. Our focus stays on our core markets in the US, Australia and Europe. At the same time, working together opens up new ways to improve our products and turn ideas into successful applications faster.”
For VNR Group, the investment is the next step in building out its international technology and software business. The group pairs organic growth with a long-term M&A strategy and invests selectively in companies and business models that complement its existing portfolio, both technologically and internationally.
About VNR Group
VNR started out as a publishing house more than 50 years ago with one aim: to make people more successful, privately and professionally. What grew out of it is today’s VNR Group, an international media, knowledge and software group. It publishes specialist and financial information and develops software solutions, events and digital platforms for consumers and business customers. 800 team members drive the VNR mission, “We ensure customer success”. VNR’s main markets are Germany (VNR Germany, platform X, PressMatrix, Tappz), Poland (Wiedza i Praktyka), the USA (FinMC) and the UK (Agora Business Publications). The group grows both organically and through acquisitions.
About Tappz
Tappz is an international app studio based in GrĂĽnwald near Munich. Jonas Tillges and Christopher Heid founded the company in Rosenheim in 2023. Tappz combines strategy, design and technology to build innovative mobile applications and scale them internationally, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence. Its most successful products include ChatNow, an app that brings several AI models together in one place, from chat through to video, and Echo AI, which transcribes conversations and turns them into structured notes. Other apps in the Tappz portfolio include Voiceit, AI Type, homie AI, AI Cam and Booksome. The apps reach users in markets around the world and show what Tappz is about: technological innovation matched with an interface people find easy to use.
Press contact:
Ralph FĂĽrther
Head of Press
T +49 (0) 171 4859871
ralph.fuerther@vnr.de