Robert Schneider has been a technology advisor to TVM Capital since 2000 and is a Senior Venture Partner since 2007. He was the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of SCM Microsystems. SCM pioneered many advancements in PC Card technology, and was an industry leader of standards-based, plug-and-play security solutions based on Smart Cards and Smart Card readers.
Robert Schneider successfully lead SCM all the way from a small start up in Germany to an international company with major operations in Germany, US, India, and Singapore, and to a very successful IPO with simultaneous initial offerings on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange and the German technology company exchange (now known as the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Exchange). SCM has won several business awards in recognition of the Company's growth and leadership around the world, including the Bloomberg Tech 100 for 1998, Deloitte & Touche's Silicon Valley Fast 50 for 1999, the Europe 500 for the years 1999 through 2003 and Singapore's 50 Fastest Growing Companies for 2001 and 2002.
In 1994, the European Digital Video Broadcasting consortium (DVB) was looking for a solution that would allow security and encryption related technology to be removed from the set-top box. This would enable a standards-based digital TV receiver platform that was independent of any operator specific conditional access (CA) system and paving the way for a more customer friendly retail market to develop. Robert Schneider was instrumental in several standardization initiatives such as driving an agreement between the PCMCIA board of directors and the DVB organization to select a PCMCIA sub-standard for the DVB Standard and Conditional Access Module using PC Cards and Smart Cards technology for a removable TV security device. These standardized removable security modules are today accepted and supported by governments around the world allowing to separate the encryption technology from the digital receiver platform and hence giving the consumer a free choice. Over 15 million modules have been shipped to the market to date.
Before founding SCM, he worked at Intel Corporation Europe for over ten years, where he held a variety of sales and marketing positions. He holds a degree in engineering from HTBL Salzburg. He lives in Salzburg, Austria.
