Nicolas Vorsteher is an Austrian technology entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and CEO of Chatlyn, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform designed to improve communication between hotels and their guests. After building his career in human resources technology, Vorsteher turned his attention to the hospitality industry, where he saw an opportunity to simplify the growing number of digital conversations between hotels and travelers.
His entrepreneurial journey began with Prescreen, a recruiting software company co-founded in 2011 and acquired by XING in 2017. That experience gave him valuable insight into software development, customer relationships, and business expansion. He later applied those lessons to Chatlyn, which launched in Vienna in 2022 and attracted €8 million in Series A funding in June 2025.
As Chatlyn expanded internationally, Vorsteher emerged as a founder working to bring AI and human-centered service together in hospitality. His career offers an interesting look at how experience in one technology sector can help an entrepreneur identify opportunities in another.
Who Is Nicolas Vorsteher?
Nicolas Vorsteher is an Austrian entrepreneur born in 1991. He is recognized for his work in software-as-a-service (SaaS), business development, and AI-powered hospitality technology. His professional background includes co-founding Prescreen, working within the XING and Onlyfy business, and establishing Chatlyn with fellow entrepreneurs Michael Urbanek and Matthias Haubner.
Vorsteher entered the technology industry at a relatively young age. Rather than following a conventional corporate career, he became involved in building a software business focused on solving practical recruitment challenges. This early experience helped him understand how digital platforms could improve everyday business operations.
His later move into hospitality technology reflected a similar approach. Hotels manage conversations through numerous channels, including email, messaging applications, booking platforms, and telephone calls. Vorsteher saw an opportunity to bring these interactions together and use AI to help hotel teams respond more efficiently.
Nicolas Vorsteher – Facts Table
| Field | Details |
| Full Name | Nicolas Vorsteher |
| Birth Year | 1991 |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Profession | Technology Entrepreneur |
| Known For | Co-founder and CEO of Chatlyn |
| Company | Chatlyn GmbH |
| Co-Founders | Michael Urbanek and Matthias Haubner |
| Founded Chatlyn | 2022 |
| Previous Company | Prescreen International GmbH |
| Prescreen Acquisition | Acquired by XING in 2017 |
| Industry | AI and Hospitality Technology |
| Series A Funding | €8 million (2025) |
| Lead Investor | Smedvig Ventures |
| Company Headquarters | Vienna, Austria |
| Global Reach | 1,000+ hotel properties in 30+ countries, as reported in 2025 |
Nicolas Vorsteher’s Early Career and Prescreen
Vorsteher’s entrepreneurial career took shape in 2011 when he co-founded Prescreen International GmbH in Vienna. The company developed recruitment software that helped businesses organize applications, manage hiring processes, and communicate with job candidates.
Over time, Prescreen expanded its customer base and established a presence in the German-speaking European market. By the time of its acquisition, the business reportedly had more than 300 clients and a team of approximately 27 employees.
In July 2017, XING acquired Prescreen, marking an important milestone in the company’s development. XING, which later became associated with the New Work SE corporate group, integrated the recruitment platform into its broader employment and recruiting services.
The acquisition represented a significant step in Vorsteher’s career. Building a company from its early stages and then operating within a larger organization can require different skills. Entrepreneurs must understand not only product development and sales but also customer retention, organizational structure, and long-term growth.
Vorsteher remained involved with the combined business after the acquisition, continuing his work in leadership and customer experience through the following years. This period gave him additional exposure to scaling software products and serving business customers across a larger organization.
He also became involved in angel investing in European technology startups, particularly businesses operating in the SaaS sector. This activity allowed him to broaden his understanding of emerging companies, investment decisions, and the challenges founders face when expanding their operations.
Why Nicolas Vorsteher Founded Chatlyn
After his experience in recruitment technology, Vorsteher turned toward the hospitality industry. He recognized that hotels were increasingly expected to communicate with guests through several digital channels while maintaining the personal service associated with good hospitality.
A guest might contact a hotel through WhatsApp to ask about check-in, send an email about a reservation, or use a booking platform to request additional information. When these conversations are spread across separate systems, staff can struggle to manage requests quickly and consistently.
In late 2022, Vorsteher co-founded Chatlyn in Vienna alongside Michael Urbanek, who serves as chief technology officer, and Matthias Haubner, who serves as chief product officer. Vorsteher took on the role of CEO.
The company’s central objective is to simplify hotel guest communication by bringing different messaging channels into one platform. Instead of requiring employees to switch repeatedly between applications, Chatlyn provides a shared environment in which hotel teams can manage conversations and use AI tools to handle suitable requests.
The platform connects channels such as WhatsApp, email, SMS, and booking-related messaging services. Its integrations with hotel management systems can also help staff access relevant reservation information when responding to guests.
For Vorsteher, the opportunity extends beyond making communication faster. A well-organized messaging system can help hotels reduce repetitive administrative work, improve response times, and give employees more time to focus on requests that require personal attention.
How Chatlyn Uses Artificial Intelligence
Chatlyn combines centralized messaging with AI-powered automation. Its tools are designed to assist hotels with common guest questions, routine communications, and other repetitive tasks that can consume staff time.
For example, guests frequently ask about breakfast hours, parking, check-in procedures, available facilities, and local services. When a hotel has configured its system appropriately, AI tools can help answer these questions without requiring an employee to respond manually to every message.
Chatlyn’s business model follows the SaaS approach familiar from Vorsteher’s earlier career. Hotels subscribe to the platform, with pricing structured around the number of rooms they operate rather than charging separately for every employee or individual feature, according to the company’s stated pricing approach.
Chatlyn’s Funding and International Expansion
One of the most significant milestones in Vorsteher’s career came in June 2025, when Chatlyn raised €8 million in Series A funding led by Smedvig Ventures. Other reported participants included technology entrepreneur Andreas Burike, hospitality-related investors, and additional private backers.
The investment provided capital to support product development, recruitment, and international expansion. It also reflected investor interest in software designed to address operational challenges within the hospitality industry.
Chatlyn had already begun expanding beyond Austria. In May 2024, the company opened an office in Dubai, strengthening its presence in the Middle East and creating opportunities to serve hotels in additional markets.
By mid-2025, the company reported serving more than 1,000 hotel properties across over 30 countries. It also reported processing more than one million guest messages and supporting operations across more than 100,000 hotel rooms.
Chatlyn’s reported recognition at the 2024 World Travel Awards, where it was associated with a Best Chatbot Solution award, further strengthened its industry profile.
Nicolas Vorsteher’s Leadership and Business Philosophy
Vorsteher’s leadership approach reflects the experience of building a technology company, navigating an acquisition, and launching another business in a different sector. His work at Prescreen provided experience in software commercialization and customer relationships, while Chatlyn requires him to address the more complex operational needs of hospitality businesses.
A central theme in Chatlyn’s positioning is the balance between automation and personal service. Hotels can benefit from faster responses, but guests still expect empathy, accuracy, and a sense of individual attention.
This balance is particularly important as AI becomes more common in customer-facing services. Automation can improve efficiency, but poorly managed systems may frustrate customers when they cannot understand a request or provide an appropriate answer. Effective implementation therefore requires thoughtful integration, reliable information, and a clear path to human assistance.
Vorsteher’s international expansion strategy also reflects the challenges of building a business for customers in different markets. Hospitality operations vary by region, language, property size, and guest expectations. Developing technology that works across these environments requires adaptable products and a team capable of responding to different customer needs.
What Makes Nicolas Vorsteher’s Career Notable?
Vorsteher’s career stands out because it connects two distinct areas of business technology: recruitment software and hospitality communication. Although these sectors serve different customers, both depend on managing information, reducing repetitive work, and creating better digital experiences.
Prescreen demonstrated the potential to build and scale a specialized software platform for business users. Chatlyn applies a related principle to hotels, where fragmented communication can affect both employee productivity and guest satisfaction.
The €8 million Series A investment in 2025 marked an important stage in Chatlyn’s development, while its reported international reach showed the company’s ambition to compete in a growing hospitality technology market.
Its long-term success will depend on factors such as product reliability, customer retention, integration quality, and its ability to deliver measurable value to hotel operators. Funding and rapid adoption can create opportunities, but sustained growth requires a product that continues to meet customers’ needs.
Conclusion
Nicolas Vorsteher, the Chatlyn founder, has built his career around identifying business problems that technology can help solve. From co-founding Prescreen in 2011 to launching an AI-powered hospitality platform in 2022, his work reflects a continuing interest in software innovation and customer experience.
His experience following Prescreen’s acquisition by XING provided a foundation for building another technology company, while Chatlyn’s €8 million Series A funding in 2025 marked a significant milestone in its expansion.
As hotels continue to explore AI-powered communication, Vorsteher’s work offers an example of how entrepreneurs are adapting established software principles to new industries. Whether Chatlyn can maintain its growth and deliver lasting improvements in guest service will depend on its ability to combine practical automation with the human attention that remains central to hospitality.
