Company and History

BORA - More than cooking.

We are revolutionising the kitchen as a living space. With extraordinary products for extraordinary experiences.

"TO BE PROGRESSIVE, YOU MUST BE OPEN-MINDED, INQUISITIVE AND QUESTION THE NORM."

WILLI BRUCKBAUER

Willi Bruckbauer

Willi Bruckbauer is at the heart of BORA – the visionary, creative mind and driving force behind the groundbreaking cooktop extractor systems. With over 20 years of experience in the kitchen sector, the qualified master carpenter knows what people want from modern kitchens: to create a living space that meets the needs of the individual and makes them happy. Every day.

Extractor hoods are simply not part of this picture: they are loud, ineffective and visibly intrusive. They also restrict the possibilities when designing a kitchen. Willi Bruckbauer’s vision was to invent an effective vapour extraction system that meets the highest standards in terms of both technology and aesthetic appeal. Thanks to continuous experimentation and discovery, an innovative system was devised that draws off cooking vapours more effectively than ever before possible. The reward for our hard work: prestigious awards and accolades such as the ‘Deutscher Gründerpreis’ (German Entrepreneurs’ Award), ‘365 Orte im Land der Ideen’ (‘365 Places in the Land of Ideas’), red dot awards, Plus X Awards, German Design Awards, Iconic Award, German Brand Award, Good Design Awards, iF Design Awards and more.

Employees

"When I visit the company, I notice that there’s a special spirit, a special dynamic. Our staff lives and breathes BORA. Our success depends much more on my employees than on me. I just want to act as moderator. I’m incredibly proud of the dedication and passion displayed in our departments each day".

Cook meals and eat healthily: the ‘Hälzybas’ at the two sites enable employees to enjoy a healthy lunch made with organic, regional ingredients – completely free of charge. This literally brings together employees from different teams around the same table. The company uses this good nutrition to support its employees’ health.

Jobs

Sponsoring

BORA has been a main cycling sponsor since 2015, and the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe has been competing in the UCI WorldTour, cycling’s premier international league, since 2017. With the start of the Tour de France 2024, the new majority owner Red Bull also appears in the name and, from then on, the team has been riding under the name Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe. Since sponsoring is such a great tool for raising a brand’s profile and bringing it to life, the decision to sponsor cycling was a conscious one and, in typical BORA fashion, went against the mainstream.

The passion for cycling at BORA wasn’t the only deciding factor, the sponsorship also has a strategic element to it. BORA has chosen sponsorship that fits in with the company in every way and helps it achieve its marketing objectives. The advertising value achieved through cycling plus the accompanying promotional campaigns have proven effective. Market research shows that there is increasingly greater brand recognition and that these measures have had a positive impact on BORA’s brand image, meaning the effort is paying off. The success of BORA as a company confirms that we are taking the right approach: BORA is growing far more quickly in countries with an affinity for cycling than in others.

However, sustained success is only possible if the sponsoring activities are authentic and if the team and the sponsor share the same fundamental values, uniting them as a “family”. Both the team and the sponsor represent reliability, momentum, courage, performance and strong roots with where they came from. Both love what they do, aren’t afraid to break new ground and don’t shy away from the competition. They both, of course, take a sustainable and careful approach to health, their surroundings and the environment. Willi Bruckbauer summarises the sponsoring relationship as follows: “We combine things that belong together: sport, health, a cosmopolitan outlook, team spirit, ambition and energy. Everything that is part of BORA’s DNA and completes the circle. You wouldn’t believe how many people around the world we’ve encouraged to get involved in cycling through our commitment to the sport – even our staff and retail partners. The team is the perfect ambassador for taking the revolution onto the road.”

The BORA Story

It was right! It was a good decision to set off on the path towards revolutionising the kitchen world with our first prototype over a decade ago. It was a gamble, but it paid off: kitchens needed to be more attractive and we’ve achieved that if you listen to thrilled users of our cooktop extractors raving about them: functionality, quality, aesthetics.

Willi Bruckbauer