Christian Claussen

General Partner

Ventech VC

France

Christian is a General Partner with Paris-based Ventech and based in Berlin. He looks back on 25 years of hands-on innovation financing and has personally managed VC-investments into 27 start-ups with an aggregated investment of more than €150m. 15 of which have been profitably exited while 6 companies are still successfully pursuing their growth strategies. Moreover, Christian has actively participated in raising 5 Venture Capital funds totaling of AUM €800m and has developed a profound understanding of organizing and running Venture Capital Management organisations.

He currently represents Ventech in the boards of Ventech’s portfolio companies The Customization Group, Speexx, Codasip, TrustYou, Microoled and many more.

Prior to joining the VC Industry in 1998, Christian spent 10 years in Europe's Telecommunications Industry and holds an EE MSc. with the Technical University of Karlsruhe (D), University of Essex (Colchester/UK) and Ecole Supérieure des Ingénieurs en Electronique et Electrotechnique (Paris/F).

Dave Killeen

Chief Product Officer

Pendo

USA

Nenad Marovac

Founder and Managing Partner

DN Capital

UK

NENAD MAROVAC
Founder, Managing Partner, DN Capital

Nenad is the Founder and CEO of DN Capital with over 25 years of investment experience in the technology and media sectors. Nenad focuses on investments in digital marketplaces, consumer internet, software as a service (SAAS), and fintech. Amongst his select investments are Shazam Entertainment (sold to Apple), Auto1 (IPO Frankfurt), Hometogo (IPO Frankfurt), numa, Endeca (acquired by Oracle), OLX (acquired by Naspers), Purplebricks (IPO London) and GoStudent. Prior to DN Capital, Nenad was a Partner at Advent International. Nenad was also Chair of Invest Europe for the period 2018/2019. He has been featured on the Midas List Europe which includes the top 25 Venture Capital Investors in Europe, Israel and the Middle East. Nenad received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Pietro Peligra

CEO

RS Productions

Italy

Pietro Peligra is an accomplished Italian entrepreneur and investor with extensive experience in various industries. He holds a degree in Electronic Engineering, a Master's degree in Marketing, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Pietro's career began as Marketing Manager at Vodafone, then he joined Italia Independent Group as a Managing Partner, guiding the company from its start-up phase through international growth and eventual listing on the Italian Stock Exchange.
Throughout his career, he has co-founded and served as director for three companies listed on the Italian and French Stock Exchange and gained valuable experience in venture capital, working with the Anglo-American fund DN Capital. He currently holds several key positions and serves as a Board Member for various companies.
Pietro's diverse background in technology, marketing, and finance, combined with his entrepreneurial spirit, has established him as a respected figure in both the business and investment communities. His leadership continues to drive innovation and growth across multiple sectors.

Susan Blanco

Managing Partner

Carlsquare

USA

Susan Blanco
Managing Partner, Carlsquare

Susan Blanco is a successful female founder and recognized leader in technology investment banking. Her extensive experience includes mergers, acquisitions, dividend recapitalizations, public and private capital raising. She has executed numerous transactions for public and private companies with leading private equity sponsors and global corporations including IBM, Hitachi, Intuit, McKesson, Verisk, British Telecom, Sabre and Google. Susan joined Carlsquare in 2023 through the merger with Capital Clarity, the San Francisco-based technology investment bank. Previously, Susan was Managing Director and Head of West Coast Private Equity at SNH Capital, Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Technology Group, co-founder and Managing Director of ArchPoint Partners and Vice President at J.P. Morgan. She holds a B.S. in Engineering Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

André François Poncet

Partner

Partech

France

André François-Poncet is a Partner in Partech's Growth team, backing Europe’s most ambitious software and data scaleups.

He joined in 2015 to help build out Partech’s growth equity platform at a time when the asset class was still nascent in Europe.

André focuses on companies with strong fundamentals and a clear path to sustainable, capital-efficient growth.

He helped lead Partech’s investments in Brevo and EcoVadis, which both scaled from c. €15M to over €200M in revenues, as well as in M-Files, Skello, UpSlide and Weglot.
Before Partech, André was in M&A at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London. He holds Master’s degrees in Applied Mathematics from Télécom ParisTech and in Finance from Bocconi.

André brings a pan-European lens and pragmatic investment approach to supporting the next generation of category-defining companies.

Clément Vanden Driessche

Partner

Elaia

France

Daniele Vitullo

Head of Scouting and Ecosystems Management

Terna

Italy

I'm Daniele, I'm married and I have a 5-year-old child. An engineer by training, I deal with open innovation by trade. I have spent half of my career working as a freelance civil engineer, living significant and strong experiences. For about 7 years I have been involved in open innovation in a corporate like Terna. I like to combine seemingly distant ideas and concepts: I believe in the power of connections, in their ability to amplify things and create new ones. Sometimes I'm the kind of person who sees a problem and thinks, "Hmm, what about this? How can I make it  more complex?"

Joerg Landsch

Head Central Corporate Venture Capital

Deutsche Bank

Germany

Joerg Landsch is the Head of Central Corporate Venture Capital at Deutsche Bank AG with presences in Berlin and New York. With over 23 years of capital market & innovation experience across New York, London and Frankfurt/Berlin, Joerg invests globally in growth companies particularly in Enterprise Tech and FinTech. He serves on the Board of the German Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, representing VC & CVC and holds various Board seats in startups. 

Sebastian Heinz

Founder and CEO

AI Hub Frankfurt

Germany

Sebastian is a leading expert in Data & AI with over a decade of experience in the industry. He is the founder and CEO of statworx, one of the top-tier Data & AI consultancies in the DACH region, as well as the AI Hub Frankfurt, the leading AI ecosystem in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region.

Sebastian is a pioneer in the AI industry and has actively shaped the German AI landscape. He is not only a successful entrepreneur, but also an active business angel and early-stage investor in AI startups. With the AI Hub Frankfurt and his role as Co-CEO at AI Frankfurt Rhein-Main e.V., he supports the AI transformation of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main region and Germany. He is also board member of the newly founded IHK Frankfurt stat-up committee.

Besides his passion for Data & AI, Sebastian loves to cook as an ambitious hobby chef while enjoying a glass of excellent wine.

Amy Lewin

Editor

Sifted

UK

Amy Lewin is the editor of Sifted, the leading media publication for Europe's startups and tech ecosystem, backed by the Financial Times. She heads up a team of a dozen journalists based in London, Berlin, Stockholm and Paris. Amy also hosts Sifted’s podcast, Startup Europe, writes a weekly newsletter on venture capital and regularly appears onstage at events across the continent. She joined Sifted as its first employee in 2018.

Mats Herding

Chief Design Officer

reMarkable

Norway

Mats Herding Solberg – Chief Design Officer, reMarkable

 Mats Herding Solberg is the Chief Design Officer (CDO) and a founding team member of reMarkable, where he has been a driving force behind the company’s product innovation since joining in October 2015.

With deep expertise in design and product management, Solberg is dedicated to creating intuitive, high-impact user experiences. His leadership and user-centric design philosophy have been instrumental in shaping reMarkable’s success, positioning it as a leader in the digital paper tablet market.

He holds a Master of Science in Industrial and Product Design from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway.

Nils Wagner

CEO

REHAU New Venture

Switzerland

About Nils Wagner

Nils Wagner is the CEO of REHAU New Ventures, the independent innovation unit of the REHAU Group. He embodies a global, multicultural entrepreneurial personality. As the grandson of REHAU's founder, entrepreneurship runs in Wagner’s veins. He built upon this with a wide range of international experiences, having lived and worked across the globe in Switzerland, the United States, and China - a journey that has shaped him into a holistic thinker and innovator. Wagner's personal mission transcends merely preserving and growing the existing corporate; he is committed to actively developing corporate values and exploring new entrepreneurial horizons.

About REHAU New Ventures 

REHAU New Ventures is the REHAU Group’s independent innovation unit, focused on developing groundbreaking business models. Operating globally from the United States to Germany and China, the team develops innovative, market-driven solutions for challenges across REHAU’s wide range of subgroups, including the automotive, construction, interior and industrials sectors, using a rigorous innovation process.

Sarah Ranchev-Hale

Head

Imperial Enterprise

UK

Sarah Ranchev-Hale leads Imperial College London’s Enterprise Lab, driving world-class entrepreneurship education and initiatives for students, alumni, early-career researchers, academics, and industry partners. Sarah is dedicated to empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators. Her expertise spans designing and driving impactful initiatives, building collaborative partnerships, and engaging a global network of stakeholders. Since 2016, the Enterprise Lab has grown to support over 2,500 unique participants annually across fifteen core programs and specialized training opportunities. The Lab has over 400 active startups that have collectively raised more than £600 million in investment and generated over 5,000 jobs. Driven by a mission to foster creativity and diversity, Sarah is committed to nurturing entrepreneurial talent and creating a vibrant ecosystem for transformative innovation.

Alexander Glätzle

Co-Founder & CEO

Planqc

Germany

Dr. Alexander Glätzle is CEO and co-founder of planqc, the company that is developing the first German quantum computer based on neutral atoms. As a quantum physicist with an entrepreneurial spirit, he brings quantum technology from research intopractice. After working as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and at the Center for Quantum Technologies in Singapore, where he researched ultracold atoms and quantum annealing, he moved to industry in 2018. At a leading consultancy, he developed strategies for the use of quantum computing and blockchain before taking the next step.Today, Glätzle is driving Europe's quantum revolution with planqc. The company secured a 50-million-euro investment, is developing a 1,000-qubit quantum computer for the Leibniz Supercomputing Center and is building quantum computing power for research and industry. His vision: quantum computers “Made in Europe” that solve real billion-dollar problems.

Daniel Kreter

Managing Director

Taxfix

Germany

Dr. Daniel Kreter is the COO and Managing Director of Taxfix, Europe’s leading financial platform for digital tax filing. With over 20 years of leadership experience, Daniel has driven innovation and scaled companies across various industries. Before joining Taxfix, he operated as COO at DaWanda, leading marketing, seller development, customer service, business intelligence, and finance. Prior to that, he founded and led Zalando’s in-house consulting unit, focusing on strategy development, process optimisation, and product management. Daniel started his career working at Norddeutsche Landesbank and Commerz Business Consulting, specialising in post-merger integration and strategic development.

Denis Barrier

Co-founder and CEO

Cathay Innovation

France

Denis Barrier, the is Co-founder and Managing Partner of Cathay Innovation, Cathay Capital's Venture Capital practice. Prior to Cathay, he was at Iris Capital where he managed the international activities of the Orange/Publicis fund. He has also been the Head of Corporate Venture at Orange Telecom, Managing Director at Innovacom, and has worked as an Officer at the French Treasury Department, in charge of all the Sovereign holdings in Aerospace, Defense, and Media companies. Denis has pioneered a unique way to invest in technology, leveraging the traditional playbook of venture capital investing, but also integrating the larger social evolutions at play, analyzing the competitive landscape at a fully global level, and integrating in the insights of numerous Fortune 500 companies committed in his ecosystem in the due diligence process. He believes that this fosters deeper relationships with entrepreneurs from the start and helps them lead faster and further on the global stage. Denis has a deep technical background and started as a Researcher in the laboratories of Orange Telecom, working on semiconductor quantum dots. He holds a Ph.D. in solid state Physics, is a graduate of Ecole Normale Supérieure, and is an engineer of Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications.

Laura Moritz

Country Director

Global Women Tech

Germany

Laura Moritz is a seasoned Data & AI expert with over 10 years of experience leading digital transformation projects. She currently works at Globant, driving AI-powered solutions for enterprise clients. Passionate about diversity in tech, she serves as Country Director Germany for Global Women TechLeaders, advocating for more women in leadership roles.

Beyond her corporate role, Laura actively mentors early-stage startups, supporting market access and success through institutions like BIH at Charité Berlin and K.I.E.Z. (Artificial Intelligence Entrepreneurship Center). As a speaker and panelist, she shares insights on Female Empowerment in Tech and how enterprises can use AI to strengthen their business.

Roy Hefer

Chief Financial Officer

TravelPerk

Spain

Roy Hefer is the Chief Financial Officer of TravelPerk, one of the fastest growing European unicorns, building the #1 travel platform for SMBs. Prior to TravelPerk, he spent a decade scaling hyper-growth tech companies and helped raise over $1.2b in private and public financing including through two IPOs (NYSE: HIPO, NASDAQ: LMNS). He began his career with McKinsey & Company advising leadership teams of Fortune 500 companies. Roy believes that the role of the CFO has fundamentally changed from a scorekeeper to a trusted thought partner and is passionate about building world-class finance teams that help their companies win. 

Sinéad Fitzmaurice

CEO

TransferMate

Ireland

Sinéad Fitzmaurice is the first female CEO of an Irish tech unicorn. Being part of the leadership team of TransferMate since its inception, initially as CFO and now CEO, Sinéad has strategically structured the business to establish the largest and most secure cross-border payments network from the ground up.

Continuously diversifying the business, under Sinéad’s award-winning leadership, TransferMate has built a network of strategic partners globally across multiple verticals including Wells Fargo, ING, Coupa, SAP Concur, Harvard University and most recently Amazon.

Sinéad was the driving force behind TransferMate’s global regulatory license approval project across Europe, UK, Australasia, East and Southeast Asia, Canada and the USA, State by State. Today, her responsibilities include maintaining one of the industry's widest regulatory footprints while strategically driving TransferMate's global scale.

Patrick Huke

Partner & Head of

Porsche Ventures

Germany

Patrick joined Porsche Ventures in 2016. He is based in Frankfurt and is a Partner, leading the European investment team.

Since joining Porsche in 2012, Patrick has held numerous leadership roles across Porsche, where he directed the business development and partnering initiatives. His extensive involvement in the VC and startup ecosystem is highlighted by his previous work at Venture Capital firm Rocket Internet and his advisory and board positions in various VCs and technology companies.

Patrick holds a degree in Media & Communications Technology and Economics from University of Mannheim, University of Basel, and London School of Economics.

Costanza Carissimo

Investment Director

Cathay Innovation

France

Costanza Carissimo, Investment Director at Cathay Innovation

Costanza is leading Berlin’s office at Cathay Innovation, covering early-growth investments across DACH. Her portfolio includes Nelly, Resilience.care, Medwing, Xepelin, Firstvetand others. Prior to joining Cathay in San Francisco in 2017, she was at Cherry Ventures, an early-stage VC fund based in Berlin. Before finding her true calling as a VC, she was once a lab researcher in low energy astroparticle physics at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich. Costanza holds a Master’s Degree in Physics from Imperial College London.

Ingo Kloeckner

Head of Portfolio Stra

Leaps by Bayer

Germany

Ingo Kloeckner is responsible for portfolio strategy and reporting in Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment unit of Bayer AG. Leaps is investing in early-stage companies that tackle fundamental breakthroughs and shift core paradigms in the Bayer industries. In the agricultural sector, these companies tackle fundamental breakthroughs to drive next-generation agriculture technologies that provide solutions to sustainably meet the demands of our growing population. Since 2015, Leaps by Bayer has invested over $1.7B in over 55 ventures working on disruptive innovations.

Ingo has more than 25 years of experience in Bayer, which started in the pharmaceutical division, including around six years in healthcare strategy, and he joined the Leaps team at the end of 2017. This allowed him to add to his passion for early-stage pharmaceutical treatment options to improve the lives of patients also his interest in the potential of new digital healthcare solutions as well as the significant impact of new agricultural technologies. In his role, Ingo is working to define the investment strategy of Leaps, but he also executes selected investments.

Julian David

CEO

TechUK

UK

Julian David is the CEO of techUK, the leading technology trade association that aims to realise the positive outcomes that digital technology can achieve for People, Society, the Economy and the Planet.

He leads techUK’s nearly 100 strong team representing over a thousand British based tech companies, comprising global and national champions and more than 600 SMEs and ScaleUP companies.  techUK is the voice of the tech industry in the UK with 21 member led programmes covering all of tech from ‘Chips to Clicks’ and addressing 11 market sectors from Defence and Central Government, through to Health, Consumer Electronics and Financial Services.

In 2021 techUK launched TechSkills, the employer-led accreditation organisation that aims to improve the flow of talent into the digital workforce and open up access for all to high value tech jobs.

Julian represents techUK on a number of external bodies including the Digital Economy Council, the National Cyber Security Advisory Council and the Department of Business and Trade’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group. He is member of the NTA Advisory Board of DIGITALEUROPE and is a member of the Board of the Health Innovation Network the South London Academic Health Science Network.  

Julian has over thirty years of experience in the technology industry. Prior to joining techUK, he had a series of leadership roles at IBM including Vice President for Small and Medium Business and Public Sector.  After leaving IBM he worked as a consultant helping tech SMEs establish successful operations in the U.K. His personal interests include Football (West Ham, Balham FC and Real Madrid) and Art.

Angie Gifford

Senior Advisor to COO & Supervisory Board Member

Meta

Germany

Angie Gifford serves as Senior Advisor to the COO at Meta. She previously held the position of Vice President for the EMEA region and, before that, Vice President for Central Europe at Meta, overseeing the business development for the platforms Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Reality Labs in countries across Europe, the Middle East, and the African continent. Prior to her time at Meta, Angie led Hewlett-Packard's (HP) software and digitization business in German-speaking countries as managing director until the end of 2018. She also spent over 20 years at Microsoft, holding various senior management positions both in Germany and internationally, including as a member of the German executive management team. In 2009, an independent organization honored Angie as “businesswoman of the year”. The leading German business publication “manager magazin” voted her one of the 100 most influential businesswomen. Angie also serves as a member of the board of the German-American non-profit association “Atlantik-Brücke” and is part of the corporate supervisory board of Thyssenkrupp. She formerly served on the supervisory boards of TUI, ProSiebenSat.1 and Rothschild

Ana Alvarez

Co-Founder & CEO

Migrapreneur

Germany

Multiple award winner entrepreneur and consultant with a strong background in social innovation and migration. Founder of award-winning organizations through Migration Hub®, and now Migrapreneur®. In the past 8 years, executed more than 14 projects across the EU, and is now recognized for transforming the narrative around migration in Germany. Speaker, lecturer and TV guest expert at global institutions and media. Mentor to incubators and accelerators including migrants, named as one of the EU Future Leaders and one of the 20 more influential people in EU Tech for the year 2023. Chair of multiple non-profits, and advisory board in different initiatives and conferences such as SXSW. Passionate about creating inclusive societies

Bartosz Skwarczek

Founder & President

G2A

Netherlands

An entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience, coach, mentor, and public speaker. The founder and President of the Supervisory Board G2A Capital Group, to which belongs G2A.COM - the largest and most dynamically developing global marketplace with vouchers for digital products such as games, gift cards, subscriptions, or software. The marketplace already has had over 35 million users from 180 countries around the world.

A winner of the Forbes magazine’s BrandMe CEO award given to the best CEOs in the country, as well as of the Digital Shaper Award, the Gold Medal of Polish Academy of Success, and the Manager of the Year title awarded by the government of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship where G2A.COM began its journey. He’s also a co-founder and member of many business organizations such as the International Leaders Forum, Google Next Gen CEO Club, Facebook Client Advisory Board, and the Polish Council of Global Businessmen. Speaker for business events such as The Economic Forum, Merchants Payment Ecosystem Conference in Berlin, MIT in Boston, or Gamescom in Cologne.

Graduate of the AGH University (University of Science) of Krakow and the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, as well as Executive Education programs on Harvard (Finance), MIT (IT, Blockchain, Platformization, Productivity), and Oxford (Fintech). He also actively participates in society – he initiated the creation of the działajmyrazem.pl platform for organizing aid for Ukraine, with several dozen companies joining in solidarity. He’s involved in the SaveTheChildren program and supports local orphanages. Privately, he loves animals and is a fan of tennis.

Benjamin Erhart

General Partner

UVC Partners

Germany

Benjamin Erhart is a General Partner at UVC Partners, where he focuses on robotics, IoT, mobility, and industrial software investments. With a passion for building category-leading companies, he has driven numerous successful exits, including Fazua to Porsche and Cumulocity to Software AG. His current portfolio includes notable investments in companies like TWAICE, DyeMansion, and planqc. Previously, as one of the first employees at High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), he helped build a portfolio of over 480 investments and served on their investment board.

Benoist Grossmann

CEO

Eurazeo

France

Benoist Grossmann is Senior Managing Partner Venture.
Before joining the Group, Benoist worked for several venture capital funds for over 10 years. He was a Partner at Viventures from 1998 to 2002 and worked as Investment Manager at La Financière de Brienne. He had previously spent over 10 years working in the industry as a laser systems specialist at EDF, NASA and Thomson-CSF Optronique, for whom he invented five patents and authored over twenty publications.
Since December 2019, Benoist has been President of France Digitale. At the same time, he is a director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of CNES. Benoist is also a member of Meta France’s advisory board, a director of Swile and Withings, and a member of BPI France’s Innovation Committee. He currently sits on the board of Ogury, and previously on the boards of Criteo, Dailymotion, Deezer and Meetic, France Invest, Frichti and Molotov.
Benoist Grossmann has a PhD in Physics from the Université de Paris VI and an MBA from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.

Christian Teichmann

CEO

Burda Investments

Germany

David Nothacker

CEO & Founder

Sennder

Germany

David Nothacker is the co-founder and CEO of sennder, Europe’s leading digital road freight forwarder. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, sennder has 1,600 employees across 20+ European offices. To date, sennder has raised over $ 350m from leading investors

Elisabeth Gunner Schermer

Head of Maersk Growth

Maersk

Denmark

Elizabeth's entire career has been with Maersk. Here, she has gained experience spanning Customer Service, Ocean Products, Organizational Effectiveness, and now the Open Innovation space.

At Maersk Growth, Elizabeth leverages her knowledge of the organization to ensure the team provides the greatest value to both their organization and their external stakeholders. Here, her role is to help navigate the internal organization and critical strategic areas where external innovation can support the transformation of Maersk.

Eva Schramm

Head of Innovation

Elia Group

Belgium

Eva has extensive experience in the finance and energy sectors. She began her career at PwC in 2011 as a consultant specializing in Capital Markets and Accounting Advisory services.

In late 2014, she moved to 50Hertz Transmission GmbH as an Expert in Consolidation and Reporting, where she established an RPA Centre of Excellence during her role as a project manager for Digital Finance.

In May 2020, Eva became Innovation Manager for Elia Group a German and Belgian Transmission System Operator, designing innovation projects and services. Since May 2021, she has led the Tech Lab within the Innovation team, focusing on emerging disruptive technologies.

As of May 2024, Eva serves as the Head of Group Innovation at Elia Group, leading a team of more than 15 people focused on innovation in various domains such as High-voltage Offshore interconnection, Building the future grid infrastructure, System operations and stability, Digital Innovation and Cyber Security, Asset Management, Markets and Flexibility.

Her role aims to drive an affordable energy transition in Germany and Belgium, connected to Europe. This involves an open innovation approach, working closely with startups, peers, and academia.

Throughout her career, Eva has sharpened her expertise in areas including digitalization, innovation, and project management in the energy sector.

Dr. Elisabeth Schrey

Managing Director

DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF)

Germany

Dr. Elisabeth Schrey is one of the Managing Directors of the DeepTech & Climate Fund (DTCF), where she leads early growth investments in groundbreaking technologies with a focus on industrial applications, sustainability, and climate tech. Driven by intellectual curiosity and business acumen, she is committed to fostering Europe's next generation of technology leaders and bridging cutting-edge research with real-world impact.
Before joining DTCF in 2023, Elisabeth gained extensive experience in venture capital, specializing in industrial tech through key roles at Matterwave Ventures, btov Partners, and TechVision Fund. She has a background in Industrial Engineering and earned her PhD in Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen University, where she explored the intersection of technology, business, and industrial transformation.

Hannah Huber

SVP Technology / CTO

Flix

Germany

Dr. Hanna Huber, CTO of Flix Tech, is responsible for the Technology & Product division at Flix. She is an expert in technology strategy and the development and professionalization of tech organizations, with more than 20 years of professional experience. 

Before, she was Chief Information & Digital Officer of the Swiss Calida Group. Prior to that, Group Vice President Technology Strategy of the otto group. She also held various tech leadership positions at Zalando and was responsible for the operationalization of Zalando's technology strategy.

Hanna started her career in multimedia agencies during the new economy, studied Electronic Business at the University of Arts in Berlin, and earned her PhD in innovation diffusion processes at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Jager Mcconnell

CEO

Crunchbase

USA

As the CEO of Crunchbase, Jager leads the world's most comprehensive and trusted platform for startups, investors, and the people who want to connect with them. Crunchbase boasts over 80 million users and 3 million company profiles, solidifying its reputation as the go-to source in the innovation economy. With 20+ years of experience in building and scaling software and platforms for enterprises, Jager is deeply committed to empowering entrepreneurs and sales teams to thrive. Before Crunchbase, he served as the Vice President of Product for the Sales Cloud at Salesforce, leading a product team that spearheaded the core Salesforce automation product line. He is also an active angel investor and advisor to several early-stage startup

Justin Grooms

CEO

Bolt

USA

Justin Grooms is the CEO of Bolt, a leading checkout technology company. Bolt ignites retailers’ brands by unlocking access to a universal shopper network of 80 million shoppers—enabling merchants to offer a seamless shopping experience to customers at every touchpoint in their journey.

Since 2019, Justin has been powering growth for Bolt, originally as General Manager of Global Sales. Previously serving as Chief Revenue Officer of Leap Motion, Justin brings an extensive background in executive-level leadership roles and a history of scaling revenue for companies across a range of industries.

Justin is a graduate of UC San Diego and holds an MBA from UC Irvine.

Kerry Baldwin

Co-Founder, Managing Partner

IQ Capital

UK

Co-founder, Managing Partner IQ Capital - UK deeptech early-stage VC $1bn AUM investing from seed to - £30m from 4th. Chair, BVCA (2021/22). Chair of the Mansion House Pensions and Private Capital Expert Panel. Member of the Competitiveness Advisory Board for The City of London Corporation, Honorary Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Cambridge University, Independent IC member for British Patient Capital - Life Science, Co-invest programmes and Future Fund:Breakthrough. International advisor to Governments on VC and R&D ecosystems. Board of Governors, Plymouth University, Steering Committee for scale-ups Royal Academy of Engineering. Specialist in Regtech, Suptech, Cyber, complex big data, defence and security investments, GTM, competitive intelligence and mar-tech scale.

Mark Kleyner

Co-Founder & Co-CEO

Dream VC

UK

Mark Kleyner is a venture capital expert, startup advisor, and ecosystem builder with deep experience in global and emerging markets. He has worked across four continents with leading investment firms, launching multiple VC initiatives, and training hundreds of investors through Dream VC’s industry-leading venture capital upskilling programs.

Prior to co-founding Dream VC, Mark worked at 7+ VC firms, developing investment strategies and guiding funds on entering new markets. He has helped launch three $10M+ fund vehicles, trained 600+ early-stage founders, and served as a mentor for Founder Institute, Seedstars, Village Capital, and other global accelerator programs. As a recognized advocate for and thought leader in corporate venturing, Mark has advised global corporations and institutional investors on CVC strategy, helping them navigate the complexities of investing in Africa and other emerging markets. His expertise spans corporate-startup partnerships, strategic venture investments, and innovation-driven growth.

Inside Dream VC, Mark serves as a senior lecturer across all training programs, leads company growth & B2B initiatives, and co-leads EDGE by Dream VC, supporting corporations in designing and scaling CVC strategies for emerging markets.

Mikkel Sørensen

Managing Director

DTU Skylab

Denmark

Mikkel Sørensen is the founding director of DTU Skylab – the innovation hub of the Technical University of Denmark. Mikkel holds an Executive MBA from DTU, a master's degree in Modern Culture from the University of Copenhagen, as well as a master's degree from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.
Over the past 10 years, Mikkel has led the establishment, development, and scaling of DTU Skylab from a small pilot initiative to its current stage as an award-winning and internationally leading innovation environment with approximately 60 employees and 60,000+ ft2 of innovation infrastructure. Each year, DTU Skylab supports over 300 startup projects from DTU's staff and students and engages in innovation collaborations with existing companies, along with educational activities.
Prior to his current role, Mikkel was the National Manager at Venture Cup Denmark. Mikkel is also partner in the hard-tech venture fund TechStation Invest, co-founder of Stormglas, and serves on several boards

Mohammed Sijelmassi

CTO

Sopra Steria

France

Mohammed Sijelmassi is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Sopra Steria Group, leading the implementation and development of the Group's technological expertise to serve the business needs of its clients. He has been a member of the Sopra Steria Executive Committee since 2018.
With degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science, and from the IAE (Institute of Business Administration), he began his career in the oil sector before joining Sopra Steria in 1988. Over the years, he has held various leadership roles in program management and consulting, particularly in the aerospace and automotive industries.
His work in technology consulting for the aerospace sector led him to pioneer innovations in augmented factories, task automation, and predictive maintenance, with a strong focus on systems and human-machine interfaces.
As the CTO of Sopra Steria, Mohammed Sijelmassi has deep expertise in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. He is particularly interested in artificial intelligence as a tool for business process reengineering.
In his role, he oversees the entire technological expertise of Sopra Steria Group, defining the company's technology strategy to support clients' digital transformation projects. In coordination with Sopra Ventures, he is also responsible for identifying and evaluating emerging technologies to shape the future of the industry.

Olivier Martret

Partner

Serena

France

Hanna started her career in multimedia agencies during the new economy, studied Electronic Business at the University of Arts in Berlin, and earned her PhD in innovation diffusion processes at the Freie Universität Berlin.

Passionate about entrepreneurship, Olivier teaches the subject at EDHEC as a university lecturer and mentors young entrepreneurs through the SISTA network and beyond.

Before joining Serena, he played a key role in the creation of 50 Partners, a French accelerator backed by 50 prominent entrepreneurs from companies such as Blablacar, Leboncoin, Priceminister, Talentsoft, Showroomprivé, and Aramisauto. As one of its early team members, he helped develop and strengthen the accelerator program. Over four years, he built a strong portfolio that includes Brigad, Datadome, Evina, Wakeo, Processout, and Qopius.

Rachel Delacour​

Founder & CEO

Sweep

France

Sweep Co-Founder and CEO Rachel Delacour is an award-winning repeat entrepreneur with a background in finance. In 2009, she co-founded BIME Analytics, a pioneering business intelligence SaaS which was acquired by US customer service company Zendesk six years later. Rachel worked there as General Manager until she decided to use her talent to help clean up the climate mess with Sweep. A leading female figure in European tech, Rachel was elected Co-President of France Digitale in 2018 and her thought leadership has been featured in The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. An advocate for women in tech, she has backed several female-founded US and French startups.

Sacha Michaud

CEO & Founder

Glovo

Spain

Socheat Chhay

Managing Director

Sopra Steria Ventures

France

Socheat is the Managing Director for Sopra Steria Ventures, based in Paris. He has over two decades of experience across various industries, starting in trading functions, then as an operator of a financial service unicorn. He founded a cleantech startup, transitioned to tech as a senior digital corporate executive for a mission-driven public investment bank before turning to VC. He also spends time as a business angel, mentor for impact startups, and jury member for various top-tier accelerators. Socheat holds an Executive MBA from the University of Oxford, a Master in Finance from Paris II Assas, and a VC program diploma from Stanford University. Socheat still enjoys his mate from his Uruguayan days.

Tamara Steffens

Managing Director

Thompson Reuters Ventures

USA

Tamara is a business and sales leader with 20 years of experience driving growth and facilitating successful exits for early-stage consumer and enterprise start-ups. She has scaled teams, infrastructures, and products at six startups and managed field operations, engineering, and customer support divisions at multibillion-dollar organizations like Microsoft and Openwave. She is a master of complex, multi-party deals and has an uncanny ability to envision and successfully evangelize the potential of nascent technology.

Tamara currently leads the global investment team at Thomson Reuters Venture Fund, a $100M strategic fund with financial returns as the objective. She previously led investing and venture capital partnerships in North America and India for M12, Microsoft’s venture fund. She was the executive sponsor of the fund’s Female Founders Competition and sat on the board of 11 portfolio companies to provide guidance around sales, go-to-market, and talent acquisition strategies. Before joining M12, Tamara led business development for the broader Office 365 organization and was responsible for building Microsoft Outlook’s mobile strategy from the ground up, to more than 100M users in one year. In this role, she architected, negotiated, and closed one of the largest deals in Microsoft’s history: a multibillion-dollar partnership between Samsung, Google, and multiple telecom operators.

Tamara joined Microsoft through the company’s acquisition of email app Acompli, a sale she negotiated as the startup’s Senior Vice President of Business Development. Over the course of her career, Tamara has positioned and facilitated the sales of multiple other startups, including Path (a mobile-only social network, acquired by KakaoTalk), Fusion One (a mobile cloud backup solution, acquired by Synchronoss), and Color (live streaming technology, acquired by Apple). She also helped to facilitate the IPOs of Boingo (WiFi) and Software.com (email).

Tamara started her tech career at Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics at the time when major Telecoms were pioneering internet services for the first time. She has a B.S. in Finance from Michigan State University and sits on the Broad Business School Board for Michigan State, as well as the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Udayan Goyal

Managing Partner

Apis Partners

UK

Udayan has been a keen proponent of the fast-changing landscape of Financial Services in the transition
from an industrial era to the information age and now to the networked economy.
He fell into the intersection of Financial Services and technology well before the term FinTech was coined
and traversed the Growth Markets when they were called frontier markets.
His global experience began as the son of a diplomat living across multiple continents with his working life
commencing in traditional investment banking and transitioning through to investing and entrepreneurship.
Prior to co-founding Apis, Udayan co-founded and lead Anthemis Group, the first specialist global investor
in FinTech based in London where he made 32 investments including well-known names such as Simple,
Betterment and Trov. Prior to that he was Global Head of Financial Technology Advisory at Deutsche Bank.
Udayan lives in London, is married with two children, and enjoys trying out innovative spinning studios to
work off his passion for food and wine wherever his Apis travels take him.

Kelly Richdale

Venture Partner

Amadeus Capital Partners

Switzerland