There are a million reasons you do not want to miss out on our first ever major tech conference, but here's a list of 10 big ones as we start counting down 10 days before we see so many of you in (hopefully sunny) Brussels.
1) Fireside chats with European tech luminaries
Kristo Käärmann
Kristo is the co-founder and CEO of Wise. Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move money around the world. Launched in 2011 under its original name TransferWise, it is one of the world’s fastest growing, profitable tech companies and is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker, WISE. About 12 million people and businesses use Wise, which processes over €7 billion in cross-border transactions every month, saving customers over €1 billion a year.
Saul Klein
Saul is a Founding Partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude Ventures. Previously, Saul was a General Partner at Index Ventures from 2007 until May 2015. Most recently Saul co-founded Platoon (acquired by Apple in 2018), Zinc (co-founded with the LSE), Kano and Seedcamp (seed investors in UiPath and Revolut), as well as being co-founder and original CEO of Lovefilm International (acquired by Amazon in 2011).
Heini Zachariassen
Heini is Vivino’s Founder, Board Member, and Chief Evangelist. Credited with bringing a technology revolution to the $400 billion age-old wine industry, Heini created the Vivino platform as a solution for those who found wine confusing. In the early 2000s, before Heini was ever in the wine game, he found himself feeling lost when facing the wall of wine in a supermarket. He liked wine, but never knew how to decide what wine was worth buying.
Heini recognized that he was not alone in this anxiety, and decided to develop a solution that the everyday, casual wine drinker could use to pick a great wine at any price point. That was the original vision for Vivino. Today, Vivino is the largest wine community in the world.
And all three of them will share their knowledge on our main stage.
2) Money
Several of Europe's biggest and most prolific venture capital and private equity funds are joining the Tech.eu Summit:
- Index Ventures
- Eurazeo
- Lakestar
- Molten
- Target Global
- LocalGlobe - and not just Saul Klein ;)
- Speedinvest
- Isomer Capital
- eFounders
- Seedrs
- Astia
- Experior.vc
- LAUNCHub Ventures
- Riverside Acceleration Capital
- Angel Labs
- Startup Wise Guys
- VAUBAN
- Ukrainian Startup Fund
And that's just the ones who'll be represented on our stages!
Hundreds more will be in attendance.
3) Money for good
Not listed above because they deserve to be highlighted separately, we'll have reps from the world's leading funds actively investing in greentech/cleantech, climate tech, and sustainability-focused innovations, including:
We're very keen to hear about their impact investment strategies, and finding and backing the best of the best.
4) Improving planet Earth
Speaking of leaders who are keen to make the world a better place, here are some of the speakers we've lined up to take a deep dive into just that:
- Lubomila Jordanova (CEO, Plan A)
- Michelle You (Co-founder and CEO, Supercritical)
- Merit Valdsalu (CEO & Co-founder, Single Earth)
- Marianne Tikkanen (Co-founder, Puro.earth)
- Soundous Boualam (Chief Impact Officer, Brussels Global Review)
- Cecilia Mosze Tham (Technologist, Futurity Systems)
Of course, improving our planet (and beyond) will be a topic across many sessions.
5) Exploring a whole new web
We're gonna try and make sense of the metaverse, web3 and NFTs, with the help of:
- Dr. Giovanna Graziosi Casimiro (Metaverse Producer, Decentraland)
- Brian O’Hagan (Head of Growth, Sorare)
- Rahim Attaba (VP of Marketing, The Sandbox)
- Simon Foucher (CEO, Metav.rs)
- Marguerite de Tavernost (VC turned NFT creator, visual artist)
- Monty Munford (Sienna Network, Journalist)
Also, all things crypto.
The question is: will we succeed?
6) Hiring (and scaling) like a boss
Jonno Southam, who is currently the Head of Venture Capital Business Development EMEA at Google Cloud, is a two-time founder with over 20 years of experience as both an entrepreneur and as a senior technologist in high-growth enterprise technology companies.
During his time at Amazon, he spent 4 years helping govern the Amazon Bar Raiser program, dedicated to maintaining the high hiring bar. At Google, Jonno is actively growing his team leveraging Google's hiring process. In this talk, he will walk you through the best practices of hiring the best talent.
We're also going to talk about the best ways to ensure a startup's culture survives speedy growth.
TechCrunch's Mike Butcher will lead a discussion on scaling talent-first organisations with Ali Niknam, the founder and CEO of fintech star bunq (valuation: €1.6 billion and counting), Åsa Lidén who is the chief operating officer at Pitch and Martin Mignot, a partner at Index Ventures who has led their investments in Cowboy, Deliveroo, KRY/LIVI, Personio, Revolut etc.
Not to be missed if you're attempting to grow a business!
7) A spotlight on policy
Well, the event is happening in Brussels after all...
Ludwig Siegele, European business editor at The Economist will be sparring with Sébastien Marotte, President of EMEA at Box, Scaleway CEO Yann Lechelle and Janer Gorohhov, co-founder and CPO of Veriff about the rocky road to European tech/data sovereignty.
Another panel I'm looking forward to is 'Regulating for Growth: Can the EU lead in setting global tech standards?'
Moderated by Mathieu Pollet, journalist at EURACTIV, the panel will feature:
- Helen Köpman, the Head of Unit for Digital Innovation & Blockchain at the European Commission
- Allied for Startups's Director of EU Policy Benedikt Blomeyer
- Dex Hunter-Torricke, VP of Global Communications & Public Engagement at Meta/Oversight Board
What's not to love about that?
8) Learn about sustainable ecosystems from the pros
Join these experts on a journey to really learn what makes innovation ecosystems and startup communities tick:
- Dom Hallas (Executive Director, COADEC)
- Grégoire Martinez (Head of Strategic Projects, Station F)
- Kat Borlongan (Chief Impact Officer, Contentsquare and former Director, La French Tech)
- Ricardo Marvão (Co-Founder, Beta-i)
It takes entrepreneurs to start businesses, but ecosystems to allow them to scale. Don't miss the chance to take away some really valuable lessons in this one.
9) A primer on storytelling for startups and VCs alike
If there was ever a group of people that can outline what startups and VCs need to do to get their marketing and PR efforts right, it's this one:
- Joanna Kirk (Founder, JKPR)
- Marie Fabiunke (Operating Partner, FoodLabs, Atlantic Labs)
- James Clark (Marketing Director, Molten)
- Nick Taylor (Managing Director, UK, Ballou)
It may even help you secure Tech.eu coverage. ;)
10) Diving into corporate innovation
Join Tech.eu's Jill Petzinger for a session titled "Out of the corporate box: Sustainable growth opportunities for enterprises" as we explore the best way forward for corporate innovators in today's day and age.
Panelists:
- Nicolas Verschelden (Global Innovation Director, AB Inbev)
- Luisa Rubio Arribas (Head of Wayra X, Telefonica)
- Lode Uytterschaut (Founder, Start it @KBC)
Again, plenty more reasons to go, but get your tickets now!
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