‘Golden period’ of European VC to be celebrated at Paris event

- Invest Europe’s Venture Capital Forum takes place in Paris on 18 & 19 October
- Speakers include Brent Hoberman, Nicolas Dufourcq and Klaus Hommels 

A line-up of the most influential investors in European innovation will land in Paris this month for Invest Europe’s Venture Capital Forum, to discuss how to propel further the industry’s strong growth.

Last year, investment by European VC firms reached a ten-year high of €6.4 billion, while fundraising reached €7.7 billion, its second-highest result since 2007. Invest Europe, the association representing the European VC industry and its global investors, is hosting its annual Venture Capital Forum at the Pullman Tour Eiffel in Paris on 18 and 19 October. The programme includes a packed roster of panel discussions, roundtables and keynote speeches. 

• Brent Hoberman, co-founder of start-up success LastMinute.com, now invests in the latest entrepreneurs in his new role at FoundersFactory. He will discuss how entrepreneurs can go from zero to hero CEO of a $1bn company
• Nicolas Dufourcq, CEO of national public investment bank Bpifrance, which supports entrepreneurs and VC funds, will talk about the road ahead for investing in France and beyond
• Klaus Hommels, Founder and CEO at Lakestar, is one of Europe’s best-known tech investors and an early backer of Spotify and Facebook. He will discuss the state of the European tech ecosystem
• Edwin Moses, former CEO of Ablynx, a Belgian biotech start-up that grew and created hundreds of jobs with the help of VC. In 2007, company launched an IPO in Brussels, followed in 2017 by a $230 million IPO in the US. It was bought this year for over €3.9 billion by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi

“European venture capital is enjoying a golden period in its development,” said Nenad Marovac, Chair of Invest Europe and Founder & Managing Partner of VC firm DN Capital. “Successful start-ups supported by VC, such as Ablynx, Spotify, Adyen and France’s ride-sharing service BlaBlaCar, show how European innovation is punching above its weight and investors around the world are taking notice.”

Frédéric Mazzella, Founder of BlaBlaCar, will give a talk on the French ecosystem. Investor speakers at the event include Jean Bourcereau from Ventech, Pauline Roux and Anne-Sophie Carrese of Elaia Partners, Target Global’s Yaron Valler, Shirin Dehghan of Frog Capital, and Clara Bullrich from TheVentureCity and Guggenheim Partners Latin America. Felda Hardymon of Bessemer Venture Partners, the US’s oldest VC firm, will give a keynote speech.

Topics at the event will include VentureEU, the recently launched pan-European VC fund-of-funds programme. Joe Schorge from Isomer Capital and Thomas Kristensen of LGT Capital Partners will discuss their involvement in the initiative, which the European Union has backed with €410 million of new funding. It plans to unlock billions of euros of capital from the largest private investors around the world to invest in European start-ups.

There will also be a presentation of fresh industry statistics, as Uli Grabenwarter, Director of Equity Investments at the European Investment Fund – one of the largest investors in European VC – publically launches the EIF's first annual data report.

For more details on Invest Europe’s Venture Capital Forum, visit the official website.