JUNE 2021

BY ANDREW BOTT

EVENT ASSISTANTS:
EVANGELIA MITSA &
ASHIS LIMBU
DISCOVER AN INSIDE VIEW ON START-UP
INVESTMENT
Start-up investment or raising finance is often an opaque hidden mystery to most
seeking it. Our elite panels of investment industry insiders will shine a spotlight
on this process. This rare inside view will educate, entertain and give you solid
advice from those who know.
GET FUNDED
June 28th, 2021
5:45pm - 9:00pm British Summer Time
(12:45pm EST, 09:45am PST)

5:45pm-6pm
Doors Open: Welcome by Andrew Bott

6pm-6:45pm
“Early Stage Fundraising Strategy”
This panel will focus on the early-stage fundraising Strategy and how your startups should perfectly implement that. How you should
move on, which are the common mistakes? Join this panel to listen from leaders in the industry

6:45pm-7:30pm
“What VCs Look for in a Team”
Join this panel to learn more on how VCs evaluate and how important is a startup team. Creating your team can many times be hard
and tricky when presenting in front of VCs. This panel will discuss on the importance of team and how important it’s for a VC.

“Should Founders Have an Exit Strategy?”

A unique panel focusing on a founder’s decision to an exit. If you’re a founder who’s looking forward to a future exit, join this panel to
learn from industry leaders on how, when and what does actually mean Exit Strategy

7:30pm-8:15pm
“Questions VCs Ask Startups”
Which are some common questions VCs constantly ask to startups and how you should answer them? Join this panel to meet leading
VCs and learn more how to handle VC questions on your next meeting.

8:00pm-9pm
Video Networking
Our software allows attendees to be matched automatically every 5 minutes in 1:1 video chats! Network,
make connections, and find opportunities through some great conversations

PITCH NIGHT
June 29th, 2021
5:45pm - 9:00pm British Summer Time
(12:45pm EST, 09:45am PST)

6:00pm-7:30pm
Start-up Pitches & Feedback from the Judges
Start-ups pitch to judges for Investment and are given feedback from our judges who are all currently investors. Investors from around
the world attend and watch the pitches, and start-ups/investors have the chance to

7:30pm-9pm
Video Networking
Our software allows attendees to be matched automatically every 5 minutes in 1:1 video chats! Network, make connections, and find
opportunities through some great conversations
 PLEASE WELCOME TO OUR PARTNERS AND SPONSORS
FOR JUNE’S VC VIRTUAL EVENT

JUNE 2021

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

GOLD PARTNER

FRESHWORKS HAS A SPECIAL OFFER FOR $10,000 IN CREDITS WHEN REFERRED BY

MEETFOUNDERS. HEAD HERE FOR DETAILS AND TO APPLY TODAY!

SILVER PARTNER

VONAGE IS A CLOUD COMMUNICATIONS PLATFORM THAT ALLOWS STARTUPS TO INTEGRATE

VOICE, VIDEO, MESSAGING, AND MUCH MORE INTO THEIR APPLICATIONS USING THEIR
COMMUNICATION APIs. SO WHETHER YOU WANT TO BUILD VOICE CALLS INTO YOUR APP,
CREATE A CHATBOT, OR INTEGRATE VIDEO INTO YOUR PRODUCT, VONAGE HAS GOT YOU
COVERED. HEAD HERE FOR DETAILS!
 Pitch Night Start-ups
JUNE 29TH| 6 PM - 7:30 PM BST
Backlot Studio LTD Traveloptions.AFRICA
Industry: Online Media Industry: Hospitality &
Country: United Kingdom Leisure,Travel, Tourism
Amount raising: £690,000 Country: Nigeria
Company LinkedIn: link
Amount raising: $524.866
Numerous Sakowin Green Energy
Industry: Marketing & Advertising Industry: Oil & Energy
Country: United Kingdom Country: France
Company LinkedIn: link Company LinkedIn: link
Amount raising: £500,000 Amount raising: 3.5M €
BUA FIT
Industry: Consumer Services/
Health, Wellness & Fitness/
Sports
Country: United Kingdom
Company LinkedIn: link
Amount raising: £350,000
(top-up pre-seed round, total of
£550,000) – Full seed round:
£1,500,000
Medsii (formerly
Pharma Sentinel
Industry: Medicine
Country: United Kingdom
Company LinkedIn: link
Amount raising: $1.1M
 “Early Stage Fundraising Strategy”
JUNE 28TH | 6 PM – 6:45 PM BST
Kevin Smith
DIRECTOR & BUSINESS MENTOR, BOOM & PARTNERS

I am both a small investor in my own right but also we do look at taking an equity position in a
limited amount of companies that we are involved with - specifically when we play an ongoing
proactive role on the Advisory Board.

Αdam Beveridge
INVESTMENT ASSOCIATE, SFC CAPITAL

Adam was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug at a very young age, founding entrepreneurship
initiatives and clubs when at school, contributing to numerous young enterprise schemes, and
graduating with a 1st class honours degree in Business and Enterprise. He has gone on to
become a founder, investor, and consultant, leading an internationally scaled Series A startup in
the SaaS, Media, and Travel space. He has worked with and supported early-stage businesses
as part of Just Eat Ventures, London and Partners, WeWork Labs, SeedReady and The London
School of Economics Start-up Accelerator.

Peter van Meersbergen

INVESTMENT DIRECTOR, TECHFUND ONE
Book Recommendation: Ready Player One & The Signal and the Noise by Ernest Cline

Investment manager at several start-up funds and now Investment director at Techfund One.
Also founder Business Angel Network Investormatch.

Thomas Dadashi
FOUNDER, SHARELINE & ANGEL INVESTOR
Book Recommendation: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Pre-seed to pre-IPO investor. Past investments include Darktrace (pre-IPO), Depop (series B),
Voodoo (pre-seed)
 “What VCs Look for in a Team”
JUNE 28TH | 6:45 PM – 7:30 PM BST
Jake Christoforou
INVESTMENT ASSOCIATE, MERCIA ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC
Book Recommendation: Brave not Perfect by Reshma Saujani

Jake joined Mercia in 2020 as an Investment Associate for Mercia’s EIS Fund team. In addition
to research support, origination and execution of early stage investments, Jake undertakes
portfolio support across Mercia’s EIS Fund portfolio.

Matthieu Vallin
EARLY STAGE INVESTOR, OCTOPUS VENTURES

Matthieu joined Octopus Ventures in 2020 and focuses on sourcing and qualifying early stage
investments that will transform healthcare and life sciences. From consumer health through to
advances in drug discovery, he liaises with entrepreneurs who have a drive to bring the most
benefits to the delivery of care and patient outcomes..

Asta Diabate
TECH STARTUP ADVISOR

I focus on finding and supporting high-potential startups forging the future of work, edtech,
digital health and pretty much anything in the tech for good space. I’m a lover of history and
politics at heart.And a self-professed documentary, podcast (and now CH) aficionado.

Josko Bobanovic
PARTNER, SOFINNOVA PARTNERS
Series Recommendation: The Last Dance

Joško Bobanović joined Sofinnova Partners in 2010 as Partner dedicated to activities in

industrial biotech. He focuses on early stage deals in Europe and North America with
applications in chemicals, agriculture, food, feed and synthetic biology. Joško sits on the
boards of Metgen, Synthace, Cellucomp, Comet Bio, DNA Script, Biosyntia, DMC Bio,
Pyrowave and Protera. Prior to joining Sofinnova he spent eight years in venture capital with
iNovia Capital in Montreal, Canada.
 “Should Founders Have an Exit Strategy?”
JUNE 28TH | 6:45 PM - 7:30 PM BST
Maria Georgopoulou
MODERATOR, MEETFOUNDERS
Book Recommendation: Integrated Investing: Impact Investing with Head, Heart, Body, and
Soul by Bonnie Foley-Wong

Maria has completed her BSc in Business Economics at Cardiff University and recently
completed her MSc in Entrepreneurship at Cass Business School. She is particularly
interested in marketing, sales and business development and has related work experience in
the pharmaceutical and energy & oil sector in London, UK and Athens, Greece.

Thomas Dadashi
FOUNDER, SHARELINE & ANGEL INVESTOR
Pre-seed to pre-IPO investor. Past investments include Darktrace (pre-IPO), Depop (series B),
Voodoo (pre-seed)

Dr. Andreas Schenk

VENTURE PARTNER, SEVENTURE PARTNERS

German Venture Capital investor with 12 years of experience in Seed and Series-A
investments now managing DACH region for Seventure Partners. Investments include
Grover, Shipcloud, Connox, Wealthpilot and Hepster.

Korstiaan Zandvliet
VENTURE PARTNER, URBAN IMPACT VENTURES
Book Recommendation: The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Driven Entrepreneur turned venture partner. Responsible for various ventures in the field of
technology, agri food and entertainment.
 “Questions VCs Ask Startups”
JUNE 28TH | 7:30 PM – 8:15 PM BST
Maria Georgopoulou
MODERATOR, MEETFOUNDERS
Book Recommendation: Integrated Investing: Impact Investing with Head, Heart, Body, and
Soul by Bonnie Foley-Wong

Maria has completed her BSc in Business Economics at Cardiff University and recently
completed her MSc in Entrepreneurship at Cass Business School. She is particularly
interested in marketing, sales and business development and has related work experience in
the pharmaceutical and energy & oil sector in London, UK and Athens, Greece.

Paul-Louis Lepine
ASSOCIATE , DRAPER ESPRIT
Book Recommendation: High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil

Paul-Louis is a former operator at Glovo, $2bn+ multicategory on-demand turned VC at Draper

Esprit. He leads DE's activity in France as well as look after
marketplace/platforms/consumer/consumer-enabled businesses across Europe.

Christian Noske
PARTNER, TARGET GLOBAL
Book Recommendation: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harari

Christian is Partner at Target Global, an international venture capital investor headquartered in

Berlin with over 1,2 billion euros in assets under management. Prior to Target Global, Christian
was leading Alliance Ventures (Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi) and founding Partner at BMW i
Ventures.

Evi Steyer
ASSOCIATE, ASTANOR VENTURES
Essay Recommendation: The Essays of Paul Graham

Evi has a background in regenerative agriculture and sustainable finance. She began her
investment career at Generation Investment Management, an asset manager proving the
business case for integrating sustainability metrics into financial analysis before joining Astanor
in 2019. Astanor is an early-to-growth impact VC focused in food and agriculture.
 “Judges for Live Pitch”
JUNE 29TH | 6 PM – 7:30 PM BST

Moderator: Maria Georgopoulou

MODERATOR, MEETFOUNDERS
Book Recommendation: Integrated Investing: Impact Investing with Head, Heart,
Body, and Soul by Bonnie Foley-Wong

Maria has completed her BSc in Business Economics at Cardiff University and
recently completed her MSc in Entrepreneurship at Cass Business School. She is
particularly interested in marketing, sales and business development and has related
work experience in the pharmaceutical and energy & oil sector in London, UK and
Athens, Greece.

Moderator: Ashis Limbu

SOCIAL MEDIA LEAD, MEETFOUNDERS

Ashis is currently a Social Media Lead at MeetFounders. His educational background includes
Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Marketing from the University of Surrey in
the UK

Alexey Bulygin
ASSOCIATE, SOVA VC
Book Recommendation: Mastering the VC Game by Jeff Bussgang

Associate in Sova VC (Series A, UK based, VC Fund). 5+ years in Venture industry, mentor &
adviser in 3 startups.
.

Sameer Singh
CREATOR, BREADCRUMB.VC & PART, ATOMICO ANGEL PROGRAMME
Book Recommendation: The Innovator’s Dillema by Clayton M. Christensen

I am part of the 2021 cohort of the Atomico Angel Programme, and I exclusively focus on
startups with network effects (both B2C and B2B). I have made 5 investments under the
program so far this year. I am also the creator of breadcrumb.vc and, before that, I spent 5
years at App Annie, a late-stage startup based in Silicon Valley.
 Lauren Kang
SENIOR ASSOCIATE, FRONTLINE VENTURES
Book Recommendation: Venture Deals by Brad Feld

Lauren began her VC career investing in consumer-tech companies in the US and has now
shifted to B2B companies in Europe. Her previous investments include Sike Insights and
Grapevine, as well as ChargerHelp, Badaboom, Caba Design, Buffalo Market, and more.

Helga Valfells
FOUNDING PARTNER, CROWBERRY CAPITAL
Book Recommendation: Hard Things about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Helga has spent the last 10 years in Venture Capital. She co-founded Crowberry Capital in
2017. Crowberry is a VC fund that invests at seed and early stage. Currently Crowberry has a
portfolio of 14 companies founded across the Nordics.

Eva Rez
SENIOR INVESTMENT MANAGER, SKY
Book Recommendation: The Upstarts by Brad Stone

Eva is a Senior Investment Manager at Sky’s Startup Investments & Partnerships team
focusing on investment deals and portfolio management. Before, Eva scouted and executed
early-stage deep tech investments at Episode 1 Ventures in London and at Day One Capital in
Budapest.

Karolina Wojtas
INVESTMENT MANAGER, ICOS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
Book Recommendation: Zero to One by Peter Thiel

Investment professional specialized in deeptech investments. Currently Investment Associate

at Icos Capital, a Dutch VC fund that invests in industry 4.0, agtech, foodtech, chemtech.
Previously worked for ValueTech Seed fund that invests in manufacturing and energy.
 Anouck Champsaur
VC ANALYST, SOFINNOVA PARTNERS
Book Recommendation: Venture Deals by Brad Feld

Anouck Champsaur joined Sofinnova Partners in 2021 and focuses on industrial

biotechnology investments in Europe and North America, which encompass chemicals,
materials, agriculture, and food. Prior to that she co-founded a battery startup in New York,
and holds a PhD in Chemistry from Columbia University.

Oscar Chen
INVESTOR, FROG CAPITAL
Book Recommendation: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Oscar joined Frog Capital as a software Investor back in October 2020, prior to that he co-
founded and sold a medical device startup. He currently focuses on software companies in
the scale-up stage and has a particular interest in digital healthcare.