Startup Europe Awards

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Based in New York City, Lerer Hippeau mainly invests in seed and early-stage startups based in the US. Founded in 2010 by managing partners Kenneth Lerer, Ben Lerer and Eric Hippeau, the VC operates several funds offering initial investments of $1m per startup. Kenneth Lerer is the co-founder of Huffington Post and longtime chairman of BuzzFeed. Hippeau was the CEO of Huffington Post and ex-managing partner of Softbank Capital that invested in Huffington Post.Its 400+ startups also get support for business growth by tapping into tech ecosystems like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Its 80+ exits include Giphy (GIF) that was acquired by Facebook and home-fitness studio Mirror acquired by Lululemon. However, the IPO by portfolio company Bed-in-a-box online retailer Casper was below market expectations. The loss-making e-commerce unicorn went public at $12 a share in February 2020, closing at $13.50 on its first day out, for a market capitalization of less than half the $1.1 billion Casper was valued at in a private funding round in 2019.

LeapFrog Investments is an impact-focused investor, managing over $1.6bn in assets mainly investing in Africa and Asia. Its “profit with purpose” has led to investments in startups that provide healthcare, financial services and insurance for low-income consumers. Since it was founded in 2007, LeapFrog has attracted funds from Prudential, AXA, Swiss Re and Omidyar Network, becoming the first impact investor in the world to reach the $1bn milestone. It’s headquartered in South Africa and Singapore.LeapFrog is best known for its investments in the insurance sector. One of the most prominent companies in its portfolio is BIMA, the mobile-based insurance provider that has provided coverage in Ghana, Bangladesh, Cambodia and many other countries. In 2020, LeapFrog invested in Indonesian startup PasarPolis, which is a broker for a wide range of microinsurance products. In the healthcare and biotechnology sectors, LeapFrog has funded Indian genetic diagnostics company MedGenome, as well as Goodlife Pharmacy, a Kenyan company providing access to affordable medicine in the East African country.

Sun received his bachelor's in Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering at Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. In 2012, he and future co-founder of Codemao Li Tianchi both began a European master's program in Human Computer Interaction. Sun worked with Li and other students to build a software called Settler in 2013, which helped international students studying in France find banks, apartments, etc. Both Sun and Li were kicked out of the startup due to differences of opinion. In 2014, just months before Sun would have graduated in 2015, he quit the program, giving up three degrees, returned to China and founded Codemao with Li.

Ruiz was 15 when he founded his first startup, Enfilio, mixing magic and software engineering. Enfilio was sold in 2014 and is now one of the most recognized magic companies globally. He also co-founded Lymbit Technological Company, an IoT company for object tracking and location-based advertising. As a researcher at Rovira i Virgili University, he designed and published technology to protect online votes, and co-designed end-to-end encryption and an access control protocol, Attribute-Based Encryption.Today, he’s the CTO and co-founder of Place to Plug, a smart cities platform that connects electric vehicle (EV) drivers with charging stations of individuals, businesses and public institutions.

Born in 1982, Chen Qi graduated from Wuhan University with a bachelor’s degree in Remote Sensing in 2005, the same year as fellow alumnus Gong Huaze. Both became co-founders of McFly, with Chen as COO in December 2016.After graduation, Chen moved to Beijing and worked at NavInfo, a digital map supplier under the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). He also earned a master’s in Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing at Wuhan University while working at NavInfo. In 2013, he worked at Alibaba Mobile Business Group as a product manager until he left to establish agtech startup McFly.

The person who introduced the concept of “maker” to China – even coining its Chinese translation (“chuangke”), which has since taken root in the Chinese language. Today, Zhang Hao (b. 1987) is founder and CTO of logistics robotics startup Dorabot.After studying robotics at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, he joined leading MOOC platform Guokr as a Science and Technology editor. He then became Puzzlebox’s chief hardware architect in San Francisco, later overseeing the manufacturing of Puzzlebox Orbit in Shenzhen. In 2014, he started Dorabot. Zhang was featured in Forbes China’s 30 Under 30 in 2017.

A co-founder of virtual restaurant business Hangry, Robin Tan is new to the F&B business. He is, however, not new to the world of tech startups and entrepreneurship. Between 2017 and 2019, he worked as the CTO of P2P lending startup Taralite. After Taralite was acquired by Lippo-affiliated mobile payment company OVO, he became a product lead within OVO’s ecosystem. In September 2019, he and Taralite co-founder Abraham Viktor, who had also joined OVO, decided to establish Hangry. Tan now handles tech and marketing for Hangry.Prior to his career at Taralite, Tan had worked as an analyst and associate for JP Morgan & Chase, based in Singapore.

Michael Su is a veteran in the footwear business, an entrepreneur and a startup coach.He read Biology and Business at Washington University in St Louis from 1993 to 1998. After graduation, he worked for Morgan Stanley and Thomson Reuters for several years. He completed an MBA at Cornell University in 2005.He started his career as a brand architect with the Michael Antonio Footwear Group, working his way up to its head of product and later its CEO until 2019. He was also a founder partner at Shoe Dazzle from 2008 to 2011. In 2016, he joined the team to set up 4D ShoeTech before the company was officially launched in 2017.

Eulàlia Sánchez is co-founder and Chief Science Officer at medtech startup Biel Glasses, which pioneered a solution that lets people with low vision lead independent lives. She is also a professor of Optics and Optometry and an expert optometrist at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), where she has worked for the last 30 years. She is also coordinator at the Low Vision Research Unit at the university's Vision Center. She holds a master's in Optometry and Vision Sciences from UPC. 

José Enrique Díaz Buzón graduated in law at the University of Seville in 1999. He has a qualification in EU law, and a master’s in business consultancy. In 2005, he also studied labor relations at IE Business School in Madrid.In 1999, Díaz began practicing as a lawyer, specializing in commercial and corporate law and business consultancy. In 2016, he became the CFO, business development manager and co-founder of Scoobic Urban Mobility. The Spanish mobility startup and the co-founding team’s Passion Motorbike Factory aim to provide three-wheeled EVs and sustainable last-mile delivery solutions.

Petri Alava has over 15 years of industry experience in logistics, publishing and waste management. In 1989, he completed a master’s in industrial engineering and started his management career at Finncont Oy, a subsidiary of GWS Group. He went on to work at Rocla Oy in 2001 as managing director of the Rocla Robotruck Group with manufacturing units in Finland and Sweden. He also held senior management roles at Vapo Oy and Kekkilä Oy.In 2015, he became the managing partner of Profon Oy and also co-founded cleantech materials startup Infinited Fiber as CEO. Based in Helsinki, he is also currently chairman of various companies, as well as the CEO of Solid Environmental Technologies.

Capricorn Investment Group is one of the world’s largest mission-aligned investment companies, managing more than $6bn in multi-asset class portfolios for families, foundations and institutional investors.  Notably, it manages the investment portfolio of Jeff Skoll, the first President of eBay, and his charitable organization. The company has offices in Silicon Valley and New York. It has invested in 63 companies to date, many aimed at tackling key challenges facing our world today. It has managed 14 exits to date, including Tesla. Its main focus is on technology and sustainability, with a particular interest in deeptech, aerospace, transport, agtech, healthcare and energy. The firm’s most recent disclosed investments were in May 2021, via participation in the $100m Series B round of Canadian quantum computing startup Xanadu and the $28m Series B round of US geothermal tech company Fervo Energy.

Khosla Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based VC, founded in 2004 by Indian-born founder of tech pioneer Sun Microsystems Vinod Khosla. The company has no specific interest in terms of sector but heavily favors “large problems that are amenable to technology solutions” and invests in so-called high potential  'black swans´. Healthcare is a strong focus and its most recent investments include in the Portuguese home physiotherapy tech solution SWORD Health's 2021 $85m Series C and $25m Series B rounds besides its 2020 $17m Series A round which it led. Khosla has over $5bn under management and more than 70 staff, with investments in more than 700 startups, leading more than one-third. Other recent investments include in the July 2021 $75m Series C round of Indian personal health and fitness app HealthifyMe and, the same month, in the $12.5m Series A round of US commercial real estate app for tenants and property managers Jones. 

An entrepreneur since 2007, Bett Tong majored in telecommunications engineering at Xi’an University of Technology and holds a master’s from the Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University. Her first startup was also in short-term rentals, helping local homeowners rent out their homes to tourists during the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Putry Yuliastutik got the idea to start Kostoom after watching her mother struggling to make ends meet, as a skilled seamstress working from home. She left Bigalia to set up Kostoom to help other homeworkers like her mother. Bigalia was a heavy equipment supply business that was established by Putry and her husband Indra Rukasyah in 2015. Putry graduated in Mathematics at the University of Indonesia in 2011, while working as a graphic designer at a creative digital startup iP Logo Design. She was also a co-founder and branding consultant at iP Logo in Jakarta until December 2013. 

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