Sponsors

Founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, Audemars Piguet is the oldest Manufacture of Haute Horlogerie never to have left the hands of the founding families. Today, its range encompasses complex mechanical watches, Haute Joaillerie creations as well as a line of jewellery. At each stage in its history, the Manufacture has daringly adopted avant-garde techniques in order to place them in the service of traditional craftsmanship. This approach has earned it an unparalleled number of world firsts in the field of Haute Horlogerie.

Egon Zehnder International was founded in 1964 in Zurich and today the firm specializes in Board Effectiveness Reviews, Leadership Strategy Services and Executive Search at the Management and Board levels. The Firm has a distinctive vision and structure aimed at achieving two basic goals - placing clients' interests first and to lead its profession in creating value for its clients through the assessment and recruitment of top-level management resources. The Firm has a structure which is unique in its profession. The Firm's 385 consultants, operating from 63 wholly owned offices in 37 countries, are organized around a single-profit center partnership. This is designed to eliminate competitive barriers between offices. It allows the Firm to operate seamlessly when engagements call for multi-office, cross collaboration and knowledge sharing. Large or small, local or global, clients benefit from this structure by having access to the Firm's most relevant resources and relationships wherever they may reside.

Schroders is a global asset management company established in 1804 with EUR 133 billion assets under management. The company still bears the stamp of the founding Schroder family and focuses exclusively on asset management and private banking. The independence of its advisory and financial services is reflected in the bank’s structure: Schroders has a very solid financial base. Schroders has had a local presence in Switzerland since 1967 and the offices in Zurich and Geneva (since 1984) service a national and international private and institutional clientele. In Switzerland, Schroder & Co Banque SA provides a wide range of asset management and credit services.

CapMan is one of the leading alternative asset managers in the Nordic countries and Russia and manages funds with approximately €3.6 billion in total capital. CapMan's operations are divided into two business areas, CapMan Private Equity and CapMan Real Estate. The CapMan team comprises 150 people in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and Moscow.

At Nokia, we are committed to connecting people. We combine advanced technology with personalized services that enable people to stay close to what matters to them. Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device - from mobile phones to advanced smartphones and high-performance mobile computers. Today, Nokia is integrating its devices with innovative services through Ovi (www.ovi.com), including music, maps, apps, email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, while Nokia Siemens Networks provides equipment, services and solutions for communications networks globally.

Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation
Tekes is the main public funding organisation for research and development (R&D) in Finland. Tekes funds industrial projects as well as projects in research organisations, and especially promotes innovative, risk-intensive projects. Tekes offers partners from abroad a gateway to the key technology players in Finland.

Northzone Ventures has backed Nordic technology winners since 1996, and has raised a total of EURO 445 million in six funds to date. The company has offices in Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen and has invested in more than 70 companies since its inception. In September 2009, Northzone was awarded the “European Venture Capital Fund of the Year” at the Investor Allstars Awards. Northzone is lead investor in high profile growth companies such as Spotify, Tobii, Funcom, and Innotech Solar. Previous successes include companies such as Lastminute, Pricerunner, NextGenTel, Trolltech and Nimsoft.
Northzone focuses on backing world class entrepreneurs in building high growth companies with a global potential within the technology and cleantech sectors. Northzone and its seven General Partners – most of them former successful entrepreneurs - invest both in early stage and in the expansion phase.

Vinge – a market leader in the Nordic region
Vinge is one of Sweden’s leading independent commercial law firms, with some 500 employees across offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo and Helsingborg, as well as in Brussels, Shanghai and Hong Kong. We provide a comprehensive service to our clients, covering all areas of business law. We are privileged to work with a large number of major international public and private companies, financial institutions and governments on some of the most complex and challenging transactions in the Nordic region.

Endeavour Vision is European cross-boarder venture capital firm providing expertise and funding to entrepreneurs with global ambitions in technology, cleantech and life sciences. Endeavour Vision combines a team of experienced venture capital professionals responsible for investments in over 70 companies in 12 countries in Technology and Life Sciences since 1989. We are passionate about building the next entrepreneurial success story and being entrepreneurs ourselves, we have a deep understanding of what it takes to develop successful companies. Endeavour Vision’s DNA comes from three established firms: Genevest, an early European VC started in 1983, Vision Capital Europe, established in 1997 as a pioneer in Trans-Atlantic venture capital, and Endeavour, a VC formed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. To better support entrepreneurs, the firm is a main supporter of: the European Tech Tour Association, a non-profit foundation generating networking opportunities for Entrepreneurs with VC’s, large corporations and corporate advisors.

Inventure is a technology investor in early stage companies, actively supporting growth driven entrepreneurs to internationalize Nordic success stories. Inventure’s entrepreneurial team works actively with the portfolio companies as a lead investor. Founded in 2005, Inventure manages funds with over EUR 53 million in total capital base. Examples of Inventure’s portfolio companies are Whitevector, Freespee, Scannano, Rightware, Conmio, Beneq and Silex Microsystems.

Eqvitec is a leading Nordic technology oriented private equity firm. It currently advises equity funds with a total capital base of over €300 million. Equity funds invest in technology companies in the expansion stage. Eqvitec has a unique team composed of experienced business and finance professionals. We help company founders and management to increase the value of their businesses and act as a responsive and flexible financing partner.

Helsinki is a dynamic hub for international business which at the heart of the Baltic Sea Region provides home and access to great companies. The region exceeds European standards in many indicators and seeks to be a role model for Europe in achieving sustainable growth based on equality, innovation, mobility and integration. Compared to many alternatives, Helsinki is a very cost-efficient city for running a business. Greater Helsinki Promotion Ltd (GHP) is the international business promotion agency for the Greater Helsinki area.

Technopolis provides business environments and services for knowledge-intensive companies and organizations. The service portfolio ranges from comprehensive business and development services to modern premises. Currently, close to 1,200 companies with 16,000 employees operate in the Technopolis centers located in eight cities in Finland and St. Petersburg, Russia. Technopolis Plc is listed on Nasdaq OMX Helsinki.

Veraventure is a venture capital investment company serving as the hub for public early-stage venture capital investments. Veraventure makes direct investments in early-stage innovative enterprises through Seed Fund Vera Ltd, a company under its management. Veraventure also develops regional venture capital investment activities. In addition, the company manages a business angel network known under the name of InvestorExtra.

Wellington Partners invests venture capital in young and creative Information and Communication Technology ( ICT) and Life Science companies that embrace, create and utilize global technology trends. Wellington Partners invests in early-stage technology and life science companies throughout Europe, with a particular focus on German-speaking countries. Wellington Partners currently has $350 million under management and typically invests between $1 and $10 million.

Finnish Industry Investment Ltd is a government-owned investment company whose mission is to promote Finnish business, employment and economic growth through capital investment.
Finnish Industry Investment invests in funds and directly in growth companies. Capital investments are needed for financing growth, and for internationalisation, spin-offs, major industrial investments, and both sectoral and corporate restructurings. The targets are in all sectors. The company co-invests with private investors, limiting its investment to at most half the capital invested and ownership.The investments of Finnish Industry Investment amount to MEUR 640.

The Chilli is a unique media platform for high-tech entrepreneurs, investors and advisors. The Chilli is an established global brand in the technology entrepreneurial food chain in Europe, US and now expanding out in Asia. Our information and in-depth analysis are available through regular newsletter updates, online products and live at seminars, conferences and events.

Dow Jones Private Markets (www.fis.dowjones.com) is part of Financial Information Services, a division of Dow Jones & Co., a News Corporation company. Dow Jones Private Markets offers integrated content solutions for the deal-sourcing, due diligence and compliance needs of today’s venture capital and private equity investors, fund managers, advisors, and portfolio companies. Core products include the industry-specific deal databases Private Equity Source and VentureSource, as well as the highly-respected publications Private Equity Analyst, VentureWire and LBO Wire.

Informilo is a news site that covers tech sector developments in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. The site covers entrepreneurship and innovation in every part of the pipeline from the smallest start-up with the best idea to big companies that embrace creative disruption. The aim is to help start-ups and venture capitalists benchmark the global competition and connect with big corporates. The site covers Internet, telecommunications, software, hardware, semiconductors, biotech, med tech and clean tech. Founded by veteran journalist Jennifer L. Schenker, Informilo vows to adhere to the highest standards of editorial integrity.

Red Herring is a media company whose mission is to cover innovation, technology, financing and entrepreneurial activity. Its staff of award-winning journalists tell readers what's first, what matters and most importantly, why.

EBAN - The European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds, and other Early Stage Market Players is a pan-European organization gathering over 100 member organizations from 27 countries, including business angels networks and federations of networks, early stage venture capital funds (investing less than 3 million euros per transaction, and interested in cross-border collaboration with angels). EBAN represents circa 250 angel groups in Europe via direct or indirect membership, reaching out to 20.000 angels and receiving circa 40.000 business plans a year. It was established in 1999 with the collaboration of the European Commission by a group of pioneer angel networks in Europe. EBAN’s mission is to enhance the visibility of business angels, business angel networks, and early stage funds and help its members exchange good practices.

The European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) is a member-based, non-profit trade association and was established in 1983 and is based in Brussels. EVCA represents, promotes and protects the interests of the European private equity and venture capital industry.