London T h e h o t t e s t t e c h s c e n e s i n c e S i l i c o n V a l l e y Nordic UK Venture Capital Tour 2015 16-17 September, London A DIGITAL MIXER UNLOCKING UNIQUE COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES The Nordic Venture and start-up scene is blooming and Nordic companies are gaining traction internationally. To create more fast-growing Nordic companies, we will examine what London has to offer. Join us for some inspiring days, tailor made events and excellent networking opportunities. PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
Transcript
LondonThe hottest tech scene since Silicon Valley
Nordic UK Venture Capital Tour 2015 16-17 September, London A DIGITAL MIXER UNLOCKING UNIQUE COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES
The Nordic Venture and start-up scene is blooming and Nordic companies are gaining traction internationally. To create more fast-growing Nordic companies, we will examine what London has to offer. Join us for some inspiring days, tailor made events and excellent networking opportunities.
PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
You’re invited! European start-ups are going in the right direction since more and more VC firms are taking interest in the European start-up scene.
Last year, with 855 individual deals invested in Europe ($5.7 billions), venture capital funding in tech companies rose by 78 percent, according to the 2014 European Tech Report by CB Insights. The report reveals that the UK, with a total of 225 deals, and Germany, with 154, are the two countries at the top, with France coming in third (63), followed by Russia (62) and Spain (48).
The UK tech scene, that has grown by 80 percent since 2011, is attracting the highest number of deals and the biggest companies. Examples are; Google buying U.K.’s Rangespan, Dark Blue Labs, Spider.io, Deepmind Tech-nologies and Vision Factory, Apple buying Semetric and with Facebook’s “talent acquisition” of Ascenta .
The UK is becoming one of the world’s most dynamic start-up clusters and the hottest tech scene since Silicon Valley. Join us for the opportunity to network with key players, inspirational stories and put your questions to our speakers.
Best regards, Knut Traaseth, CEO Norwegian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (NVCA)
Wednesday, 16 September Central London
Morning Arrival from the Nordic countries and check-in at Radisson Blu Edwardian
350 Oxford Street (Entrance from Marylebone Lane), London W1C 1BY
London: the hottest tech scene since Silicon Valley
12:00-12:10pm Welcome Nordic UK Venture Capital Tour
Speaker: Knut Traaseth, CEO, Norwegian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (NVCA)
The Trampery, 239 Old Street, London, EC1V 9EY
12:10-12:40pm Why London needs start ups and what attracts the big tech companies to Tech City?
In February 2015, David Cameron launched the Tech Nation report, a comprehensive analysis of the clusters powering the UK's digital economy. The report found inner London to be the largest hotspot for digital employment. A significant proportion of these employment opportunities are within Tech City. In December 2013 Charles Armstrong was picked as one of the 25 figures who created London’s “Tech City” innovation cluster, and he will explain why London needs start ups and what attracts the big tech companies to Tech City.
The Trampery was founded in 2009 by Charles Armstrong to provide new working environments and support for entrepreneurs across technology and the creative industries. The Trampery currently operates 5 buildings in London focused on soft-ware, fashion and design. For its flagship on Old Street, The Trampery has partnered with Publicis, one of the world’s top communication agencies, to create a new service called Drugstore. Drugstore connects innovators with customers, partners, strategic investors and advisors to help them overcome strategic obstacles and grow.
Speaker: Charles Armstrong, Founder, The Trampery
12:40-1:15pm Networking lunch
FinTech: opportunities and challenges to the rapidly growing sector
1:15-1:45pm Creating the European FinTech ecosystem and the 50 hottest FinTechs in Europe
A new survey of technology influencers in London’s financial technology (fintech) community conducted by PR and campaign agency Seven Hills shows that 75.6% of those surveyed considered London to be the world’s “fintech hotspot”, ahead of U.S cities San Francisco (17.5%) and New York (4%). Respondents believed a combina-tion of the city’s existing financial services infrastructure (81%), access to talent (72%) and geographical position (68%) is giving London’s fintech scene an edge over the competition – with 39% expecting mobile payments to be the fastest growing sector, followed by peer-to-peer lending at 26%. FinTechCity's Fintech50, a list of 50 startups considered game-changers, or have the potential to become major players in the FinTech sector, due to their growth, disruption and market impact. The firms are decided by a panel which includes judges from Google, Microsoft, American Express, Santander, Silicon Valley Bank and a selection of venture capital firms working in the city. In 2015, 24 London-based companies made it to the list. Julie Lake, co-founder, The FinTech50/FinTech City, will explain more about how they are stimulating the European FinTech ecosystem and why they would be delighted to see more Nordic companies among the FinTech50s.
Speaker: Julie Lake, co-founder, The FinTech50/FinTech City
The Trampery
Wednesday, 16 September Central London
1:45-2:15pm An incredible London-based growth story
Early 2015 TransferWise, a London-based “P2P” money transfer startup established in 2011, entered the ‘Unicorn’ club with a $1bn valuation. They provide a solution whereby consumers money exchange needs are matched so that money doesn’t leave each country unnecessarily, it is able to undercut the banks and other legacy competitors, such as Western Union, when sending money abroad. Transferwise has been growing at a rapid pace. It says that some £3 billion ($4.5 billion) has been transferred on its platform, with cost savings of more than £135 million compared to traditional bank transfers. As a point of comparison, it was only last spring that the startup said it had passed the £1 billion transfer mark. The company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Sir Richard Branson, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Index Ven-tures, IA Ventures, and Seedcamp. Nilan Peiris, VP Growth, will share their incredible growth story and how they plan to keep growing their global business.
Speaker: Nilan Peiris, VP Growth, Transferwise
The Trampery
2:15-2:30pm Coffee break
Tech City UK and VCs that are in it to win - learn how they are plotting disruption of $bn markets
2:30-3:00pm How Tech City UK’s Future Fifty helps to supercharge digital businesses
Tech City UK was established in 2010 with a mission to support the emerging Silicon Roundabout tech cluster in Shoreditch, East London. Launched with the support of Downing Street in 2013, the Future Fifty programme, is Tech City’s longest running programme. It helps to further enable and accelerate the growth of the most promising growth-stage digital businesses to scale rapidly and reach their full potential in the UK. Since joining the programme in 2013, a number of the Future Fifty companies have reached significant milestones. Four of the companies have listed on the public markets. One company has been acquired. Others have raised substantial investment. The Future Fifty Advisory Panel is made up of experts from across the private sector and includes venture and growth capital investors, specialists from leading law and accounting firms, as well as members of management teams of some of the most successful UK digital businesses. Learn more about programme and what it takes to being included in the Future Fifty.
Speaker: Philipp Stoeckl, Head of Future Fifty, Tech City UK
The Trampery
3:00-3:30pm Balderton Capital
Balderton Capital, founded in 2000 was originally formed as the European Investment arm of Benchmark Capital, based in Silicon Valley, and one of the world’s largest venture firms. Although the two maintain close ties, Balderton officially became a separate entity in 2007. Balderton is one of Europe’s largest VC’s, managing around $2.3bn US dollars, the bulk of which is drawn from “university endowments, charitable foundations and pension funds”. They invest from from $100k to over $20m, and they have made over 100 mainly early stage investments to date, including into Betfair, MySQL, Bebo (sold for £850m to AOL), LoveFilm, GoCardless, Kobalt and Lyst. The company aren’t especially picky about which sectors they invest into, provided there is significant opportunity to disrupt the market, and the addressable market has the ability to develop beyond £1bn. Balderton invested in two Danish companies in 2013; Opbeat and Vivino.
Speaker: Sam Myers, Responsible for the Nordic Region, Balderton Capital
The Trampery
Wednesday, 16 September Central London
3:30-4:00pm Atomico Ventures
Atomico is a growth stage international investment fund, focusing on the consumer internet space and on helping the world’s most disruptive technology companies scale and reach their full global potential. Founded by Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype, they have become the investor choice of ambitious entrepreneurs due to their experience of building global businesses, unique international network, and ability to help companies operationally, with offices in London, Beijing, Sãu Paulo, Istanbul and Tokyo.
Speakers: Alon Kuperman, Vice President Investments and Caroline Brochado, Vice
President Investments, Atomico Ventures
The Trampery
4:00-4:15pm Wrap up with a brief intro of the New Norwegian FinTech accelerator at Level 39
Speaker: Hilde Hukkelberg, Director, Innovation Norway UK & Ireland The Trampery
Evening reception co-hosted by DNB Bank 5:30-8:00pm UK-Nordic Digital Mixer co-hosted by DNB Bank and Innovation Norway:
Welcome & short update on the financial situation in the Nordic region with a special focus on entrepreneurship by DNB Bank (10 mins) Speaker: Kaj-Martin Georgsen, Head of Public and Political Affairs, DNB Bank
Keynotes (20 mins x3)
Northzone: The road from being a Norwegian focused venture fund to become a major European VC player With offices across the Nordics and in the UK and the US, Northzone’s focus is on disruptive companies in attractive markets. Since its inception in 1996, Northzone has invested in over 100 companies. Notable investments include Spotify, Trustpilot, Avito, iZettle, Lastminute, Pricerunner, Nextgentel, and Stepstone.
Speaker: Tellef Thorleifsson, Co-founder and General Partner
Google’s new venture capital arm in Europe Google Ventures, which was founded in 2009, provides seed, venture and growth stage funding to technology companies. It currently has an annual fund structure of $300 million with an additional $125 million commitment to invest in European start-ups.
Speaker: Eze Vidra, General Partner
Rocket Internet: How to become the home screen of the world Germany-based Rocket Internet was founded in 2007 with a mission to become the world’s largest Internet platform outside of the United States and China. They identify and build proven Internet business models and transfer them to new, underserved or untapped markets where we seek to scale them into market leading online companies. Rocket has now more than 30,000 employees across its network of companies, which are active in more than 110 countries across six continents.
Speaker: Alexander Kudlich, Group Managing Director
Panel discussion, Q&A: Europe’s Tech Scene (20 mins) Panelists: Alexander Kudlich, Eze Vidra and Tellef Thorleifsson Moderator: Knut Traaseth, CEO, Norwegian Venture Capital Association (NVCA)
Networking and Drinks
DNB Bank, The Walbrook Building, 25 Walbrook, London EC4N 8AF
8:15-8:30pm Short walk to Coq d’Argent
8:30pm Dinner and After Party at Coq d’Argent No.1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EJ
Thursday 17 September Central London
Morning Check-out at Radisson Blu Edwardian Berkshire http://www.radissonblu-
edwardian.com/london-hotel-gb-w1c1by/gbberksh
350 Oxford Street (Entrance on Marylebone Lane), London W1C 1BY
The London incubator scene 9:00-9:30am Travel to Level39, Canary Wharf
9:30-10:00am The Fintech Innovation Lab The FinTech Innovation Lab run by Accenture introduces entrepreneurs to banks and educates them in what is needed in a large, extremely security-conscious enterprise. For their part, the banks and venture firms get to see some cutting edge technology and meet people who are driving innovation in finance. Since Accenture launched the London Lab three years ago, the 14 companies that have passed through the pro-gram have raised more than $25 million in new investment and signed nearly 50 con-tracts to do business with banks.
Speaker: Samad Masood, Open Innovation Lead, UK & Ireland, Accenture
One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AB
10:00-11:15pm Tour at Level 39 including a short brief by the Canary Wharf Group Level39 is Europe's largest technology accelerator for finance, retail, cyber-security and future cities technology companies. Occupying 3 floors of the iconic One Canada Square building, and established by Canary Wharf Group plc, Level39 was opened in March 2013 by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, and has quickly become an im-portant part of London’s booming Tech City. At Level39, they put our high potential entrepreneurs in the same space as some of the world’s most influential technology buyers and investors, accelerating their traction and access to markets.
Speakers: Elisabeth Adams, Head of Corporate Communications, Canary Wharf Group Eric van der Kleij, CEO, Level39 and Adizah Tejani, Head of Ecosystem Development, Level39
One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AB
11:15-11:45am Travel to The TravelTech Hub
11:45-12:15pm Tour at The Traveltech Lab including a short brief by London & Partners The Traveltech Lab is a new co-working space that aims to foster innovation, collabo-ration and creativity, and bring together technology start-ups and big corporates within the travel industry. London & Partners will give a short brief about how they assist foreign companies establishing in London, growth trends within London’s most important sectors and success stories that highlight London opportunities.
Speaker: Maria Palgaard, Acting Head of Northern Europe & Middle East
London & Partners, 6th Floor 2 More London Riverside London SE1 2RR
12:15-12:45pm Travel to Dorsey & Whitney Europe LLP
Thursday 17 September Central London
How to leverage London to accelerate growth 12:45-1:15pm Lunch including a short brief on leadership in M&A by Dorsey & Whitney Europe
LLP
Dorsey & Whitney assists emerging technology businesses throughout their growth cycle, from inception through to exit and beyond. Their approach is simple – to use knowledge and connections in the tech scene to provide legal advice and commercial-ly-focused solutions to start-ups. They regularly work in Palo Alto and Southern California in the tech space, which can offer start-ups a great advantage in securing a foothold internationally. From well-known multinationals expanding their global brands to family-owned businesses executing exit strategies, dealmakers choose Dorsey for innovation, quality, efficiency and record of global leadership.
Speaker: Tim Maloney, Partner and Head of London Office
199 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3UT
1:15-1:45pm Short session on UK company and investor tax benefits
Speaker: Michael Cashman, Partner in the Tax Group, Dorsey & Whitney LLP
199 Bishopsgate
1:45-2:15pm Silicon Valley Bank: using a global metropolis to accelerate growth
Silicon Valley Bank helps innovative companies and their investors move bold ideas forward, fast. They provide a full range of financial services to companies of all sizes in innovation centers around the world. Forbes named SVB one of America’s best banks (2015) and one of America’s best-managed companies (2014). They opened their first UK branch in 2012 to help the UK's entrepreneurs meet and exceed their ambitious goals.
Speaker: Erin Platts, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Bank
199 Bishopsgate
2:15-2:30pm Coffee break
2:30-3:00pm The economic outlook for Europe
Speaker: Chief Economist to be confirmed
199 Bishopsgate
3:00pm Wrap up and program close
NORWEGIAN VENTURE CAPITAL & PRIVATE EQUITY ASSOCIATION (NVCA)
Additional anticipated shared expenses per delegate: £200Conference room rental, staffing, food & beverage, dinner 16th September, travel cost London - incubator visits, 17th September. The anticipated expenses will be charged to cover the actual cost.
