Peter Fenton is one of the hardest-working investors in venture capital and his latest portfolio company Docker has taken the enterprise software world by storm — and there’s no better opportunity to get insights from Fenton and Docker Chief Technology Officer and founder Solomon Hykes on the evolution of enterprise software and the business of venture capital than from our stage at Disrupt Europe.
TechCrunch Disrupt Europe will take place from 18-21st October 2014 in London. Over the weekend we’ll have a free hackathon, which you can apply for here.
Docker containers have become the go-to technology for building and running distributed applications. Every major cloud vendor has gotten behind the Docker project over the last few months and Docker itself raised $40 million in new funding in mid-September, because, well… why the hell not? That round came on top of a $15 million investment in the beginning of the year, which the company has barely touched.
The idea behind containers is that developers can more easily deploy and scale their applications on different servers and in different clouds, which is becoming increasingly important as data centers become increasingly distributed.
For Fenton, Docker is just the latest in a long, long string of software investments reshaping the way computing is 
done in the enterprise. The man who has climbed to number three on the Forbes Midas List thanks to investment in companies like Twitter and Yelp, is also an investor in Hortonworks, which is focused on software and services for distributed computing based on hadoop.
One could argue that with Fenton’s other investments in companies like Zendesk, a provider of on-demand customer support; and New Relic, which provides application management services on-demand; he’s working with companies that are at the forefront of a new revolution in enterprise computing. Fenton began his career as a consultant with Bain before moving to Accel Partners, where he worked for seven years before moving to Benchmark in 2006.
TECHCRUNCH DISRUPT EUROPE
The Disrupt conference in London kicks off with the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon from 18th to 19th October, followed by two days of on-stage interviews and panels with some of the biggest names in technology.
TechCrunch Disrupt Europe will also bring the Startup Battlefield and Startup Alley to London.
Startup Battlefield competitors pitch their companies live and on stage to innovators, investors and influencers in the tech community. TechCrunch identifies emerging companies to demo and compete for a prize of £30,000 and the coveted Disrupt Cup. Last year Lock8, the London and Berlin-based startup behind the world’s first smart bike lock, was the winner and has gone on to launch its product.
Previous Battlefield competitions have launched companies such as Dropbox, Mint.com, Yammer and Fitbit.
Startup Alley offers another way for early-stage companies to gain exposure with a format that encourages both exhibiting and networking, as well as high visibility. Roughly 200 invited startups make up Startup Alley with companies showcasing on the Monday and Tuesday of the event.
Find all the latest information on the Disrupt Europe website.
Grab a ticket and before they sell out.
To request media accreditation, email tcdisruptlondon [ @ ] balloupr.com
To sponsor the event, see here.
If you want to volunteer during the conference then email volunteer [ @ ] beta.techcrunch.com
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