TechCrunch Startup Battlefield is headed to VivaTech in Paris on May 24th to find and feature the best early-stage startup across Europe! In partnership with VivaTech, Startup Battlefield Europe will feature startups from across continental Europe working on the cutting-edge technologies blooming this Spring. VivaTech is the perfect spot to host our Startup Battlefield Europe competition as founders, business leaders, investors, academics, students, and media from Europe and around the world will descend on Paris to preview the future.
So, we are bringing some fantastic investors and founders along to judge the startups. Here’s our first round of judges to be announced, and there’s more to come!
Sia Houchangnia, Seedcamp
Sia is a Partner at Seedcamp, the European seed fund that has invested in over 250 groundbreaking startups including the likes of fintech unicorn Transferwise, Revolut, UiPath and wefox. Sia sources world-class founders for Seedcamp to invest from across the continent and supports portfolio companies as they go from pre-seed to Series A and beyond. Sia has a pan-European background, growing up in Switzerland before then studying in Spain and the UK. He holds a MSc in International Management from ESADE Business School. Before joining Seedcamp, he gained experience crunching numbers and analysing data in large financial services companies such as EY and UBS Asset Management. Sia has invested in hundreds of companies at pre-seed and seed stages across Seedcamp’s diverse portfolio and has a particular interest in Fintech, blockchain and more generally businesses that smartly leverage data to shake up large, old-fashioned industries. In 2018, Forbes included Sia in its “30 Under 30 Europe” list in the category finance.
Mounia Rkha, ISAI
Mounia started her career in the VC industry in 2008 with Ventech. She moved to Morocco in 2011 to co-found and manage Mydeal, one of the first group buying sites in Maghreb. Back to Paris, she joined Schibsted Growth, the corporate venture fund of the Schibsted Group (owner of the successful classifieds site LeBonCoin). She joined ISAI in June 2015 to manage the Seed Club activity. Mounia is also a co-founder of StartHer, an organization that aims at promoting entrepreneurship by women.
Jean de La Rochebrochard, Kima Ventures
In charge of Kima Ventures, the venture capital arm of Xavier Niel (founder of Free, 42, Station F). Investing in about 100 new startups every year, managing a portfolio of 600+ companies to date. Board Member at Zenly, Sourced, Ibanfirst, Forest Admin, Payfit and Side.
Rouven Dresselhaus, Cavalry Ventures
Rouven Dresselhaus is Founding and Managing Partner of Cavalry Ventures. He has a deep understanding of the digital economy and simultaneously, Rouven possesses strong ties to the old economy as he grew up closely connected to his family’s business, Dresselhaus GmbH & Co KG, one of the largest providers of screws and fastening parts in Europe. Other than taking the Founders Pledge, he is an avid supporter of and donor for YUNUS Social Business to generate sustainable social impact. Further, Rouven is a regular speaker on several important events and conferences such as Heureka, Wolves Summit, NGIN Mobility, IdeaLab!, EBSpreneurship Forum and the Familienunternehmer-Kongress. He is also a mentor at a number of different accelerator programs like Techstars, Techstars SAP.io, next logistics accelerator and the Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator. Prior to Cavalry, Rouven invested privately in more than 35 startups worldwide.
Alice Zagury, The Family
Alice Zagury is co-founder and CEO of TheFamily, a company dedicated to supporting and promoting the startup ecosystem in France. Passionate about art and a graduate from business school, she did art gallery internships before meeting tech entrepreneurs. She understands that the creators of technological solutions are the ones who will be able to impact and change the world. Alice Zagury is passionate about the tech world and created the Le Camping incubator. In 2013, she founded The Family with Oussama Ammar and Nicolas Colin. To date, The Family has supported more than 350 startups, whose total value exceeds one billion euro.
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