At CapitalOnStage top-tier investors present themselves to Europe’s finest startups. Capital On Stage takes place on the 24rd of April in London. As a Startup, you gain better insights into the way investors look at your market and which investors might be interested (and suitable!) for their company.

VCs

A wide variety of investors attend CapitalOnStage, ranging from to seed investors and well-known Venture Capitalists. All Startups that attend the conference have been hand-picked and can only join if they work on scalable web/tech businesses and are a (co)founder or CEO.

Stefan Glaenzer - Passion Capital	Richard Marsh - DFJesprit	Alexander Ribbink - Prime Ventures	Jeppe Zink - Northzone	Sitar Teli - Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
Sarik Weber - Hanse Ventures	Andrin Bachmann - Piton Capital	Jonathan Coker - MMC Ventures	Charlotte-Anne Nelson - Balderton Capital	Alex van Someren - Amadeus Capital
Jason Ball - Qualcomm Ventures	Chris Barchak - Fidelity Growth Partners Europe	Charles Grimsdale - Eden Ventures	Chris Kowalczyk - hardGAMMA Ventures	Paul Degueuse - 360° Capital Partners
Julian Carter - EC1 Capital	Dominique Megret - Swisscom Ventures	Dermot Berkery - Delta Partners

Program & open office hours

On stage, 2 entrepreneurs show how they raised capital. 20 Investors will present themselves: their views on the market, what they’re looking for and what they add besides money. In the morning, you’ll be able to book 15-minute meetings with investors and talk about anything you want: present your company, ask their advice, or anything else.

• April 24, 2012
  • 9:00 am - 12:00 pmOpen Office HoursBook private 15-minutes slots with the investors of your choice.
  • 12:30 pm - 2:00 pmDoors openLate Lunch
  • 2:00 pm - 2:15 pmOpening words by Arjen Strijker
  • 2:15 pm - 2:45 pmKeynote A: Vinay Guptaco-founder WhipCar.com
  • 2:45 pm - 3:15 pmCapital On Stage Round 1Five Investor Presentations
  • 3:15 pm - 3:25 pmStartups in the Spotlight
  • 3:25 pm - 3:55 pmCapital On Stage Round 2Five Investor presentations
  • 3:55 pm - 4:30 pmCoffee break
  • 4:30 pm - 5:00 pmKeynote B: George Berkowskico-founder Woome.com & HAILO – the Black Cab App.
  • 5:00 pm - 5:30 pmCapital On Stage Round 3Five Investor presentations
  • 5:30 pm - 5:40 pmStartups in the spotlight
  • 5:40 pm - 6:10 pmCapital On Stage Round 4Five Investor presentations
  • 6:10 pm - 6:30 pmCapital On Stage WinnersWinning 4 VCs announcement & Final VC Panel Session
  • 6:30 pm - 6:45 pmFinal words
  • 6:45 pm - 8:30 pmFood & drinks

Speakers

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  Vinay Gupta Co-FounderWhipCar.com

  WhipCar enables car owners to rent out their vehicles for money, whenever they are not using them. The company raised £1million in Venture Capital funding from Delta Partners in October 2009 and was at the forefront of the now popular Collaborative Consumption movement, which TIME recently named as "one of the 10 ideas that could change the world”. In 2010, WhipCar was named Best Cleantech startup in Europe by TechCrunch. Vinay is going to speak about  his experiences with VC's and investment, and more!
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  George Berkowski WOO.ME and Hailo – The Black Cab app

  George co-founded WooMe.com in 2007, an under his lead, WooMe built a reputation as one of the most innovative social dating and video chat sites on the web. The site grew to over 10 million users, offices in Los Angeles and London, substantial revenues and as a result was acquired by Zoosk.com (the world’s largest dating site with over 100 million users). George is currently the Head of Product for HAILO – the Black Cab App. HAILO is one of London’s fastest growing startups, already changing the face of taxi transportation in London, and expanding rapidly into numerous US and European cities. He is also Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum UK – a forum for leading entrepreneurs and thought leaders (including people like Ray Kurzweil, Guy Kawasaki, Niklas Zennstrom and many others). George holds a Masters in Business from Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris, and a Bachelors of Science in Aeronautics / Astronautics and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He's going to talk about his experiences with Venture Capitalists, the emotional process in getting funded, as well as why "eating your own dogfood" and honesty is so important in building web businesses today.

Getting There

Norton Rose [law firm headquarters]
3 More London Riverside
London – UK
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Sponsors

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  Diamond Sponsor 

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  Platinum Sponsor 

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  Gold Sponsor 

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  Gold Sponsor 

London 2012 Blog Posts

Flat-Club cooperates with Capital On Stage // Special discount!

Coming from out of town to Capital on Stage in London? Rather than stay in a hotel, check out options for booking a private flat or room on Flat-Club - you might even find a place with a fellow alumni from university! Flat-Club is a London grown start-up based at Google Campus that operates a short-term renting service for University communities and mobile young professionals. They have a variety of choice for London accommodation and are offering a special discount voucher for Capital on Stage guests. Click here to see current availability and enter discount code “CapitalonStageLondon2013” at checkout for a special discount. For any questions you can also contact their team directly at info@flat-club.com. Flat-Club participate of course at Capital On Stage London 2013, so say hello when we meet! Startups can still apply to Capital On Stage London (normal price of startup tickets are €125/GBP110). Apply here.

 

Swearing Humans & Sarcastic Robot Win Seedcamp

Because we're always keen to spread the love around when we hear good news from within the COS startup community, we're happy to announce that Seedcamp - a micro-seed fund and mentoring program - has invested €50k in BRANDiD (www.getbrandid.com). BRANDID is an online clothing service for men's designer basics. With a little help from some choice language and BRANDiD's proprietary robot M.A.L.E. (Masculine Algorithmic Learning Engine), the BRANDiD team's passionate and unique pitch won over the Seedcamp panel. The investment means that BRANDiD can continue on their mission to create the ultimate online destination, built from the pixel up – for men. You can keep up to speed on the founders adventures throughout the year via their blog (http://founders.getbrandid.com) where they’ll be giving the inside track on what it’s like to be a Seedcamp company. Commenting on today’s news, BRANDiD co-founder and CEO Ankush Sehgal said: “The Seedcamp team clearly believes we have the potential to grow a valuable brand in coming years, or perhaps they’re all in need of some new pants. We like to think it’s a bit of both.”

 

Video Summary London 2012

The 3minute video compilation of London 2012 is out! It's on the London 2012 "past event" page. On this page you'll also find an overview of all investor video pitches and all other Capital On Stage London event material.

 

Speakers London 2012 (April 24)

Both videos of the speakers at Capital On Stage in London (April 24, 2012):

George Berkowski - WOO.ME and Hailo - The Black Cab app

Vinay Gupta - Whipcar.com

 

VC Pitches London 2012 (April 24)

You can watch and browse all VC pitches of 5 minutes on our London 2012 Past Event page. Scroll up and down on the same page for all other information concerning London 2012.

 

Founders RiseArt & GetBrandid give out discounts

Two Founders at Capital On Stage London wanted to offer everyone who participated a big benefit, so if you're into affordable art and/or you're a man and you hate shopping but like new clothing, have a look at the discounts available to you below:

Brandid is is a subscription service for designer basics. Shirts, tees, pants, socks, the lot. Built from the pixel up for men. We provide the things men always need but hate having to spend their valuable time and hard earned cash shopping for.  Use the Capital on Stage discount code COSLON15 for 15% off your first delivery (valid till 31/05/2012). Visit www.getbrandid.com to get yourself BRANDiD.

 

It’s A Wrapup! Capital On Stage London 2012

The 2nd edition of Capital On Stage London 2012 is over and was another great success. This post gives a short summary of things, as well as information about what's next.

A BIG thank you goes to all the investors that were brave enough to stand on stage and pitch to the startup audience: 360 Capital Partners, Amadeus Capital, Balderton, Delta Partners, DFJesprit, Doughty Hanson, EC1 Capital, Eden ventures, Fidelity Growth Partners Europe, Hanse Ventures, hardGAMMA, Index Ventures, MMC Ventures, NorthZone, Passion Capital, Piton Capital, Prime Ventures, Qualcomm, and Swisscom Ventures.

This has to be said, because we have received plenty of rejections from investors. It is still uncommon in the VC business to stand up "in the spotlight". This event has brought us another step closer to the mission of Capital On Stage: To demystify venture capitalism.

One great tweet I found back in the hundreds of tweets summarises the event well. It came from Inma Martinez, an angel investor (one of our few special guests):

In the next 2 weeks you can expect all video and photo material of every investor pitch, founder 30-second spotlight pitches, and the Panel of the VC winners (Jeppe Zink of Northzone, Sitar Teli of Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, Stefan Glaenzer of Passion Capital, and Charlotte-Anne Nelson of Balderton).

We were also extremely happy with the guys from Drawnalism, who produced great visual illustrations during the entire event (they also drew the logo above)! All illustrations from investors and founders will be uploaded on this website shortly.

Last but not least, a special thank-you goes to our host Norton Rose, in particular Kerstin Maccana (Global Technology Headlight Coordinator at Norton Rose) who worked incredibly hard behind the scenes for weeks to prepare venue, catering, local team, and coordinate with our own team in the Netherlands and Switzerland !

Stay Tuned for the next event ! Nothing is planned yet, but people approach us for New York, Zurich, or Berlin for this fall... Anyway, Startup Founders can already signup here if you want to be kept informed about any future events in Europe and/or USA. Investors and Sponsors should get in touch with Arjen directly.

 

 

Last information about Capital On Stage

Less than 3 days before the conference! Here is some more information to answer questions that you might have. On Monday April 23, we'll host a pre-conference Meetup at the Draft House right at the Tower Bridge for all of you who fly in early. Here's a google maps overview. Reservations under "Capital On Stage" or "Arjen". We'll be there from 6pm onwards. Bring your friends along! On Tuesday April 24, the Open Office Hours starts at 9am. You have received the schedule of your appointments by email. Make sure you are on time, as the appointments are booked in tight. The main program starts at 2pm, after lunch. You can find the full program of the day here. If you are tweeting or posting about Capital On Stage, please use #coslon. And to read a bit more on the conference, The Kernel and The Equity Kicker wrote about us. The address of the venue : Norton Rose, 3 More London Riverside, London SE1 2AQ, United Kingdom. Google Maps Since there is a planned strike at the London Underground on Tuesday 24 April from 4PM onwards, please keep in mind that traveling might take a bit longer. See you on Tuesday April 24!

 

Northzone To Be Represented by Jeppe Zink – GM at Northzone

Unfortunately Lea Bajc of Northzone is not able to make it to the conference. But she is sending her colleague Jebbe Zink to take over. Jeppe Zink Jeppe Zink made the move from Amadeus to head up the Northzone London Office in early 2012. ”I might be a new kid to NZ, he smiles, "but it’s the same block for me, as I’ve been working here almost all along”. Jeppe Zink was born in Northern Jutland, Denmark, but left his native country as early as 1991 for Germany and the baccalaureat. ”Actually”, he explains, ”what I really wanted to do with my life early on was to work for the United Nations.” Having heard that what the would-be employer needed the most was people with business skills, the young Zink moved to England, Durham University for a combined bachelors in economics and politics, followed by a Masters in economy. ”Then I thought that I’ll get my arms around the financial side of things and joined an Investment Bank’s corporate finance unit.

 

Meet Norton Rose

Norton Rose Group is a leading international legal practice, and the host of Capital On Stage 2012. With more than 2900 lawyers, they offer a full business law service to many of the world’s pre-eminent financial institutions and corporations from offices in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Central Asia. Book a slot with them to get a better insight in legal matters and the market.

 

Piton Capital Joins Capital On Stage

We're very glad that Piton Capital could still make it to Capital On Stage London. They literally confirmed 10 minutes ago to occupy the penultimate Investor slot. Andrin Bachmann (Partner) will be the one representing Piton Capital on stage. Piton Capital was set up because the founders experienced first-hand the power of businesses that are based on network economics at Autotrader, Betfair and QXL Ricardo. Seeing their great niche, we really recommend those startup founder amongst our audience -that have a marketplace product- to sign up with them. We look forward to giving away our very last investor slot later today ! Stay tuned..

 

Moderators Announced

No great event can be executed without great moderators on board! This is why I happily announce our two moderators at Capital On Stage London: Rags Gupta and Scott Phillips.  I know Scott, because we both worked at Red Herring. Scott lives in London right now and is very busy with growing Rise Art, which is working out pretty well!  Rags is doing great things at Brightcove, but he also writes really well (e.g. he contributes regularly to GigaOm). We first met at a roofparty barbecue in Zurich. Rags is moderating the VC panel and Scott takes care of the Open Office Hours in the morning. Below their profiles: Rags is currently at a stealth mode startup that's soon to be revealed... Before that, he joined Brightcove as part of the founding executive team. He worked in a Sales/BD capacity, first in the US doing the first deals of the Company.  He then moved to London in '07 to open the UK office and roll out in EMEA (building team, direct sales, partner/channels, go-to-market/strategy).  Prior to Brightcove Rags was GM/COO at Live365 a web 1.0 internet radio network based in Silicon Valley and the first webcaster to reach profitability.  He is an Advisor/investor in several startups including Mocospace (a Softbank/General Catalyst-backed mobile social network) and 8tracks (internet radio, recently raised VC).  Rags is a frequent contributor to GiagOm, http://gigaom.com/?s=rags+gupta, and can also be found online at www.twitter.com/ragsgupta.

Scott Phillips is co-founder of Rise Art, the creative new way to own original art from acclaimed artists without the risk. An online subscription business, Rise Art art rentals allow anyone discover and try out framed art in there homes before they buy, with new releases each week.  Prior to starting Rise Art, Scott worked for media and online video firms including Red Herring, Microsoft and T5M/Rightster. Scott holds an MBA from London Business School, plays baseball on weekends and enjoys cooking & cycling in London. Scott can be found on twitter @smp We still have place for some startup founders. If you didn't sign up with us yet, request an invitation. See you next week Tuesday in London!

 

Fidelity Growth Partners & MMC Ventures on board for Capital On Stage London

We're happy to announce that the following investors have decided to also join Capital On Stage in London on April 24 at Norton Rose. Chris Barchak of Fidelity Growth Partners Europe: Chris joined Fidelity Growth Partners Europe in 2010 as a Principal. His investment interests include software, online and mobile services, as well as broad interests in energy and resource efficiency.

Jon joined MMC in 2007 and heads up their investment team. Jon will be doing the pitch on stage for MMC, while both Jon and Rory will host Open Office Hours.

Rory joined MMC in 2009 and is a senior member of the investment team.

The full bio's of MMC Ventures and Fidelity Growth Partners can be found  here. It's not too late to request an invitation for Capital On Stage London. Request an invite via this URL.

 

Amazon Web Services Occupies Last Sponsor Slot at Capital On Stage London 2012

Today we announce that Amazon Web Services (AWS) is sponsoring Capital On Stage London as a Gold Sponsor. AWS is a collection of remote computing services that together make up a cloud computing platform, offered over the Internet by Amazon.com.

 

Balderton Capital joins Capital On Stage

Just two weeks to go until Capital On Stage London takes place, we happily announce today that Charlotte-Anne Nelson of Balderton Capital occupies one of our last of the 20 investor slots. She also did a great job at the very first Capital On Stage in Amsterdam last year.   Charlotte-Anne Nelson is Principal at Balderton, but until recently she headed Operations for Massive Incorporated, theworld’s first provider of dynamic advertising in video games. You can check out the profile of Balderton Capital and Charlotte-Anne's bio here. In case you haven't signed up yet, request an invite to join Capital On Stage in London on April 24 here.  

 

PayPal joins as Platinum Sponsor

We happily announce that today PayPal confirmed to be the Capital On Stage London 2012 Platinum Sponsor. PayPal Europe was looking for a new way to scout for innovation for adoption purposes, looking for new interesting technologies that could create new scenarios for PayPal. Besides that, they are really keen to be closer to great Startups. PayPal representatives will also join the Open Office Hours, which means that you - the Startup Founder - can book a one-on-one meeting with them, just like with an investor. So, if your startup offers a direct solution that is/will disrupt today's standards in e-commerce, online payment, mobile, or any related sub-sector, you might really want to consider signing up with them. Now that our Sponsor slots are nearly sold-out, we're another step closer to creating a great event. We're definitely looking forward to it! If you are the Founder of an Internet Startup and you're ready to get funded, you can still apply for an invitation today!

 

Qualcomm Ventures Joins Capital On Stage

With less than 3 weeks until Capital On Stage will take place, we will gradually announce individual investors to fill the last of in total 20 available investor seats. Today we're happy to announce another US investment firm: Qualcomm Ventures, and no one less than Jason Ball who is the Senior Investment Manager of Qualcomm Ventures Europe. Although Jason clearly suffered from a severe jetlag (he just returned to London from their HQ in San Diego) we had a nice phone conversation. He likes the idea of the reverse pitching, because it makes things more transparent. Jason is also looking forward to getting to know new cutting-edge companies that are / will soon be disrupting the (growth of the) wireless market. On a more personal level, he's curious to find out how the other investors will position themselves on stage. "How is one firm different from the other?" Soon we'll be announcing the Open Office Hours schedule, so you - the Startup Founder- can book individual meetings with 2 VCs of your choice. For those Startup Founders who did not yet sign up for Capital On Stage in London on April 24, you can still request an invitation here, but we're receiving on average 8+ invitations per day right now... so please hurry!

 

Startups Elect VC winners At Capital On Stage – Unconventional in Every Way

Last year at the first Capital On Stage we were called "unconventional" by the media many times. Now - at our 2nd event in London on April 24 - we take things one step up by allowing each of the 200 participating Startup Founders to vote for their favorite Investor ! After each round of investor presentations (see agenda, rounds start at 2.45pm, 3.25pm, 5pm & 5.40pm) every Startup Founder will be asked to vote for the investor they liked best. This way 4 VC winners are democratically elected by our audience. Besides being able to call themselves a CapitalOnStage Winner, these 4 investors have won a seat on the final VC panel session that starts at 6.10pm (topic tbd). Here's an overview of all investors that have been announced.  If you're a Startup Founder with an Internet business and you're ready to get funded, request an invitation if you haven’t done so yet.    

 

More Investors Announced!

The next 5 investors that will pitch at Capital On Stage in London have been announced! Each investor has been carefully briefed about his / her pitch in front of you, the startup founder. Partners and (co)founders of Passion Capital, EC1 Capital, Eden Ventures, Delta Partners and 360 Capital Partners will present themselves and their views on the market, their added value and what they are looking for in you and your firm. If you didn't request an invite yet, but you want to hear their story, it's still not too late to request an invite for Capital On Stage in London on April 24!

 

Welcoming Google

Today we're happy to announce that Google will again join us as a Sponsor, which means for all the startup founders who have received an invitation to Capital On Stage in London next month that they can choose to also book one of their 15minute one-on-one Open Office Hours meetings with the Google New Business Development Team. From the Google Online Advertising Solutions Team, founders can expect Strategic Online Marketing Advice for their Startup. They want to provide promising start-ups with a customized marketing growth program with exclusive services.  Also, they would like to discuss the potential of your business and provide you with the best possible online marketing strategy (focusing on Search, GDN, YouTube and Mobile). Google will be present at Capital on Stage with two experienced online marketing experts and look forward to discuss the future of your business. For more information go to Sponsors and Partners

 

Capital On Stage London – Inside The Venue 

For event organizers everything starts with a great venue and a key sponsor. That's why we're very happy with law firm Norton Rose, who is this years' host of Capital On Stage. They decided to sponsor Capital On Stage as they were looking for a trusted physical source of innovation, to connect directly with selected tech startup founders and the investment community. To give you an insight on how great this event will be, we want to give you a brief explanation about the space: Right next to the famous Tower Bridge with a view over the Thames, the Norton Rose headquarters consist of a significant conference center, which is entirely reserved for Capital On Stage on April 24. On top of that, we will host the Open Office Hours - like before - in an informal setting. The conference center consists of an auditorium with a stage and has several flatscreens throughout the entire space that show live what is happening. We know that work is never done, so we have also opted to insert a dedicated work area, which has power sockets, tables and coffee. For those of you who don't feel like working but want to network with people in a fun way; try the gaming area! With some Wii's hooked up on the screen and multiple games to choose from, we are confident you will have a good time. For the Open Office Hours in the morning, lunch and drinks afterwards, there will be a separate space with a great view over the Thames. Request an invitation if you haven't done so yet. If you did, but haven't heard back from us yet, please bear with us, because we receive quite a substantial amount of applications. See you on Tuesday April 24!

 

Investors announced

Last week we've announced the first 9 Investors that will attend Capital On Stage in London. Each investor has been carefully briefed about his / her pitch in front of you, the startup founder. DFJesprit, Swisscom Ventures, hardGAMMA, NorthZone, Prime Ventures, Hanse Ventures, Index Ventures, Doughty Hanson, and Amadeus Capital will all present themselves in under 5 minutes. They'll discuss their views on the market, their added value, and what they're exactly looking for in you, and your firm. Request an invite today for Capital On Stage in London on April 24 if you didn't apply yet.

 

Poll: which VC has the best reputation in Europe?

People often ask me which VCs have the best reputation in Europe, or who is most approachable to get in touch with. While these are super subjective questions, I thought to ask you, all the startups who visit CapitalOnStage.com, for your opinion. This is an open poll, so please ask your friends to do the same to get the most reliable answer. Thanks! Arjen

 

Second Speaker Announcement

Yesterday we already announced George Berkowski of Woome.com as one of our 2 speakers at the upcoming Capital On Stage in London. Now we also gladly inform you that our 2nd speaker is going to be  Vinay Gupta, co-founder of the popular WhipCar.com ! WhipCar enables car owners to rent out their vehicles for money, whenever they are not using them. The company raised £1million in Venture Capital funding from Delta Partners in October 2009 and was at the forefront of the now popular Collaborative Consumption movement, which TIME recently named as "one of the 10 ideas that could change the world”. In 2010, WhipCar was named Best Cleantech startup in Europe by TechCrunch. Vinay is going to speak about  his experiences with VC's and investment, and more! Apply for an invite today if you're seeking funding for your tech startup!

 

Speaker Announcement

We proudly announce that George Berkowski is going to be our Speaker at Capital On Stage in London. He's going to talk about his experiences with Venture Capitalists, the emotional process in getting funded, as well as why "eating your own dogfood" and honesty is so important in building web businesses today.

 

Capital On Stage Partners With SeedCamp & Techhub

Today we gladly announce our renewed partnership with both SeedCamp and Techhub.

Both startup incubators will team up with us for our upcoming Capital On Stage in London! Their role is clear: to spread the word around Capital On Stage to the hottest tech startups at this moment! As we've decided that the upcoming conference in London should have less Partners on board than last time, we wanted to only invite those accelerators and incubators with the biggest local reputation.

Techhub is a community and workspace for tech startups in London. They've created an affordable and accessible community space that reflects the vibrancy of the technology scene, bringing together the right people in one place.

Seedcamp is a mentoring and investment program for early stage Startups. The program is known for engaging its startups through the monthly Seedcamp Events, a physical place where young entrepreneurs present their companies, network, receive mentoring, and compete for investment by Seedcamp. If you're a technology Startup Founder, and you're ready to get funded, apply for an invite today!

 

IMPORTANT: CapitalOnStage 2012 London date has changed!

IMPORTANT: The date for the upcoming Capital On Stage conference in London, initially planned on Monday 23 April, has been rescheduled to Tuesday 24 April. Don't forget to clear your browser history / cookies to see the updated date, in case you've visited our site before. See you in London on Tuesday April 24.

 

CapitalOnStage comes to the city of London!

Today we gladly announce that the 2nd Capital On Stage will take place in the city of London on Tuesday April 24. Check the latest news on Facebook. You can only join if you're a Founder of an Internet Startup, and you need to be launched / near launch but really ready to get funding! If you’re new to Capital On Stage, check out our 3 minute impression video and the list of Venture Capitalists that attended at last year’s event in Amsterdam. This time we'll also add a competition component to let you, the startups, vote for the VC with the best pitch! For now, save the date for April 24 and request an invitation today! Announcements of attending VC's and speakers will follow soon. Arjen