The second TechCrunch Disrupt Europe will take place from 18-21st October 2014 in London and will see the first outing of the Google Ventures team in Europe. There’s still time to grab an early bird ticket before they sell out.
Earlier this year Google announced it was launching a branch of its venture capital investment arm in London. Google Ventures Europe will have an initial fund of $100 million to invest in “the best ideas from the best European entrepreneurs.” The news is big for the European tech ecosystem.
But although the names associated with it are well known in Europe, we have not yet seen them all together to explain how they will operate this new fund in Europe. But at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe we will see the whole team on stage at once.
The new European branch has five general partners: Eze Vidra, who set up Google Campus in London; serial entrepreneur Tom Hulme; long-time UK angel investor and adviser Peter Read; Avid Larizadeh, the head of the UK arm of code.org and co-founder of Bottica.com. Google Ventures has also brought over MG Siegler, but while he’ll be appearing on the Disrupt stage he’s just over to support the team for the launch.
Before joining Google Ventures Eze Vidra, was best known for being the head of Google for Entrepreneurs Europe and Google’s Campus London co-working space and startup hub.
Before Campus, Eze spearheaded Google’s commerce strategic partnerships in EMEA, launching Google Shopping in Spain and Local Shopping in the UK, among other projects. In the years before joining Google, Eze held product management leadership roles at Shopping.com in Israel, Gerson Lehrman Group in New York, Ask.com in Silicon Valley, and AOL Europe in London, where he was the principal product manager for Search in EMEA. In 2003, Eze co-founded a startup in Israel, developing text-input technology for mobiles.
In 2005, Eze founded VC Cafe, a highly regarded venture capital blog shining a spotlight on Israeli startups. In 2012, he founded Techbikers, a not-for-profit cycling community that has fundraised to start a school and 20 libraries for children in the developing world. Eze serves as an advisory board member of BBC Worldwide Labs and is a trustee of StartupWeekend Europe.
Tom Hulme was previously Design Director at IDEO in London, the world-renowned design consultancy. A serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Tom is also a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and was listed in WIRED UK’s top 100 “digital power brokers”. Tom founded OpenIDEO, IDEO’s open innovation platform and presently has over 30,000 users from more than 170 countries.
In 1998, he joined British sports-car manufacturer Marcos, where he became managing director and transformed the loss-making company into a profitable enterprise by diversifying the company into race and road cars. He sold the company in 1999. In 2000, he founded Fluid Conditioning Systems to commercialize the Magnom, a patented magnetic filtration innovation system, now used in a diverse range of industries, including Formula 1. Current customers include Ducati, Fernox, Ferrari F1, and JCB. He oversaw expansion of the company’s operations to the United States.
Peter Read is an angel investor and/or advisor to an enormous number of startups, including Citymapper, GetYourGuide, GoEuro, MindCandy and has invested alongside top tier investors such as Accel, Balderton, Benchmark, Greylock, Index, Northzone, Octopus, Passion, basically you name it. Please read his Crunchbase page – it’s a who’s who of companies.
Before joining Google Ventures, Avid Larizadeh cofounded Boticca, the luxury bazaar of fashion accessories. Prior to Boticca, Avid worked in Paris alongside the CEO and founder of Altavia, an independent global marketing communications group specialised in retail businesses. Prior to that she was at Accel Partners in London where she focused primarily on software and Internet investments. She was involved with Gameforge, Mind Candy, MyThings, Spreadshirt and Wonga.
Before joining Accel Partners in 2006, Avid worked in a number of product management roles at Skype, eBay, and Tellme Networks (acquired by Microsoft). At Skype, she created and implemented usability processes across departments and facilitated the strategic migration from early adopters to mainstream customers. At eBay, Avid launched eBay’s first global online selling tools, Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro.
She also led the design and launch of eBay’s Picture Services, a $40 million per year revenue generating business in 13 countries. Avid earned her BS and MS in engineering at Stanford University and she also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Avid is a Mayfield Fellow and a Kauffman Fellow.
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.
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