
EAIS 2023
Speakers
Keynote speakers

Alessandro Tappi
Chief Investment Officer at European Investment FundAlessandro Tappi is the Chief Investment Officer at the European Investment Fund (EIF), responsible for the investments in venture capital and private equity funds, as well as stru...Read More
Alessandro Tappi
Chief Investment Officer at European Investment Fund
Erick Yong
Co-Founder at Zeitec Investment OfficeErick Yong is an accomplished investor and venture builder who has dedicated his career to empowering African startups. Fueled by a deep-seated commitment to the continent's growth...Read More
Erick Yong
Co-Founder at Zeitec Investment Office
Dr. Gianluigi Baldesi
Head of Ventures and Financing Office at ESAWith 20+ years of business and technology leadership experience for future aerospace missions in a cross-cultural environment, he has served several positions in the Technical and ...Read More
Dr. Gianluigi Baldesi
Head of Ventures and Financing Office at ESA
Selma Prodanovic
Vice President at EBANNamed Startup-Grande-Dame by the media and elected “TOP 100: Europe’s most influential women in the startup & VC space” in 2022, Selma is an internationally celebrated ke...Read More
Selma Prodanovic
Vice President at EBAN
Laurence Gillois
Deputy Director at UN Women Brussels OfficeLaurence Gillois is the Acting Head of UN Women Brussels Office. She has held several positions within the office, including as the deputy director and as a programme and partnersh...Read More
Laurence Gillois
Deputy Director at UN Women Brussels Office
Michal Kosina
Senior Officer, Mandate Management – Equity at European Investment Fund (EIF)Michal is responsible for the management of several EIF-advised investment programmes, particularly the multi-country Central Europe Fund of Funds, the European Angels Fund and VC ...Read More
Michal Kosina
Senior Officer, Mandate Management – Equity at European Investment Fund (EIF)
Kerstin Jorna
Director General at DG GROWKerstin Jorna is Director General of Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW).
She is a German national and a civil servant at the Eur...Read More
Kerstin Jorna
Director General at DG GROW
Janneke Niessen
Co-founder at CapitalTJanneke is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, board member and mentor for startups and co-founder of CapitalT, a VC fund that invests in technology companies using proprietary ...Read More
Janneke Niessen
Co-founder at CapitalT
Gabriele Mazzini
Team Leader AI Act at DG CNECTAs officer of the European Commission since August 2017, Gabriele has focused on legal and policy questions raised by new technologies. In that role, he contributed to shaping and ...Read More
Gabriele Mazzini
Team Leader AI Act at DG CNECT
Tomi Davies
Collaborator-in-Chief at TVC LabsHarry ‘Tomi Davies (TD) is Collaborator-in-Chief (CiC)' at TVC Labs, an entrepreneurship support organisation working with technology-enabled innovation in Lagos, Nigeria which h...Read More
Tomi Davies
Collaborator-in-Chief at TVC Labs
Christer Fuglesang
Swedish physicist and astronautChrister Fuglesang is a Swedish physicist and astronaut, the first Swedish citizen in space.
Fuglesang earned a master’s degree in engineering physics from the Royal Institute...Read More
Christer Fuglesang
Swedish physicist and astronautSpeakers

Cheyenne Lake
Sales & Customer Success Lead at bunchCheyenne is leading sales and customer success at bunch, the OS for private market investments. The bunch platform makes navigating private markets easy, cost-efficient & fast ...Read More
Cheyenne Lake
Sales & Customer Success Lead at bunch
Giorgio Chiarion Casoni
Director of Directorate L at InvestEU and financial institutions, DG Economic and Financial Affairs, European CommissionGiorgio Chiarion Casoni, Director of Directorate L – InvestEU and financial institutions, DG Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission.
Giorgio Chiarion Casoni devel...Read More
Giorgio Chiarion Casoni
Director of Directorate L at InvestEU and financial institutions, DG Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission
Christine Bjärkby
Member of the Board at EBANChristine has a broad experience from business development worldwide from large public global companies, as Electrolux, Saab to small start-up companies and representative for loca...Read More
Christine Bjärkby
Member of the Board at EBAN
Hüseyin R. Demirhisar
Founding CEO at BiD Capital PartnersHüseyin R. Demirhisar, a luminary in emerging markets with a specific focus on Africa, impact investment, asset management, and finance, brings over 25 years of seasoned experienc...Read More
Hüseyin R. Demirhisar
Founding CEO at BiD Capital Partners
Ted Elvhage
Founding Partner at RymdkapitalTed has over 20 years of investor experience in early stage and scale-up companies in Sweden, Norway, USA and Taiwan, and has a solid network in Europe and Silicon Valley.
His p...Read More
Ted Elvhage
Founding Partner at Rymdkapital
Stefania Quaini
Managing Director at Angels4WomenMaster's degree in Economy and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities at Ca' Foscari University in Venice completed with an in-field study on young European designers and craft...Read More
Stefania Quaini
Managing Director at Angels4Women
Rita Sakus
Board member at Lithuanian Business Angel NetworkRita Sakus is an active business angel investor, board member & advisor in innovative start-ups and is one of the founding members and currently proud board member of best perf...Read More
Rita Sakus
Board member at Lithuanian Business Angel Network
Anna Magiera
Executive Partner at ICLUBAnna has over 15 years of corporate, venture, and startup experience and a vast business and investor network in the CEE region. She worked as a part of EY, and PwC advisory practi...Read More
Anna Magiera
Executive Partner at ICLUB
Martynas Kandzeras
Chairman of the Board at JUNICORNS Endowment FundMartynas has over 19 years of experience in establishing and growing business ventures across Europe. He holds board positions in various companies and NGOs, with a keen emphasis o...Read More
Martynas Kandzeras
Chairman of the Board at JUNICORNS Endowment Fund
Alex Farcet
Partner at RainmakingAlex Farcet is a partner at global innovation and venture building firm Rainmaking. He leads the Rainmaking Impact syndicate, a group of 2.100 individuals co-investing with VCs in ...Read More
Alex Farcet
Partner at Rainmaking
Viktorija Trimbel
Managing Director at Coinvest Capital, Board Member at LitBANViktorija Trimbel manages EUR 25,5 million early-state venture capital fund Coinvest Capital, mandated to co-invest into promising Lithuanian startups and strengthening business an...Read More
Viktorija Trimbel
Managing Director at Coinvest Capital, Board Member at LitBAN
Simone De Toni
Growth Manager at LEVASimone has a business background with a strong focus on entrepreneurship. He has graduated in Business Administration from the University of Trieste and has completed an MSc in Inn...Read More
Simone De Toni
Growth Manager at LEVA
Rešad Začina
Co-founder and co-CEO at Ministry of ProgrammingRešad Začina is a founder, product leader, and investor focused on innovation and startups. After a software engineering career where he managed to work on 3 of the top 50 startu...Read More
Rešad Začina
Co-founder and co-CEO at Ministry of Programming
Barbara Belvisi
Founder and CEO at Interstellar Lab
Erik Ehasoo
Creative Strategist, Project Lead at CIVITTAErik Ehasoo is a creative innovation leader who has built and launched new businesses in both large companies as well as a startup entrepreneur for 9 years. He is currently leading...Read More
Erik Ehasoo
Creative Strategist, Project Lead at CIVITTA
Daniela Haunstein
Managing Director at invest.austria
Merete Clausen
Director for Investment at DG GROWMerete Clausen, Director for Investment in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). The Directorate is th...Read More
Merete Clausen
Director for Investment at DG GROW
Janne Jormalainen
Entrepreneur and angel investor, President of EBANJanne Jormalainen is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He is active in the angel investment scene in Northern Europe, he has invested to over thirty high tech and education...Read More
Janne Jormalainen
Entrepreneur and angel investor, President of EBAN
Andrew Crawford
Head of Finance at Founder InstituteAndrew is currently the Head of Finance at the Founder Institute, overseeing global financial, legal and asset management strategies for the accelerator. Additionally, as the Manag...Read More
Andrew Crawford
Head of Finance at Founder Institute
Kambis Kohansal Vajargah
Head of Startup-Services at WKÖKambis Kohansal Vajargah is the Head of Startup-Services at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. He is also the founding partner of several startup companies, incl. Carployee, Fr...Read More
Kambis Kohansal Vajargah
Head of Startup-Services at WKÖ
Guillen Lopez
Founder at Discovery VenturesGuillen has an interdisciplinary background, with over 15 years of experience in venture
capital, technology, and life sciences entrepreneurship. Before transitioning to venture...Read More
Guillen Lopez
Founder at Discovery Ventures
Fadilah Tchoumba
CEO at African Business Angel NetworkFadilah Tchoumba is CEO at ABAN and the fund manager for Catalytic Africa, a matching fund for early stage startups in Africa. Before joining ABAN, Fadilah managed investment portf...Read More
Fadilah Tchoumba
CEO at African Business Angel Network
Keith Ippel
CEO and Co-Founder at SpringWith over 25 years experience, Keith is a serial entrepreneur and impact leader. Keith co-founded Spring Activator, a Vancouver based organization that exists to change the w...Read More
Keith Ippel
CEO and Co-Founder at Spring
Audra Shallal
Board Member at EBANA bilingual (English, French) American national and French Resident received her International Business and International Economics degrees from the American University of Paris (A...Read More
Audra Shallal
Board Member at EBAN
Nina Dremelj
President at Business Angels of SloveniaNina Dremelj is the president of Business Angels of Slovenia. Her greatest passion is to help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into real, successful businesses. In last 5 years she i...Read More
Nina Dremelj
President at Business Angels of Slovenia
Maria Hala
Business Angel, Head Startups’ Cluster at ICC WOMEN HELLASMaria Hala is a senior strategist consultant and an angel investor. She has been concentrated on the expansion of the Greek technologically innovative startups’ ecosystem and on ...Read More
Maria Hala
Business Angel, Head Startups’ Cluster at ICC WOMEN HELLAS
Cyril Golub
Chairman of the Board at Latvian Business Angels NetworkCyril is a venture capital professional and well-known business angel in Baltic countries. In 2023, Cyril was awarded as a Business Angel of the Year in Latvia. Co-founder of two b...Read More
Cyril Golub
Chairman of the Board at Latvian Business Angels Network
Steven Laken
CEO at ACISteve is President and CEO of Advise Connect Inspire, LLC (ACI), a strategic consulting firm formed in 2018. ACI operates a European Accelerator called GOLDTRACK. The program is a ...Read More
Steven Laken
CEO at ACI
YeSeul Kim
Founder and CEO at Constitute MetaYeSeul Kim is a Korean American serial entrepreneur based in Treviso, Italy. She graduated from MIT with degrees in Urban Planning. Her career has spanned across multiple industrie...Read More
YeSeul Kim
Founder and CEO at Constitute Meta
Tomas S. Jonsson
CASSINI Space Entrepreneurship Initiative at European Commission
Polona Cigoj
Policy Officer at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN).Polona Cigoj is a Policy Officer at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). She is mainly involved in work on the InvestEU Porta...Read More
Polona Cigoj
Policy Officer at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN).
Ricardo Luz
Founder & Partner at Gestluz Consultores, Matching VenturesFounder of Gestluz, Invicta Angels and FNABA. Board Member of EBAN and member of the Fiscal Council of 321 Crédito. A former member of the Board of Directors at Instituição Fina...Read More
Ricardo Luz
Founder & Partner at Gestluz Consultores, Matching Ventures
Jaak Ennuste
Senior Managing Partner at Elevator Startups
Leo Largillet
President at Junior Enterprises Europe
Angelo Dalli
Director at 111 HoldingsAngelo Dalli is a serial entrepreneur with involvement in a number of companies in the Technology, Entertainment and Gaming industries. Since the late nineties he has distinguished...Read More
Angelo Dalli
Director at 111 Holdings
Candace Johnson
President Emeritus at EBANCandace Johnson - Chair of Advisory Board and Partner of Seraphim Space Fund, Founding Vice Chair and Member of the Board of NorthStar Earth and Space, and Non-Executive Director a...Read More