The Tech Tour 2017 European Venture Contest Final (EVC Final) opens today for its 11th edition in Düsseldorf, welcoming over 350 participants and 120 European startups from across Europe selected as the best presenters in their categories and regions to compete for a position in the top 20 European startups in cleantech, digital tech and healthtech.
The EVC Final is the culmination of 18 qualifying events that took place in 2017 across Europe and across sectors, of which there were 1250+ applying companies, 600+ investors acting as selecting jury members, 600+ semi-finalists, and 125 finalists who will present to panels of investors in Dusseldorf over the course of 2 days.
The presenting companies cover 20 tech sessions over 3 tracks including cleantech (photonics, energy transition, materials and manufacturing, circular economy, foodtech, smart cities and mobility, and industry 4.0), digital tech (internet and media, B2B enterprise solutions, speech tech and context awareness, fintech, legal tech, and SaaS B2C), and healthtech (online hospitals and digital health, connected health, biotech, medical devices, therapeutics, digital imaging and digital health, and diagnostics).
Between 2011 and 2016, 621 companies presented at past editions of the European Venture Contest and a total of 111 companies from 27 countries raised over €505,000,000 in funding, through 162 funding rounds, with an average of €3,110,000 per funding round. Past presenting EVC winners include Voiceable who will return to the EVC Final this year to participate in funding rounds and discussion sessions.
The EVC Final 2017 is organised around the theme of “Scaling up investment and growth” and the programme includes:
- Presentations sessions by the top 120+ companies selected as finalists through regional European Venture Forums
- CEO Collaborative Academy for presenting CEOs to dry-run their pitches
- Over 350 people attending of which 120+ are Europe’s most active venture capital and corporate investors
- 4 master class sessions led by investor and industry experts covering:
- Public Funding (led by Barbara Bendaoud and Hans Houf, PNO Innovation)
- Term Sheets – Levelling the playing field and current trends in Germany, the UK & the US (led by Sven Greulich and Stacy Kim, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe)
- Deal terms – how to make it to California (led by Matteo Daste and Olivier Edwards, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe)
- Scale up your leadership (led by Paul Webber, 3k)
- 3 deep dive sessions in
- “Trends and disruptions” moderated by Paul Gillespie (Gillamor Stephens) featuring speakers Pavel Bogdanov (Almaz Capital Partners), Gabriele Dini (Breed Reply), and Deborah Magid (IBM Venture Capital Group)
- “Online hospital” moderated by Roop Chandwani (Aggio Sergeant) featuring speakers Janke J. Dittmer (Gilde Healthcare Partners), Sarah Fisher (Johnson & Johnson Innovation), and Erik Janssen (UCB)
- “AI Speech Tech” moderated by Rick Salmon (Voiceable) featuring speakers Jean-Michel Chardon (Logitech), Christian Dugast (DFKI) and Philippe Laval (Jolt Capital)
- Exhibitor tables for entrepreneurs attending to present their projects and achievements
- Welcome speech by Thomas Geisel (City of Dusseldorf)
- Keynote speech by Claas Heise (NRW Bank)
- Fireside chat presenting “Building a world-class tech leader – the Newion Investment case of Collibra” with Rick Salmon (Voiceable) and Patrick Polak (Newion Investments Management)
- Partner elevator pitches with Romain Bouttier (European Innovation Council - SME Instrument), Tom Braekeleirs (BlueHealth Innovation Center), Peter Doyle (ACTPHAST), Stacy Kim (Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe), and Michael Schatzschneider (Euronext Germany)
- Networking dinner to honour entrepreneurs with sector focused tables to allow for more targeted networking
- EVC Final Award Ceremony to name Europe’s best high growth potential technology companies
Confirmed investors include: Airbus Ventures, BASF, Earlybird Venture Capital, Evonik Venture Capital, Henkel Venture Capital, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, NRW Bank, Omnes Capital, Peppermint Venture Partners, Qualcomm Life, and Robert Bosch Venture Capital.
The EVC Final 2017 is proudly supported by Global Partner Orrick and Host Partners the City of Dusseldorf, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Digitization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Gold Partner NRW Bank, Bronze Partners Logitech, BioCampus Cologne, Euronext, Horizon 2020 SME Instrument, Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Business in Antwerp, Statkraft and Sonae IM, Industry Support Partners European Young Innovators Forum, High-Tech Gruderfonds, the International Cleantech Network, Private Equity Forum, Upnetix and ACTPHAST, and Media Partners Health 2.0 and StartupCon.
Admission to the EVC Final is free for all media representatives.
For more information about the event or registration for the 2017 EVC Final, please visit the event website.
2017 European Venture Contest Final – Programme
2017 European Venture Contest Final – Participants
2017 European Venture Contest Final – Presenting Companies
