Sponsors

Founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, Audemars Piguet is the oldest Manufacture of Haute Horlogerie never to have left the hands of the founding families. Today, its range encompasses complex mechanical watches, Haute Joaillerie creations as well as a line of jewellery. At each stage in its history, the Manufacture has daringly adopted avant-garde techniques in order to place them in the service of traditional craftsmanship. This approach has earned it an unparalleled number of world firsts in the field of Haute Horlogerie.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance,tax and advisory services for public and private clients. More than 120,000 people in 139 countries connect their thinking, experience and solutions to build public trust and enhance value for clients and their stakeholders.

Weber Shandwick is a Communications Partner of the European Tech Tour, supporting both the European level organization and the various country tours.  Weber Shandwick, a unit of The Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG), is one of the world's leading public relations agencies, with offices in major media, business and government capitals around the world. Weber Shandwick is a leader in marketing public relations, public affairs and corporate communications counseling, and also provides services in advocacy advertising, market research and visual communications.

Founded in Paris in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is one of Europe's leading independent venture capital firms. With €900 million under management, Sofinnova Partners invests in start-ups and early-stage companies in information technology and life sciences. Its investment strategy consists of investing early in teams and projects with high potential, most often acting as lead or co-lead investor. Sofinnova Partners also benefits from a long-established relationship with its sister company in San Francisco, Sofinnova Ventures. Sofinnova Partners’ team consists of 10 professionals who bring valuable market insight and technical expertise to portfolio companies.

Jefferies Broadview, a division of Jefferies & Company, Inc., is one of the largest investment banking teams dedicated to the IT, communications, healthcare technology and digital media industries. With a 30-year track record of serving many of the world's most dynamic and innovative technology companies, our experienced team of nearly 100 bankers operate in the U.S., Europe and Asia. As Jefferies' technology investment banking group, we provide a full range of investment banking services including debt and equity underwriting, private placements, M&A and restructuring advisory. We offer creative, idea-driven solutions that leverage our deep industry expertise and long-standing relationships to assist growing and mid-sized companies achieve their business objectives.

Euronext is the first cross-border exchange business, created in September 2000 by the merger of the stock and derivatives markets in Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. Euronext offers a range of services including the listing of financial instruments, trading in securities and derivatives, and data dissemination. In 2002 LIFFE, the international derivatives exchange, and the Portuguese exchange, BVLP, joined Euronext.

Iris Capital is a leading pan-European venture and development capital fund specialising in Media & Entertainment, Communications and IT. Since it was established in 1986 in Paris, our team has invested over 700 million euros in more than 200 participations.

Founded in 1982, Partech International is a leading global venture capital firm with offices in the U.S., Europe and Israel. With $850M under active management, our investment team focuses exclusively on Information Technology. Specific areas where we invest include Software & Internet, Healthcare IT, and Communications & Components. In each of these sectors, our team diligently sources companies with high return potential and disruptive technologies.

SG AM Private Equity is the equity financing arm of SG Asset Management, a subsidiary of Société Générale. With €200 million under management, SG AM Private Equity invests in early stage European companies in the information and communication technologies sector. The portfolio comprises 42 companies in the fields of Semiconductors, Networks and telecoms, Media and Software.

Founded in 1988, Kahn & Associés has in a short period of time established itself as a leading French law firm, and has a pre-eminent position in the representation of high-technology and e-commerce businesses. We have grown steadily over the years and now have close to forty legal professionals, whom ten are partners and a total staff of more than sixty.

Atlas Venture is the leading international early-stage venture capital firm, investing in communications, information technology and life sciences companies. Atlas Venture has investing offices in Boston, London, Munich and Paris, and its investments are evenly divided between the United States and Europe.

Endeavour is a European Venture Capital fund with an investment focus is early-stage companies in the information technology, telecom, electronics, and micro-technologies sectors in Europe.

Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies. Since its inception in 1988, the firm has taken a sector-focused and stage-diversified approach to investing in exceptional information technology, communications and healthcare companies. With over $1.8 billion of committed capital, Highland has invested in and worked to created such firms as Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, Be Free, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, EXACT Sciences, Lycos, MapQuest, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, Performix Technologies, Photoways, Sybase, Telica, VistaPrint and WebLine Communications.

Logitech designs, manufactures and markets personal interface products that enable people to effectively work, play, and communicate in the digital world. The company's products combine essential core technologies, continuing innovation, award-winning industrial design and excellent price performance.

Red Herring is a media company whose mission is to cover innovation, technology, financing and entrepreneurial activity. Its staff of award-winning journalists tell readers what's first, what matters and most importantly, why.