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.

Endeavour Vision is a premier European venture capital firm investing in high potential companies in the information technology and life sciences sectors. Since 1989, the principals have made over 63 investments in 12 different countries. The goal of Endeavour Vision is to contribute to the success of companies who demonstrate great potential by teaming up with entrepreneurs and sharing skills, expertise and network To better support Entrepreneurs, the firm has developed two institutions: the European Tech Tour Association, a non-profit foundation generating networking opportunities for Entrepreneurs with VCs, Corporations and other Entrepreneurs, and the CEO-Circle, a group of world-class entrepreneurial CEOs who are committed in helping with the development of portfolio companies.

Some investments made by the principals include Sandisk, Dolphin Interconnect, SCM Microsystems, Virata, Altitun, Cirpack, Media Lario, Tagsys RFID and Sequans, (Information Technology); and Actelion, Axovan, Endoart and Novimmune (Life Sciences).

GrowthPoint Technology Partners is a different kind of investment bank. We provide M&A, fundraising and strategic advisory services to a wide range of technology companies. As former CEOs, executives, board members, investors and advisors, we bring a wealth of strategic and financial experience to our clients with the sole objective of helping them achieve success. In 2005, four senior members of SVB/Alliant, formerly Alliant Partners (sold to Silicon Valley Bankshares in 2001) left to form GrowthPoint Technology Partners. We created a new firm to provide the very best advisory environment for our clients. Our highly experienced senior advisors deliver a quality, research driven service, in a variety of technology sectors.

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.

Argentum is a specialised asset manager. Argentums strategy is to select top tier venture and Private Equity funds with a primary focus on the Nordic countries. Argentum has 500 million Euros under management, and has a 35% annual return on invested capital since inception in 2002.

Northzone Ventures has backed early stage Nordic technology winners since 1996. With eight Partners based in Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen, Northzone has the largest early stage technology team in the Nordics and manages a total of € 355 million. In total Northzone has invested in more than 60 companies – of which we are still active in more than 30 companies. Northzone V was raised in April 2006 with EUR 175 million from top-tier European institutional investors. Present and past portfolio companies include Funcom (OSE: FUNCOM), Lastminute (listed in London), NextGenTel (acquired by TeliaSonera), PriceRunner (acquired by ValueClick Inc.), Stepstone (OSE: STP) and Trolltech (acquired by Nokia). Northzone has an active and hands-on approach when investing in promising early stage companies. The Northzone Partners all have entrepreneurial backgrounds as well as extensive venture capital experience and the large international network required to effectively support the startups we invest in.

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.

Venturos is a private investment group started on the first day of the new millennium following an equal split between the two partners of Mosvold Farsund in Norway and Mega Pacific in Hong Kong. Its history dates back more than eighty years. Since 1978, the group has gradually changed from being predominantly shipping oriented into one of Norway's leading investors in advanced technologies. Terje Mikalsen, Venturos' CEO, has been heading this change of strategy. Mosvold Farsund was engaged in management of venture capital funds through Teknoinvest since 1984. Today Venturos is also a manager of venture funds ( Venturos Technology III KS ) with other Norwegian private, institutional and corporate investors.

Pareto is a leading, independent player on the Norwegian market for financial services. Pareto Securities is the investment banking arm of the Pareto Group. The company is a leader in stocks and bonds, and financial advisory services. Activities are focused on branches of business where Norway has special advantages. Our head office is in Oslo, but we are also located in Stavanger, Bergen, Kristiansand, Trondheim, New York and Singapore. Pareto Securities' services consist mainly in brokerage in shares and bonds and advisory services connected with financing companies. Focusing on Norwegian securities and branches of business where Norway has special advantages, enables us to provide research and advisory services based on detailed knowledge of the businesses and companies with which we are dealing. This ensures that our research products are highly esteemed by a broad international investor community. Pareto Securities’ corporate clients use our advisory services in connection with listings, share offerings, bond financing, sales/acquisitions and mergers/demergers.

Schjødt is a high-end provider of specialized legal services to companies in a wide variety of sectors doing business in Norway. International ratings and surveys such as Chambers Global, European Legal 500 and PLC's 'Which Lawyer' consistently recommend Schjødt in all of our core practice areas.

Alliance Venture is a venture capital firm managing venture funds investing in privately held, early stage technology companies. Total funds under management is 420 MNOK (about $ 70 million) Alliance Venture was formed in 2001 by a team of experienced executives, with a good balance between operations and business, applied research, entrepreneurial and financial background that enables efficient investment evaluations and active follow-up. This is supported by a network of strategic alliances, who can contribute with know-how, deal flow, due-diligence, co-investments and partnerships with the portfolio companies.

Alliance Venture is differentiating itself in Scandinavia by its strong operational and international experience and network which is used in deal flow generation, benchmarking and business development.

Established in 2002, Energy Ventures manages/advises three venture funds with a total committed capital of NOK 1.9 billion. The company is headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, with offices in Aberdeen and Houston. The company’s professionals have extensive industry, investment, transaction and stewardship experience as well as a wide-ranging network in the oil and gas industry.

Ferd Venture is one of Norway's leading venture capital investment companies. We invest in ICT companies that offer significant potential, primarily in the Nordic region. Ferd Venture has capital reserves available for new investments.

Investment in technology-based companies with potential Ferd Venture invests in technology-based ICT companies that are looking for capital for further commercialization and growth, and that have the potential to create a lasting competitive market advantage.

The Statkraft Group is a European leader within renewable energy. The Group generates hydropower, wind power, gas power and district heating and is a major player on the European energy exchanges. In Norway the company supplies electricity and heat to around 600,000 customers through its shareholdings in other companies. In 2007 Statkraft posted a profit after tax of NOK 6.6 billion, and employed around 2,250 employees in ten countries. The world needs pure energy. This is what Statkraft delivers – every day.

SINTEF is the largest independent research organization in Scandinavia, creating value through knowledge generation, research and innovation. SINTEF is a broad-based multidiciplinary research group with international top-level expertise in technology, natural science, medicine and social science. SINTEF has more than 2,000 employees from 55 different countries.

Skagerak Venture Capital is a Kristiansand based venture capital firm established in 2006. We have branch offices in Kongsberg and Oslo.

Since 1985, our team of professionals has been helping small and mid-sized growth companies realise their full potential. We advise funds totalling over €400 million that have investments in more than 100 companies. We have helped build companies such as Opera, Agresso and Chipcon.

The Verdane Capital funds acquire stakes in companies by buying portfolios of direct investments or via direct venture capital transactions, which is the historic root of our business. On behalf of our funds, we have to date executed eight direct investment portfolio transactions, making us a leading player in Nordic portfolio acquisitions

Viking Venture is one of the leading technology focused venture funds in Norway with 200 million USD (NOK 1.1 billion) under management. The funds investmentfocus are companies within electronics, software, oil & gas, materials and clean technology. Viking Venture typically invests in companies that have passed the seed phase and is ready for the commercialization phase. The fund is a very active owner with a substantial share in the portfolio companies.

STEINVENDER is a Nordic, cross-industry corporate finance adviser focusing on the SME-sector. Since our foundation in 1997, we have provided advice on merger & acquisition transactions, divestitures and restructuring. The firm is independent and partner owned and operated. We are 7 professionals with wide industry and transaction experience.

We take pride in providing our clients with professional advice, creativity and great enthusiasm. Our success is ensured by satisfying the objectives of our clients.

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.

The Chilli is a unique media platform for high-tech entrepreneurs, investors and advisors. The Chilli is an established global brand in the technology entrepreneurial food chain in Europe, US and now expanding out in Asia. Our information and in-depth analysis are available through regular newsletter updates, online products and live at seminars, conferences and events.