GP Bullhound & Vitesse Media announce winners of Investor Allstars Awards 2014

London, 26 September 2014 – Investor Allstars 2014, organised by GP Bullhound, the international technology investment bank, and GrowthBusiness, a Vitesse Media publication for entrepreneurs and leaders of fast-growth enterprises, brought together 650 of Europe’s leading investors and entrepreneurs at The Lancaster in London on 24 September 2014.

Europe’s Allstar Company, a challenge where five of the best known technology companies in Europe presented to some of the world’s leading VC, Growth, Private Equity and Pre IPO investors, to be afforded the accolade of Europe’s most exciting company, saw BlaBlaCar walk off victorious.

A new award for this year, the Sferiq Award for Digital Innovation in Art, set up to recognise a company or individual that has used digital technology or the internet to disrupt and innovate in the art industry, went to ArtStack.

The evening also featured a keynote from JUST EAT CEO David Buttress and a live performance featuring the ROLI Seaboard, a radically new musical instrument reimagining the piano keyboard using digital technology.

‘It was a crazy year for Europe with four billion dollar exits. The entrepreneurial ecosystem is the strongest it has ever been and we are proud to recognise some amazing achievements,’ said Manish Madhvani, Managing Partner at GP Bullhound.

‘This year’s winners clearly show the rude health that the European growth company landscape is in right now,’ said Hunter Ruthven, editor of GrowthBusiness.

‘Whether it is game-changing investment rounds being closed, new funds raised or billion-dollar exits achieved, the last 12 months have produced some incredible success stories.’

The full list of winners and shortlisted is:

VC Fund of the Year

Winner: Index Ventures

Shortlist:

Accel Partners
Intel Capital
Northzone Ventures
Octopus Investments
Scottish Equity Partners
XAnge Private Equity

Exit of the Year

Winner: Supercell – Accel Partners, Index Ventures

Shortlist:

CarTrawler – ECI Partners
Criteo – Elaia Partners, Idinvest Partners, Index Ventures
Fjordnet – Beringea
JUST EAT – Index Ventures, Vitruvian Partners
King Digital Entertainment – Index Ventures
La Fourchette – Serena Capital, Partech Ventures, Otium Capital
Natural Motion – SPARK Ventures, ISIS Innovation, Balderton Capital
Neolane – Auriga Partners, XAnge Private Equity
TDX – Investcorp Technology Partners

Growth/Buyout Capital Fund of the Year

Winner: Vitruvian Partners

Shortlist:

Business Growth Fund
Encore Capital
EQT Partners
Inflexion Private Equity
Investcorp Technology Partners
ISIS Equity Partners
Synova Capital
Technology Crossover Ventures

Investor of the Year

Winner: Kevin Comolli – Accel Partners

Shortlist:

Benoist Grossmann – Idinvest Partners
Ben Holmes – Index Ventures
Christophe Maire – Atlantic Internet
Nenad Marovac – DN Capital
Rory Stirling – MMC Ventures

Female Entrepreneur of the Year

Winner: Sara Murray – Buddi

Shortlist:

Fleur Emery – Green & Pleasant Lager / Emery Barnard Design
Nathalie Gaveau – Shopcade
Ekaterina Konovalova – IQcard
Nicola McClafferty – Covetique
Kathryn Parsons – Decoded
Holly Tucker – Notonthehighstreet
Debbie Wosskow – Love Home Swap

Male Entrepreneur of the Year

Winner: David Buttress – JUST EAT

Shortlist:

Kevin Cornils – Glasses Direct
Jonathan Gale – NewVoiceMedia
Clive Jackson – FlyVictor
Frédéric Mazzella – BlaBlaCar
Alex Saint – Secret Escapes
Vijay Srinivasan – Cambridge Technology Partners

Corporate Development Team of the Year

Winner: ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG

Shortlist:

Bertelsmann
Monitise
Schibsted Growth
St Ives

VCT of the Year

Winner: Octopus Investments

Shortlist:

Albion Ventures
Edge Performance
Maven Capital Partners
Mobeus Equity Partners
ProVen Growth & Income VCT
YFM Equity Partners

Private Investor Network of the Year

Winner: Envestors

Shortlist:

Angel Academe
Crowdcube
London Business Angels
Maven Investor Partners
Seedrs
Spintop

Europe’s Allstar Company of the Year

Winner: BlaBlaCar

Shortlist:

Achica
Farfetch
NewVoiceMedia
Zound Industries

Service Provider of the Year

Winner: Silicon Valley Bank

Shortlist:

Bird & Bird
Clydesdale Bank Growth Finance
JAGShaw Baker
Kemp Little
Kreos Capital
Olswang
Taylor Wessing

Equity Gap Fund of the Year

Winner: MMC Ventures

Shortlist:

EC1 Capital
High-Tech Gründerfonds
Midven
Notion Capital Partners
Passion Capital
Seraphim Capital

Sferiq Award for Digital Innovation in Art

Winner: ArtStack

Shortlist:

Articheck
Artsy
ArtViatic
ArtWeb.com
Paddle8
Rise Art
Saatchi Art
Sedition Art
Vastari

The headline sponsor of the 2014 event is global investment company Sferiq. Award sponsors include: Orrick, a global law firm; Private Equity Recruitment, a specialist recruitment firm in the private equity sector; Crowdcube, an equity crowdfunding platform; and Berenberg, an international private bank. Bird & Bird, JAGShaw Baker, Dow Jones & Company, PocketApp and Bloomberg are further sponsors of the evening.

 

Enquiries

For general enquiries, please contact: Cecilia Roman +46 8 545 07 414 cecilia.roman@gpbullhound.com

For event enquiries please contact: Rebecca Stanley +44 207 250 7050 rebecca.stanley@vitessemedia.co.uk

GP Bullhound

GP Bullhound is an international technology investment banking group with offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin and Manchester. Founded in 1999, GP Bullhound provides world-class advice on mergers, acquisitions and private placements to a diverse range of corporate clients, institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. Combining a true love for entrepreneurship and innovation with deep global buyer relations and sector expertise, GP Bullhound has completed transactions for tech category leaders, most recently selling Pingdom to SolarWinds, Cambridge Technology Partners to Atos, Pozitron to Monitise, Tunigo to Spotify, and Fjord to Accenture. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com.
In 2013, GP Bullhound was awarded Boutique Investment Bank of the Year and Leading Adviser of the Year by the Acquisition International M&A Awards, while Manish Madhvani, a founding partner of GP Bullhound, was named as a winner of the fourth annual M&A Advisor 40 Under 40 Awards.

GrowthBusiness

GrowthBusiness is a news and advice portal for entrepreneurs and business builders. Its aim is to help these leaders grow their businesses and realise ambitions by providing the inside track on raising finance, marketing, expansion and leadership.
Alongside Investor Allstars, GrowthBusiness also hosts other annual events including the M&A Awards, New Energy & Cleantech Awards, Clean Invest and Tech Invest.
wwww.growthbusiness.co.uk

Vitesse Media

Vitesse Media is a multimedia business that offers award-winning publications, fast-growing websites, exciting events and much-acclaimed research. It is the leading specialist in growth businesses, entrepreneurs and CEOs, as well as their investors, advisers and suppliers. Vitesse Media is quoted on AIM.
www.vitessemedia.co.uk