Investor Allstars Awards 2013 announce short-list and event details

LONDON: 3 September 2013 – The Investor Allstars Awards 2013 has announced the shortlist for its award ceremony due to take place on 25 September 2013 at London’s National History Museum. The annual event is organised by GP Bullhound, the technology investment bank, and GrowthBusiness, a Vitesse Media website specialising in providing information for entrepreneurs and leaders of fast-growth enterprises

Now in its eleventh year, the awards will celebrate excellence in entrepreneurship and the professional investor community. Awards will be presented for Venture Capital Fund of the Year; Europe’s Most Exciting Investor Backed Company of the Year; Investor of the Year; Female Entrepreneur of the Year; Male Entrepreneur of the Year; Equity Gap Fund of the Year; Exit of the Year; Growth/Buyout Fund of the Year; Private Investor Network of the Year; Service Provider of the Year and VCT of the Year. There will also be keynote speeches from the likes of Mikko Setälä from Rovio.

A new feature of the Investor Allstars Awards is the The Allstars Challenge where companies will compete to win the accolade for Europe’s most exciting investor backed company. Klarna, MedicAnimal, Zoopla, Rovio, Believe Digital, Fly Victor and Secret Escapes will present in the afternoon and the winner will be announced at the ceremony in the evening.

“It has been a great year for growth and innovation in Europe,” said Manish Madhvani, Managing Partner at GP Bullhound. “European investors are continuing to help build billion dollar companies and strengthen the culture of innovation in the European technology industry. Investor Allstars celebrates these investments and draws attention to the brave who are continuing to back risk takers and entrepreneurs.”

“The Investor Allstars Awards highlight entrepreneurs and VCs who are driving the technology sector forward,” said Niki Baker, CEO at Vitesse Media. “The Awards are an opportunity for the European venture capital community to consider the biggest successes of the past year and look forward to the trends and innovation still to come.”

“Orrick is proud to support Investor Allstars in its eleventh year,” commented Stephanie Bates, Partner at Orrick. “As legal advisers to more than 1,000 fast-growing companies here and globally, our commitment to the sector is paramount and we look forward to strengthening our culture of collaboration with the technology community.”

David Ward, Managing Partner of MTI Ventures, commented:  “More than a decade after MTI’s involvement with the event began, we are delighted to be one of Investor Allstars longest-serving supporters and to continue to play our part in supporting the achievements of entrepreneurs and investors.”

Ulvi Kasimov, Founder and Head of Sferiq, commented: “This is an exciting time for innovation and enterprise culture in Europe. We are delighted to be part of this event and continue to lend our support to the investors and innovators who are pushing boundaries in the technology industry.”

The full shortlists for the Awards are:

Venture Capital Fund of the Year
DFJ Esprit, Fidelity Growth Partners, Northzone, Qualcomm Ventures, Scottish Equity Partners and VTB Capital

Europe’s Most Exciting Investor Backed Company of the Year
Believe Digital, Fly Victor, Klarna, MedicAnimal, Rovio, Secret Escapes and Zoopla Property Group

Investor of the Year
Marcos Battisti – Intel Capital, Haakon Overlie – Dawn Capital, Alex Macpherson – Octopus Investments, Pär-Jörgen Parson – Northzone and Dr Alexander von Frankenberg – High-Tech-Gründerfonds I + II

Female Entrepreneur of the Year
Bec Astley Clarke – Astley Clarke, Shirin Dehgan – Arieso, Wendy Devolder – Skills Matter, Maelle Gavet – OZON Holdings, Fanny Moizant – Vestiare Collective, Jude Ower – PlayMob, Mary Turner – AlertMe and Michelle You – Songkick

Male Entrepreneur of the Year
James Caan – Hamilton Bradshaw, Geoffroy de Becdelievre – PlanetVeo, Jacob de Geer – iZettle, Niklas Holmstén – Tunigo, Alexander Ljung – SoundCloud, Olof Schybergson – Fjord and Peter Ward – WAYN

Equity Gap Fund of the Year
EC1 Capital, Fastlane Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds I + II, MMC Ventures, The UPF (UMIP Premier Fund) managed by MTI Partnerships, Notion Capital Partners, Passion Capital and Seedcamp

Exit of the Year
Arieso – (Oxford Capital Partners), Fleetmatics – (Investcorp Technology Partners II), Mendeley – (Passion Capital), Ogone – (Summit Partners), Solfex Energy Systems – (Panoramic Enterprise Capital Fund 1) and Trivago – (HOWZAT Partners)

Growth/Buyout Fund of the Year
EQT, Investcorp Technology Partners, Palamon European Equity II, Panoramic Growth Equity and The Carlyle Group

Private Investor Network of the Year
Braveheart Envestors, Crowdcube, London Business Angels, Seedcamp, Spintop Ventures and Halo – the Northern Ireland business angel network

Service Provider of the Year
Baker Tilly, Dentons, JAG Shaw Baker, Kemp Little, Kreos Capital, Marriott Harrison, Orrick, SGH Martineau, SVB and The Forsyth Group

VCT of the Year
Core VCT managed by Core Capital, Foresight Solar VCT managed by Foresight Group, Maven Income & Growth VCT managed by Maven Capital Partners, Income & Growth VCT managed by Mobeus Equity Partners, NVM Private Equity Octopus Titan VCT managed by Octopus Investments, ProVen Growth & Income VCT managed by Beringea and British Smaller Companies VCT managed by YFM Private Equity

The award’s headline sponsor is global investment company Sferiq. The premium sponsors are Orrick, a global law firm, and MTI Ventures, an early stage venture capital and management in software, communication, life sciences, materials technology and industrial products. Ballou PR, Berenberg Bank, Bird & Bird, Private Equity Recruitment, Reeves, finnCap and The Up Group are all also sponsors of the evening.

-ENDS-

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