Investor Allstars shortlist celebrates Year of Unicorns

23 September 2015 – The shortlist has been revealed for the Investor Allstars Awards 2015, celebrating the investors and entrepreneurs that have created the ‘Year of Unicorns’.

The event will take place on 1 October at The Lancaster, London, bringing together leading figures from every stage of the investment cycle along with Europe’s most successful entrepreneurs. The evening will be hosted by Caroline Hyde of Bloomberg Television and Nicolas Brusson, co-founder of BlaBlaCar, will deliver the Keynote speech.

The annual event is organised by GP Bullhound, the technology investment bank, and GrowthBusiness, a Vitesse Media publication specialising in providing information for entrepreneurs and leaders of fast-growth businesses.

Earlier this year, GP Bullhound research confirmed Europe’s growing success in scaling companies – creating 40 tech companies with a value of a billion dollar or more. The event celebrates the entrepreneurs and investors that have created an environment capable of fuelling these success stories.

Manish Madhvani, Managing Partner of GP Bullhound, commented: “If last year was defined by a series of high profile exits, 2015 has seen a shift towards entrepreneurs fundraising vast rounds of capital for long term growth. The European digital ecosystem will look back on this as the ‘Year of Unicorns’ – the moment when European unicorns started reaching globally competitive valuations.”

The awards ceremony is specifically designed to recognise outstanding talent in the entrepreneur and professional investor communities.

Award categories include VC Fund of the Year, Exit of the Year, Growth Fund of the Year, Investor of the Year, Buyout Fund of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Corporate Development Team of the Year, VCT of the Year, Private Investor Network of the Year, Seed Fund of the Year, Service Provider of the Year.

George Coelho, co-founder of Benchmark Capital Europe (now Balderton Capital‎) and member of the Investor Allstars judging panel, commented: “There was fierce competition for this year’s shortlist. As Europe’s digital investment community continues to grow in confidence and scale, it is clear our business leaders and investors are creating one of the most dynamic and successful ecosystems in the world.”

The Investor Allstars Awards will also feature Europe’s Allstar Company, a pitching session where five of the fastest growing technology companies in Europe compete to be named Europe’s most exciting company. HelloFresh, Auctionata, Lendinvest, Believe Digital and Sigfox will present in the afternoon and the winner will be announced at the evening ceremony.

Niki Baker, CEO of Vitesse Media, commented: “The Investor Allstars Awards has become a landmark event for London’s digital sector. Europe’s entrepreneurial industry comes together to celebrate the deals and successes that have defined the past 12 months and made London the home of tech.”

The Investor Allstars Awards 2015 are sponsored by Barclays, Berenberg, Cooley, Crowdcube, Orrick, PER, Bird & Bird, JAG Shaw Baker, alongside media partnerships with GrowthBusiness and Bloomberg.

The full shortlists for the Awards are:

VC Fund of the Year

Accel Partners
DN Capital
Earlybird
Index Ventures
MMC Ventures
Northzone
Octopus Investments
Scottish Equity Partners
Ventech

Exit of the Year

Endomondo: SEED Capital
FDM Group: Inflexion
Wireless Logic: ECI Partners
Yemeksepeti: General Atlantic
Zoopla: Atlas Ventures & Octopus Ventures

Growth Fund of the Year

Business Growth Fund
Eight Road Ventures
Foresight Group
Frog Capital
General Atlantic
Partech Ventures

Investor of the Year

Jon Coker, MMC Ventures
Fred Destin, Accel Partners
Ben Holmes, Index Ventures
Nenad Marovac, DN Capital
Hans Otterling, Northzone
Tom Stafford, DST

Buyout Fund of the Year

ECI Partners
EQT Partners
HgCapital
KKR
Living Bridge
Vitruvian

Entrepreneur of the Year

Ismail Ahmed, World Remit
Alex Chesterman, Zoopla
Tomas Kull, Mathem
Jose Neves, Farfetch
Alex Saint, Secret Escapes
Jamie Ward, PayasUgym

Service Provider of the Year

Barclays
Bird & Bird
Kreos Capital
Mills & Reeve
Olswang
Osborne Clarke
Seven Hills
Shoosmiths
Silicon Valley Bank

Corporate Development Team of the Year

GBGroup
IMImobile
JUST EAT
ProSiebenSat1
Tamedia
Wipro

VCT of the Year

Albion Ventures
Beringea
Edge Investments
Foresight Group
Maven Capital Partners
Mobeus Equity Partners
Octopus Investment
YFM Equity Partners

Private Investor Network of the Year

Crowdcube
Envestors
London Business Angels
Maven Capital Partners
Seedrs

Seed Fund of the Year

AngelLab
EC1 Capital
Forward Partners
High-Tech Gruenderfonds
MMC Ventures
Pre-Seed Innovation
Seedcamp

Media Contacts

Jack Davies, Seven Hills, tel: +44 207 199 6193, mob: +44 7872 169 072, email: jack.davies@wearesevenhills.com

About GP Bullhound

As dealmakers in technology, GP Bullhound provides independent strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions and private placements to entrepreneurs, companies and investors. By combining a true passion for innovation with great access to global buyers and capital across Europe, US and Asia, GP Bullhound has completed transactions with many category leaders including Avito, Delivery Hero, Fjord, King.com, Pingdom, Pozitron and Spotify. The firm was founded in London in 1999 and today also has offices in San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin and Manchester. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com

About 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.