LendIt Europe, a Fintech and lending conference, and Startupbootcamp FinTech, a leading global Fintech accelerator, have announced the judging panel for the second annual PitchIt Europe competition. The startup competition will take place later this fall in London and applications are being accepted now with a deadline of August 18th September 4th.
According to event representatives, venture capitalists from Seedcamp, Blenheim Chalcot, CommerzVentures, and Balderton Capital will form the judging panel for the competition. Collectively, these four firms are some of the most active investors in the European Fintech category and have played important roles in the success of some of the largest Fintech companies in Europe. The judges will be looking for the next big thing in lending, payments, wealth management, Insurtech, artificial intelligence, Blockchain, digital identity and biometrics, Regtech, Fintech infrastructure, mortgage technology, real estate tech, digital banking, trading and capital markets, or any other category that represents innovation taking place in financial services.
“The judges for this year’s PitchIt competition offer a fantastic range of knowledge, skills and experience. The high caliber of judges we’ve had over the years is a testament to how the competition has evolved, and it’s inspiring to see another strong panel taking to the stage for the competition. I’m confident that their diverse professional backgrounds will see one of the most exciting PitchIt competitions yet,” stated Jason Jones, co-founder and CEO of LendIt.
Reshma Sohoni, Partner and co-founder of Seedcamp, said LendIt Europe was a huge draw for Seedcamp;
“We’re hoping that the combination of energetic and passionate startups taking part, and the success we’ve had with investing in breakout fintech businesses such as TransferWise and Revolut, will help us find the ‘next big thing’ in the industry.”
The specific judges for the startup competition this year are:
- Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp Partner and co-founder. Seedcamp is Europe’s seed fund, investing early in world-class founders attacking large, global markets and solving real problems using technology. Since launch a decade ago, Seedcamp has invested in 250 startups and has helped companies go on to raise over $650M in follow-on funding.
- Dan Cobley, Managing Partner, Fintech at Blenheim ChalcotDan, previous MD of Google UK, has returned to his original passion of working with startup companies. Dan has been a speaker at the TED Conference, has appeared as a technology expert on BBC’s Tomorrow’s World, and is a trustee of the Technology Trust.
- Patrick Meisberger, Managing Director of CommerzVenturesPatrick has decades of experience in fintech and M&A roles across various companies in Europe. His company, CommerzVentures, recently helped iwoca, one of the fastest growing SME lending platforms in Europe, to secure a $20m Series B equity financing round.
- Rob Moffat, Partner at Balderton CapitalRob started his career with five years in strategy consulting with Bain, before moving to Google, and then into Balderton Capital. Rob’s focus sector is fintech, in particular insurance and retail financial services. He has worked across businesses from Citymapper to Nutmeg.
Additionally, event organizers said that mentors are confirmed from the following firms:
- Kreos Capital
- Growth Unlocked
- Seedrs
- Startupbootcamp Fintech & Insurtech
- Target Global VC
- Polymath Consulting
- Opus Una Financial Services Consulting
- Capco
- Thiel Capital
- Index Ventures
LendIt Europe 2017 takes place on the 9th and 10th of October, at The Intercontinental London – The O2. In order to apply for a slot at the PitchIt event, startups can apply here.