Where the world's deep tech deals are made

Anne Sraders is a senior reporter at Sifted, based in Berlin, covering venture capital and deeptech startups, from robotics and spacetech to defence tech. She also writes Sifted’s weekly VC newsletter, Up Round. Previously, she was a senior writer at Fortune.

Marc Canal Noguer is a senior fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute, researching economic growth and productivity and how they intersect with demographics, human capital and technology. He co-authored the book A Century of Plenty: A Story of Progress for Generations to Come.

Enrico Della Gatta is a manager and former Army officer with two decades of experience in multinational operations and at the highest levels of military institutions. He is currently the Vice President of Fincantieri, where he oversees the Defence Market Business Intelligence function.

Karima Fenaoui is a Research Content Officer at Bloomberg Intelligence, which she joined in 2023. She has around ten years’ experience in finance, across rates structuring, renewable energy trading and equity research, at firms including Nomura and AllianceBernstein. Her background is in mathematics.

Aarti Gupta is a political scientist and science and technology studies scholar. Her research focuses on transparency, accountability and equity in global environmental and climate governance, and on the challenges of governing novel technologies, such as solar geoengineering.

Dr. Petra Wicklandt is Chief Sustainability Officer at Merck, where she heads Corporate Sustainability, Quality and Trade Compliance. She previously led Corporate Affairs and global pharmaceutical development at Merck. A pharmacist by training, she holds a PhD in pharmaceutical technology.

Head of Damen Maritime Ventures, driving startup investments and strategic venture partnerships in maritime, offshore energy and defence sectors. Leads a portfolio of ventures, fostering innovation, scaling collaboration, and advancing sustainable growth across the Damen ecosystem.

Alex Hoffmann is a General Partner at Forbion BioEconomy, a €200m fund backing companies that use biotechnology to clean and feed the planet. Previously, he was Investment Director at M Ventures, Merck’s corporate VC arm, with board seats at Mosa Meat and Formo.

Strategic and analytical investor, passionate about working with innovative compagnies to tackle major transition issues, building on experience in innovation and corporate M&A for the speciality chemical and energy sector.

Fabien Koutchekian is co-founder and CEO of Genomines, which he started in 2021 with Dr. Dali Rashid. He leads fundraising and business development, and has positioned the company as a pioneer in plant-based nickel extraction as demand for battery metals accelerates.

James Temple is senior editor for climate and energy at MIT Technology Review, covering the clean energy transition, solar geoengineering and carbon removal. He previously worked at The Verge, Recode and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Dr. Nadine Geiser is a Principal at World Fund, with extensive experience in venture capital and biotech investing. She was previously an investor at Redalpine and held roles at M Ventures and Vontobel. She also advises the BioInnovation Institute.