Where the world's deep tech deals are made

Marta Ostroumoff is Chief Financial Officer at Axelera AI and previously served as CFO at Oxa Autonomy. With more than 20 years of experience, she brings deep expertise in finance and scaling technology businesses. She is a Fellow Chartered Accountant.

Francisca Contreras is Executive Director of startuplab.01, Chile’s first hub for deep tech startups, connecting founders, corporates, investors and researchers across Latin America. A biotechnology engineer, she has 14+ years in corporate innovation and was named one of Chile’s 100 Women Leaders (2025).

Business & Marketing Senior Manager at the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab, Giulia drives open innovation by connecting startups, experts and industry leaders. She helps transform bold ideas into real-world impact while fostering collaboration, innovation and business growth.

Johannes Triebs is a General Partner at U2V (University2Ventures), the successor fund to Earlybird-X. U2V invests in European deep tech university spin-offs in AI, novel compute, industrial tech and climate tech, bridging academia and industry. He has an engineering background.

Tom Vanhoutte is founder and managing partner of imec.xpand, an independently managed early stage and growth fund that invests in start-ups where knowledge, expertise, network and/or infrastructure of imec, the world-renowned semiconductor R&D center, plays a differentiating role in the success of the company.

Paula Sanz is Head of Open Innovation at Repsol and Director of All4Zero, a collaborative industrial innovation hub. She brings together corporates, startups and technology partners to accelerate industrial decarbonisation, the circular economy and solutions for hard-to-abate sectors.

Nadya leads operations and R&D projects at L'Atelier BNP Paribas. Previously, she identified early-stage investment opportunities in financial services, and advised banks and insurance companies on their investment and innovation strategies.

Kary Bheemaiah is an Executive Fellow at the World Economic Forum, where he leads the Technological Convergence initiative, and a published author.

Celine Glipa is VP and Head of Corporate Venturing & Innovation Excellence at Merck Group, with 23+ years in life science innovation. She connects deep tech, venture clienting and strategic partnerships to turn scientific innovation into long-term business value.

Renaud Allaire spent more than 20 years in global B2B sales in fine chemicals, creating innovative solutions with his teams. He now works in a dedicated innovation role, spreading agile methods across his organisation and championing open, collaborative innovation.

Andreja Erbes is Director of Technology Scouting and R&D Partnerships at STMicroelectronics, in its Analog, Power & Discrete, MEMS and Sensors group, since 2022. He holds a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Kweilin Ellingrud is a director of the McKinsey Global Institute and a senior partner at McKinsey & Company. She has led research on generative AI, the future of work and productivity, and co-authored The Broken Rung, a book on women’s careers.