BALTIC VCA
SUMMIT 2019

Jerry Yang is General Partner at Hardware Club, a Paris-Silicon Valley-Tokyo based VC firm whose fund LPs include  Foxconn, Taizo Son’s Mistletoe, NGK Sparkplug, Digital Garage, Isomer Capital, Draper Esprit etc. And as a name suggests – it invests in hardware startups. Before switching to the dark side, Jerry had been in analog IC design for more than a decade.

Originally from Taiwan, Jerry's career has spanned across many continents and cultures. At a young age he won a large contract with Japanese electronics part manufacturer ROHM, which in turn it allowed him to exit his startup. Since then he has established a very strong connection with Japan and is closely familiar with Japanese corporate culture. He is also fluent in Japanese and is a routine speaker at VC and tech events, including Tech in Asia and SLUSH Tokyo.

Jerry has obtained a BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the National Taiwan University and MBA degree from HEC Paris.

Taavi Rõivas is an Estonian politician, former leader of the Reform Party and former Prime Minister of Estonia (2014-2016). He is a routine speaker at tech events around the world  including SLUSH (Helsinki, Tokyo, Singapore)

Chris is a Cofounder and Partner at Isomer Capital. He is on the  board of  technology companies Calastone, Machines with Vison and in 2016 Magic Pony Technologies that was acquired by Twitter. He was one the original advisors and Venture Partners at Entrepreneur First. Chris was the founding director of the Venture Capital Unit for the UK Government where he promoted the UK VC and direct investment opportunities to investors in the US and Asia and attracted over $1B, he also advised the Singaporean Government on European VC’s. In 1998 he co-founded CPS a mobile location tech company which he successfully sold in 2007 to a major global chip design company. Prior to his start up experience he had over 15 years operational experience at US based DSc which he assisted in the $4B sale to Alcatel and Northern Telecom where he worked in Turkey and the US. He has a BSc in Physics and Chemistry from Leeds University under an industrial scholarship program   

Jesper Knutssøn is partner and co-founder of Saga Private Equity. He has 28 years of experience in private equity and investment banking. At Saga Privat Equity he is responsible for investor relations and he has been involved in several due diligence processes. Previously, Jesper was responsible for investor relations at Danske Private Equity from 2006-2017. Before entering the private equity industry in 2006, he worked at Ixis Securities (Natixis) and Svenska Handelsbanken France. Mr. Knutssøn holds a M. Sc. (Economics) from the University of Copenhagen. 

Pia Santavirta is the Managing Director of the Finnish Venture Capital Association (FVCA). FVCA represents the Venture Capital and Private Equity industry in Finland. Continuously growing membership covers all the active private equity investors in Finland and the service providers to the industry – standing now at 140 members. Pia and her team work actively together with decision-makers, investors, startup- and growth companies and other stakeholders in order to improve investors’ and entrepreneurs’ operating environment and to further fuel economic growth in Finland and in the New Nordics.

Tomoko Inoue is a venture capitalist with rich experience in healthcare. Prior to joining OMRON Ventures, she was a founding member of a unique venture capital firm that focused on medical devices under Japanese government backed investment firm. She invested in seed to early-stage startups primarily in Silicon Valley and Japan. She was born in the US, and grew up in the US, Germany and Japan. She loves to explore what she has not seen, and always seeks to go beyond the boundaries. She has a PhD in Biomedical Science, an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Faculty Fellow of Stanford University’s Biodesign program.

Matias Kaila has been heading the Fund of Fund Investments at Finnish private equity focused national promotional institution Tesi since August 2017. He has 15 years private equity experience through various positions in M&A advisory, leveraged & structured finance as well as senior debt, mezzanine, equity and fund investments on behalf of a Finnish pension fund. His previous employers include Danske Bank, Tapiola Pension (now Elo) and MCF Corporate Finance. Matias holds Masters degree on Economics and Business Administration from Turku School of Economics in Finland.

Tesi is a Finnish state-owned investment company that accelerates growth companies’ success stories by investing in them, both directly and via funds. Tesi is a major player in the Finnish private equity market with AUM of €1.3bn. Tesi invests in all sectors on equal terms and always together with private investors. The mission of Tesi is to develop Finnish venture capital and private equity market as well as to promote economic and business growth in Finland.

Kristiina has been heading Estonian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association since 2013. Prior to that she worked at KredEx where she participated in the structuring process of Baltic Innovation Fund. Kristiina’s background is in equity sales and trading for Institutional clients across Europe and US. She is also co-founder and partner at Estelon and Advisory Board member at Latitude59. She holds MA from HULT International Business School, London.

Kristjan is a Chariman of the Estonian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association and a founding partner at BaltCap - the largest private equity house in the Baltics. Kristjan specialises in buyouts and has lead a number of companies to successful exits: Fitek, Magnetic MRO, TREV-2, Energate, Tuuleenergia, Microlink, A. le Coq, to name a few.

Kriss is a senior investment manager in EIF’s earlystage VC and BA fund-of-funds practice, former business angel, entrepreneur and management consultant. Kriss has a "hands-on" experience in co-founding and developing businesses in product and service sectors, advisory work, as well as investing himself as a business angel. Kriss holds an MBA degree from INSEAD (Singapore, France).

Pavel Dvorak is a Principal Banker at the EBRD where he focuses on investments in venture capital and private equity funds across the EBRD region. He also leads policy and technical assistance initiatives to support innovation and the development of the venture capital ecosystem in the EBRD region. Pavel supported the development and implementation of the EBRD's EUR 200 million direct venture capital investment platform and the EUR 100 million Early-Stage Innovation Facility, a captive early-stage VC fund-of-funds. He previously focused on supporting direct investments in ICT, healthcare and pharma, as well as developing the EBRD’s approaches to supporting innovation in the EBRD region (including both investments and policy). In his previous role of a Principal Economist at the EBRD, Pavel worked on developing country and sector strategies, targeted policy initiatives, and impact assessment. Before joining the EBRD, Pavel was a management consultant at Deloitte, where he focused mainly on commercial due diligence for private equity investors, strategy development and operations excellence in a number of sectors in CEE. Pavel holds a Ph.D. in Economics from CERGE-EI, Charles University in Prague and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA).