Monaco is Attracting Most Talented Tech Entrepreneurs Who Are Here to Disrupt and Change the Globe. VROOM Summit 5th October 2018
By Mariett Ramm
The Principality of Monaco is seeing a rapidly expanding number of inspirational events which are truly becoming prominent global ambassadors for pioneering ventures in the exploration and development of new markets.
The event that caught our attention is The VROOM Summit, which is an exclusive invitation-only fundraising event that unites select tech companies with extraordinary potential, tech executives, and investors such as family offices, high-net-worth individuals and venture capitalists.
Technology is embedded in everything we do, improving how we live, work, and experience the world. However, there’s a more significant transformation at play. There is a shift beyond the digital age, into an era where tech is built into every single interaction.
According to Accenture’s 2018 Tech Vision, IT is rapidly reshaping not just daily life, but society, and allowing businesses in every industry to re-imagine what’s possible. “There’s a new obligation, and a new opportunity for companies to engage with people differently” – PaulDaugh, Accenture CTIO.
Disruption courtesy of emerging technologies has been predicted for some time now, but this latest transformation is unique. For the first time, the change is a two-way street. People aren’t just using products and services but feeding information and access back to them. For an intellectual enterprise, this level of connection — and this degree of trust — requires a new type of relationship. It’s not just business. It’s personal. And it is a unique approach to how leaders will redefine their company based on the company they keep.
On October 5th, VROOM Summit celebrated its 5th anniversary at the distinguished Monaco Yacht Club.
Peter Madsen, Co-Founder of the VROOM Summit, who is also the Founder of UNITE and White Castle Partners with a well-established service, hospitality, and financial background, said: “We believe it makes sense to bring investment opportunities directly to the large private investor base in Monaco. VROOM Summit as an event is financially sustainable for us, but the most rewarding part of this journey is to be able to help innovative tech companies realise their vision. They are the people who will define our future, and we are happy to be the catalyst to their growth. We also help companies secure the best talent available to grow quickly and efficiently, through UNITE, the Monaco-based technology industry recruitment agency who is also one of our main sponsors. Despite its success and solid reputation, VROOM Summit is also known for its casual atmosphere. Attendance is by invitation only, because we aim to keep the event small enough to ensure that the presenting companies can meet all relevant parties, and yet large enough for a diverse investor base.”
“VROOM Summit covers all of Europe with VROOM Caravan, selecting the most disruptive/innovative tech start-ups in various European tech hubs, and bringing them to Monaco so that investors can have direct access to these success stories without the middlemen. In our experience, the most successful tech companies are those that do not follow trends but make their own. They solve a problem uniquely, saving you time or money. This year, VROOM Caravan has brought Monaco a wide range of companies from Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, and the UK.” -Peter Madsen
This year, VROOM Summit’s extraordinary line-up of companies included “movers and shakers” such as:
Coinify which enables businesses and individuals to adopt financial innovation through a currency conversion service connecting traditional and new payment worlds. https://coinify.com/
Hotelchamp which challenges Booking.com and Expedia by analysing 500 million data points from the online booking process of over 1500 hotels and identifying where a particular hotel is losing direct bookings. Hotelchamp increases booking intention by changing mind-set of first-time visitors and welcomes returning visitors with a powerful shortcut directly to the decision phase. www.hotelchamp.com
Carfit plans to disrupt the Automotive market by a machine learning method of data analysis that automates analytical model building. Using algorithms that iteratively learn from data, machine learning allows computers to find hidden insights. With these techniques, we can learn from previous computations to produce reliable, repeatable data. This science isn’t new, but it’s gaining fresh momentum and is being applied in a new way. https://car.fit/?lang=en
Tatoodo, which was a Danish start-up back in 2013, now has over 30 million followers across its social networks and hosts over 300,000 artists on its platform with a worldwide reach. The Tattoodo platform was originally designed as a place for artists to share their work and connect with the public. Now, the company’s app has 4.2 million registered users. https://www.tattoodo.com/
Other exceptional backers at VROOM Summit included Nokomo (http://nomoko.world/), Urban Jungle (https://welcome.myurbanjungle.com), mything (https://www.mything.com/), and balluun (https://www.balluun.com/), all of which had an absolute and extensive insights into how their industries are changing.
The 5th VROOM Summit had the privilege of support and outstanding contribution of Mr. Giuseppe Ambrosio, the well-respected President of Monaco’s Single and Multi-Family Office Association. The highlight of the summit was a keynote speech by Mr. Ambrosio, who offered deep insights into the Dos and Don’ts of becoming a resident or starting a business or a family office in Monaco. “Take full responsibility of your residency card, once completed this task, this will give a little sense of pride, and if by chance you have a miserable day you will come home and look at your residency card and plan the next move as Monaco resident!” – Mr. Giuseppe Ambrosio
Mr. Ambrosio, with 12 years of experience in living and conducting businesses in Monaco, is a bona fide expert ICAEW Monaco contact point, and honorary Business Tourism Ambassador appointed since 2015. He spoke at length about Individual and Corporate Taxation, entity authorization types counting bridging the gap from start to the completion of post-authorization registration. He also examined Single and Multi-family office duties ranging from Single Family Office traditional services including administrative assistance and concierge, asset management and supervision, and Multi-Family Office financial services.
Participants, exhibitors, and presenters followed up the compact summit program with an elegant aperitif evening reception, and networking was in full force alongside the only deep-water port of the French Riviera, the bay of Hercules Port in Monaco.
Mr. Madsen told Billionaire Chronicle: “The investment community we have built isremarkably diverse, with high net worth individuals (HNWIs), ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs), family offices, institutional investors and angel networks such as Venture Capital and Private Equity companies. We have already had two unicorns (companies valued over $1 billion) emerge from among the start-ups who presented at VROOM Summit. We expect this trend to continue, as we strive to select exceptional investment opportunities for VROOM. Our plans for 2019 are already underway. Finland, Slovenia, Portugal, and Italy are among the countries that we will be visiting with VROOM Caravan. For next year, we plan to divide our focus between high-growth and frontier technologies.”
To APPLY FOR ATTENDING next year’s VROOM Summit, please contact peter@vroomsummit.com
