Nominees are based across tech hubs including London, Berlin, and Paris.Venture capital is in a state of flux right now.
There are more women on the list than men, which speaks to a strong pipeline in what has been a male-dominated industry. Women held 13.5% of general partner roles at European funds in 2022, perZeynep YavuzYavuz is a London-based partner for the US fund General Catalyst. Originally from Turkey, Yavuz is a fintech specialist having previously worked at remittances company WorldRemit.
Azzarelli studied economics at Sciences Po Paris and UC Berkeley and spent some time in the space sector at rocket launch company, Arianespace. She is also a keen writer outside of VC and enjoys surfing and playing chess. Currently, she's working with the product team at her VC firm to refine workflows and early-stage tracking. Outside of VC, she is volunteering with the charity Greenhouse Sports as it prepares for a national launch. London-based Jefferies has spent time in Beijing and Berlin as part of a globetrotting career to date. Now at Accel with a focus on the early stage, he previously worked at enterprise-focused Dawn Capital and spent time in Goldman Sachs' tech, media, and telecoms team.
After graduating, he had a stint at Creator Fund, a London-based fund backing academic founders, before moving to MMC Ventures in 2020 as an investor. Before moving to Portage, de Lavigne worked as an early-stage investor at Founders Future in Paris, where she worked on more than 20 seed deals across Europe. Alongside VC roles, she's worked as a research analyst at Goldman Sachs in London and at asset manager Lazard Frères Gestion.
"I'm also focused on building relationships with great companies who could benefit from an institutional investor but have not had one yet — that is the class of entrepreneurs that I have the most empathy with," he said.Baeuerlein is the founding partner of Puzzle Ventures, an early-stage solo GP fund focused on backing early-stage European enterprise software and fintech companies.