Board of Directors

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Olivier Hersent - Chairman & CEO

Olivier is a recognized telecom and technology expert, he wrote several books on networking technology, VoIP, M2M, Internet of Things(IoT) and the Smart Grid, and authored 6 international patents. In 1998, Olivier founded NetCentrex, a leading provider of VoIP infrastructure, then became CTO of Comverse group after its acquisition of NetCentrex. Olivier founded Actility in 2010. Olivier graduated from Ecole Polytechnique and Telecom Paris. He received the Blondel scientific medal from Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Information Technology and Communication association (SEE) in 2012, and was made a Knight of French Order “Legion of Honor” in 2018.

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Matthieu Bonamy - Director

Matthieu is a partner at Eurazeo-Idinvest. Matthieu is an active venture capital investor with a focus on high growth potential startup developing new business models based on tech and particularly digital technologies such as IOT, AI, data analytics,  platforms, SAAS, Artificial Intelligence, blockchain …

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Edouard Combette - Director

Edouard Combette is an Investment Manager at Bpifrance Investissement. Previously, he was Associate with Ecomobilité Ventures after serving as an analyst with the firm, which he joined in 2011. Prior to joining Ecomobilité Ventures, he worked in management consulting and start-ups in financial services. Edouard graduated from Ecole Nationale de Chimie de Paris in Renewable Energies, and HEC Business School Entrepreneurs Program.

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Tom Wheeler - Director

Tom Wheeler was the 31st Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in November 2013. Prior to working at the FCC, Wheeler worked as a venture capitalist and for many years in the cable and wireless industry, holding positions including President of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA). In recognition of his work in promoting the wireless industry, Wheeler was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame in 2003.  In 2009, as a result of his work in promoting the growth and prosperity of the cable television industry and its stakeholders was inducted into the Cable Television Hall of Fame. He is the only member of both halls of fame. Cablevision magazine named Wheeler one of the 20 most influential individuals in its history during cable’s 20th anniversary in 1995.

Chantal-Toulas

Chantal Toulas - Director

After 18 years of mergers and acquisitions, specializing in industry and renewable energies, Chantal joined Creadev as an investor in the training and human resources segment in 2013.
In 2021, she became CFO of Creadev, an investment company that brings together around 40 companies, with a cumulative amount invested standing at over 2Md€ since its creation. 
She also served on the Boards of several compagnies, including Voltalia, which is an ENR company listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, where she was Chairwoman of the Appointments and Remuneration Committee and member of the Audit Committee until 2022. She is now a Director of the Board of Actility.

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Jon Koplin - Observer

Jon Koplin joined Cisco Investments in 2017 and leads the EMEA team responsible for investments, joint ventures, and acquisitions.

Previous to Cisco, Jon worked as an early-stage technology investor with European family offices. Before moving into the investment arena, Jon held senior operating roles at Google and Samsung in Europe and Asia. Early in his career, Jon worked in Silicon Valley and in startups and was part of the management team of NetBeans (acquired by Sun Microsystems).

Jon earned a BS in chemical engineering and an MA in classical languages from Stanford University and an MBA from INSEAD.

See  Jon’s profile

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Gitte Bedford - Observer

Based in Robert Bosch Venture Capital’s Stuttgart office, Gitte Bedford is responsible for evaluating investment opportunities and for all stages of the investment process. Her main area of focus has been software, specifically the Internet of Things, cloud and mobile computing, security and data analytics. Gitte is an experienced professional with a strong financial background.

After starting her career in the treasury department at Robert Bosch, she progressed to positions as Managing Director of Robert Bosch Finance Plc near London, UK, Director Finance for Bosch’s Asia-Pacific operations in Shanghai, China, and joined Bosch’s VC group in 2009.

Gitte holds a degree in Business Informatics from HTW Berlin and a Masters degree in Finance from Strathclyde University, Glasgow, U.K.

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Nicolas Tymen - Observer

Nicolas Tymen is a Venture Investment Director at BNP Paribas Developpement. Nicolas joined BNP Paribas in 2005, and moved to the independent subsidiary venture investment company in May 2016.

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Stefan Kuentz - Guest

Stefan Kuentz is Investment Director at Swisscom Ventures. Stefan joined Swisscom Ventures in 2011, and since then he has played a key role in building up an investment portfolio in cloud, virtualization and mobile/IoT technologies. Currently, he is a board director/observer at Actility, Bexio, Exoscale, Matrixx Software and VirtualAds and furthermore manages Arviem and PIQ. He also sits on the board of Swiss Startup Invest, Switzerland’s leading financing platform for hi-tech companies. Stefan joined Swisscom in 2002 and held several business development and senior management positions, including managing Swisscom’s innovation and scouting activities out of Silicon Valley from 2007 to 2010. Prior to Swisscom, Stefan spent many years with IBM, latterly heading IT strategy consulting.

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Vikas Butaney - Guest

Vikas Butaney is Vice President, General Manager for Internet of Things (IoT) Connectivity at Cisco and works closely with leading customers and integrators as they transform from being product to connected product businesses using IoT technologies. Vikas has global responsibility for strategy, partnerships, and product roadmaps for Cisco IoT, including sensor connectivity, industrial security, edge compute capabilities, and industrial networking. Vikas works closely with Cisco’s leading IoT customers and GTM partners to drive IoT adoption and customer success. Vikas has held leading positions in Cisco with broad product portfolio responsibilities, including in Cisco’s enterprise and service provider products and solutions such as voice, video, wireless, and routing. Vikas has held leadership positions at MobileIron, Accelera Mobile Broadband, and Verizon. He earned his MS degree in electrical engineering focusing on optical and data communications from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.

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Sem Alberga - Observer

Sem Alberga is Investment Director in the Ventures team of KPN in the Netherlands. Sem joined KPN’s venture team in 2020 and is responsible for investments in the IOT, digital health, consumer and data&analytics verticals. Previously he has been investment manager at Nimbus Ventures and served as M&A advisor with Houlihan Lokey and ABN AMRO where he has been involved in various transactions, capital raisings and capital markets transactions within the TMT & Services sectors.

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Simon Hawkins - Guest

Simon is a member of the Senior Leadership Team at Inmarsat, leading the Commercial and Innovation team in the Enterprise Business Unit, with particular focus on developing Inmarsat’s product and commercial offer for IoT. 

Prior to Inmarsat Simon has held a number of senior commercial positions in high growth technology and managed services businesses.

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Mathieu de la Rochefoucauld - observer

Mathieu is Managing Partner at Orange Ventures.
With 23 years of experience in Private Equity and Venture Capital.
He has made his career in various capital investment funds (SG Asset Management, Supernova Invest), working primarily with digital innovation companies,  at various stages of maturity from Seed to capital development.
Prior to joining Orange Ventures, Mathieu held a position of Associate Director at Amundi Private Equity Funds.

Pierre-Verbruggen

Pierre Verbruggen - observer

Pierre graduated as an engineer (ir.) from Brussels University and started his career in 1975 in the oil and gas industry for US manufacturing companies (Dresser, Solar Turbines) with extensive travelling in Europe,USA and Middle East.
From 1984 till now Pierre has been active in telecom and ICT industry. First for GTE-ATEA, which became part of Siemens. In 1991 founding CEO of ATT/Unisource (JV between KPN, Swisscom, Telia, Telefonica) in Belux with extensive travelling in Europe as CMO of the group. In Belgium, the company became the biggest competitor of Proximus for the fixed network, with total revenues of more than 100m€ in data , IP and voice services and 400 persons employed in year 2000. During liberalisation of the telecom market, Pierre became founding Chairman of Platform of Telecom Operators in 1997. Telecom advisor for Minister of Telecommunications in Belgium in 2000. Since then Pierre held several positions as CEO/ interim manager in Telecom/ICT sector: Broadnet, Iparix, Sylis, Switchlink, Tele2 Versatel,..
Founder and CEO in 2013 of Actility Benelux NV as a JV with Actility SA, which has become world leader for LPWAN (LoRaWan) – Internet of Things (IoT) networks.

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