B2BeeMatch connected with the international tech community at the Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK) Summit 2022 in London. The SVC2UK Summit 2022 brought together industry experts, investors and entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley, the UK and beyond to discuss the future of the tech industry and fuel the growth of tech ecosystems. We were pleased to attend several events at this year’s summit. In this blog post, we’ll tell you what you missed and introduce you to the tech leaders and industry experts you need to know!
What is the SVC2UK Summit 2022?
Founded in 2006 by Reid Hoffman, Sherry Coutu CBE and Ellen Levy, SVC2UK was intended to improve the ecosystem for entrepreneurship in the UK. Today, SVC2UK has evolved to support UK and London scale ups, champion an inclusive and diverse ecosystem, and inspire the next generation of innovators. Currently, SVC2UK is run out of London & Partners by a team of organizers including Janet Coyle CBE, Harry Coath, Sherry Coutu CBE, Andrew Tibbitts and Christa Holmborg. This team makes sure that SVC2UK programs and events offer opportunities for tech leaders to connect throughout the calendar year. B2BeeMatch attended the SVC2UK Summit 2022, otherwise known as the Annual November Summit, where we benefited from a series of valuable networking opportunities and insightful speakers!
What did the speakers say at the SVC2UK Summit 2022?
The SVC2UK Summit 2022 was full of thought-provoking leaders and innovators who spoke about how they are changing the global tech landscape.
- Saasha Celestial-One, the co-founder and COO of OLIO, a free app harnessing the sharing economy to solve food waste, spoke at the Good Growth Summit with Svanika Balasubramanian, the co-founder and CEO of rePurpose Global, and Ella Goldner, the co-founder of Zinc, a VC fund that supports mission-driven tech entrepreneurs. This trio discussed solutions to the climate emergency and how to engage investors. On this subject, Saasha said, “Food waste is a huge market inefficiency. It’s a problem that needs to be solved in this lifetime. When you speak about it in this way, investors are interested.”
Photo via OLIO.
- As part of the Female Founders Breakfast, Angel Gambino, a principal at AWS Startups, conversed with Helen Burnell, Partner at leading UK law firm Shoosmiths, who also runs their SpHERe network addressing gender bias in the investment landscape. They chatted about Angel’s careers! Angel has been a pro soccer player, public-interest environmental attorney, CEO and angel investor!
- At a fireside chat during the summit, Ariana Alexander-Sefre, the founder and co-CEO of SPOKE, an artist-led audio wellness experience, talked with Michael Acton Smith OBE, the co-founder of Calm, the number one mental wellness brand on the Apple App Store. They discussed the importance of passion, trusting your gut, and mental health while growing a business. On building a wellness business, Michael cautioned, “Be thoughtful over which investors you speak to. If you’re building an impact-based business, make sure you’re connecting with investors who truly care about impact!”
- KC Goundiam, our founder and CEO at B2BeeMatch, moderated a fireside chat with David Hornik, the founding partner of Lobby Capital, at the Female Founders event. Covering US investor engagement, fundraising and diversity, KC and David discussed their experiences as leaders in tech. They left the crowd pondering an interesting and frustrating statistic: 49% of companies are founded by women, but only 2% of VC funding is allocated to them.
Photo via Christa Holmborg.
What were the networking opportunities like at the SVC2UK Summit 2022?
The 17th edition of the summit did not disappoint. There was networking in the hallways, at the coffee cart and at organized events such as the CEO Summit, Good Growth Summit, Female Founders Breakfast and Horizon Summit.
Each event at the SVC2UK Summit 2022 had its own particular focus and its own opportunities for networking with other tech leaders.
- On November 8, the invite-only CEO Summit brought CEOs, founders and mentors together to discuss growth challenges, goals and expansion.
- On November 9, the Good Growth Summit brought together founders, businesses and investors to explore how tech entrepreneurs can build a better future that balances sustainability, purpose and profit.
- On November 10, the Female Founders Breakfast united female founders and investors for a morning of inspiring speakers and valuable discussions.
- Also on November 10, the Horizon Summit allowed attendees and speakers to explore how the latest technology and business trends are disrupting industries, consumption habits and, more broadly, our lives.
B2BeeMatch attended the CEO Summit and Female Founders Breakfast. These events allowed us to connect in-person with current and future users of B2BeeMatch who bring value to our platform and to members like you.
Photo via Christa Holmborg.
Who else spoke at the SVC2UK Summit 2022?
Full of investors, innovators and tech unicorns, the SVC2UK Summit 2022 featured many insightful and inspiring speakers—we recommend you keep an eye on these industry game changers!
- Anne Boden MBE, the founder and CEO of Starling Bank, a leading fintech bank in the UK
- Jeff Kolovson, the co-founder and COO of Faire, the largest online B2B retail marketplace
- Pete Flint OBE, a general partner at NFX, a seed-stage VC fund in California
- Dr. Katerina Spranger, the founder and CEO of Oxford Heartbeat, a British healthtech startup
- Rishi Khosla OBE, the co-founder and CEO of OakNorth, a company that specializes in UK business loans and savings accounts
- Annie Olivier, head of growth at B Lab UK, a company that supports underrepresented founders in sustainability as they gain B Corp certification
- Natalie Campbell MBE, the co-CEO of Belu, a drinks business that prioritizes people and the environment
- Avid Larizadeh Duggan OBE, the senior managing director of Teacher’s Venture Growth, a global network of corporates and portfolio companies that focus on long-term investments
- Julian Gay, the CEO of Cred Protocol, a decentralized credit score company that assesses lending risk
- Elisabeth Duijnstee, the co-founder and CEO of Compass Labs, a company that is building the AI infrastructure for optimizing and automating decision-making in decentralized finance
- Matthew Wilson, the co-Founder and co-CEO of Omnipresent, a company that manages employees compliantly in more than 160 countries
- Daniel Glazer, the London office managing partner of Wilson Sonsini, a firm specializing in work with technology pioneers
- Laura Brightman, the founder and CEO of Co-Laboratories, a biotechnology incubator and services company
Photo via Daniel Glazer.
Did you attend the SVC2UK Summit 2022?
We’d love to hear from you about your perspective on the SVC2UK Summit 2022! If you didn’t attend, but your business is currently working on something that will affect the future of technology or tech entrepreneurship, please reach out and tell us what you’re working on and your current role!
