EIM AS
EXECUTIVE INTERIM MANAGEMENT
PARTNER OF THE BIGGEST
CEE PRIVATE EQUITY AND VENTURE
CAPITAL CONFERENCE

How To Achieve Operational Excellence in a Private Equity Firm During The Pandemic?

Fabian Wasmus, Partner at VITRUVIAN PARTNERS

Fabian joined Vitruvian in 2017, is heading the DACH office in Munich and is focused on Technology and Healthcare investments in the DACH and CEE region overall. Prior to Vitruvian Fabian has been a Partner with EQT, committed to the mid-market segment in the DACH and Nordics region. Prior to joining EQT, Fabian worked at MCap Finance investing in German mid-cap companies as well as for KPMG in the corporate finance team. In the course of his career, he has also co-founded an internet start-up. Fabian has over 17 years’ experience in mid-market private equity as well as growth investments across Europe. He has a MSc in Business Administration from the University of Cologne and a MBA from CEMS.

Pekka Maki, Managing Director at 3TS CAPITAL PARTNERS

Mr. Mäki is the Managing Partner of 3TS and is primarily responsible for general management of 3TS. Previously, Mr. Mäki was the Managing Partner of Red Catalyst Ltd., a strategic business development consultancy and an investment boutique. He has also been an entrepreneur and executive in management consulting and with advertising agencies across Central and Eastern Europe and in Finland. A true European Mr. Mäki speaks five languages and has studied at Helsinki University of Technology, IESE Business School in Barcelona, Universidad Complutense in Madrid and Wirschaftsuniversität in Vienna.

Martin Chocholacek, Vice President ENTERPRISE INVESTORS

Martin is a Vice President of Enterprise Investors, one of the major Private Equity players on the CEE Region, with portfolio companies in Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and the rest of the CEE Region.

Emilia Manajova, Founding Partner at ESPIRA INVESTMENTS

Emília is a Founding Partner of ESPIRA Investments, a private equity firm targeting growth capital investments primarily in Czech and Slovak based SMEs. ESPIRA’s objective is to support local entrepreneurs in expanding their businesses internationally. An additional element of ESPIRA’s investment philosophy is a focus on companies managed by balanced teams of men and women.

Prior to co-founding ESPIRA, Emília was a Head of Czech Republic and Slovakia with PineBridge Investments CEE, a Central European focused private equity firm managing over EUR 500 million. Earlier in her career, Emília was a member of the investment team of Benson Oak Capital and Penta Investments. Emília has been involved in transactions in a variety of sectors including health care, consumer goods, manufacturing and services.

Implications of COVID 19 on Venture Capital Investing in The Region

Dan Lupu, Partner at EARLYBIRD

Dan is currently a Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital, helping manage the Digital East Fund. Dan is a member of the Board of Directors of Flipps, DCSPlus, Photoneo, FintechOS and UIPath.

Marcin Hejka, General Partner at OTB VENTURES

Marcin Hejka, Co-Founder and General Partner of OTB Ventures, $100m VC fund investing in post-revenue technology companies with links to Central and Eastern European talent. Before establishing OTB Marcin spent 18 years at Intel Capital (1999-2017), where he was Vice President, Voting Investment Committee Member and Managing Director responsible for EMEA and India. Prior to Intel Capital Marcin was Vice President at the Poland Growth Fund (1995-1999), Resident Polish Specialist at Banexi (1993) and Financial Analyst at Paribas Capital Markets Group (1990). Between 2004 and 2011 Marcin was Vice President of the Polish Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (PSIK). Marcin invested and served in Boards of several technology companies, including: AVG, Mall.cz, Sigfox, Elmodis, Centrum.cz, Nokta, Index.hu, WP.PL, Ailleron, CG Trader, Index.hu, SpaceKnow,Minit, Ozon, Api.ai, Segron, BabbleLabs and other. He also served in Boards of Kredyt Bank and Bank Komunalny, two Polish banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Agora SA and was Deputy Chairman of Dromex, the largest Polish road construction firm.

Martin Konop, Investment Manager at ROCKAWAY CAPITAL

Martin Konop is an Investment Manager at Rockaway Capital where he is leading its Ventures portfolio and also participating as a Board Member in Rockaway´s portfolio company Heureka Group (leading e-commerce comparison shopping platform in CEE).
Previously, he worked as an investment professional in Czech-based private equity funds Genesis Capital and Hartenberg Capital, and later also as a CFO of an early venture with operations in the US, Czech Republic, and India. Martin has a double degree in Business Administration from SUNY Empire State College and the University of New York in Prague, and he is also a CFA Charterholder. Lately, he was included in 2020 Forbes 30-under-30 list, participated pro-bono in helping European startups identify and manage Covid-19 impacts on their businesses, and also sat on the Expert Board of “Hack the Crisis” hackathon organized by the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade and CzechInvest.

Fundraising & Change of LP-GP Dynamics

Tomas Casa, Investment Manager at CEE EQUITY PARTNERS

CEE Equity Partners is and advisor to 2 China-CEE Funds, with total AUM of 1.2bil USD, investing in the CEE region. Tomáš joined the team of CEE Equity Partners after previous experience with Genesis Capital, last time at a position of Investment Director. He has participated in completed transactions in the fields of manufacturing, retail, services and pharmaceutical sectors, having responsibility for the entire investment process. He has experience with the support of companies from the nonexecutive board position, having served as a board member of seven portfolio companies. Tomáš has also been involved in the fund administration activities, LP reporting and has wide experience with company valuations. Tomáš holds a Masters’ degree in international finance from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and Masters’ degree in economics from Charles University in Prague. He has also completed the CFA designation.

ESG in the CEE Region

Andrew Wrobel, Founding Partner at EMERGING EUROPE

Andrew Wrobel is the Founding Partner of Emerging Europe, a London-based intelligence, news and community platform, and the leader of the Tech Emerging Europe Advocates initiative, a member of the Global Tech Advocates network. Trained as a journalist, he specializes in technology and innovation, foreign direct investment, nation branding and soft power, and cross-cultural communications. Andrew regularly interviews political and business leaders and speaks at or moderates international political, economic, and technology events, where he promotes discussion about emerging Europe. He is also a juror at various international business-related competitions, a media coach, a location promotion trainer, and a media commentator. He has authored and contributed to a number of international business, investment and trade-related publications.

Nick Lyth, CEO at GREEN ANGER SYNDICATE

Nick Lyth is CEO of Green Angel Syndicate, which he founded in 2013 as an experiment to fight climate change and global warming, with ten members, and two company investments. It now has 180 members, 24 companies in its portfolio, and is currently Angel Syndicate of the Year.

Manuela Fumarola, Private Equity Associate & Lead of ESG at M&G INVESTMENTS

 Bohuslav Lipovsky, Managing Partner of EIM EXECUTIVE INTERIM MANAGEMENT CEE

Deal Sourcing During the Crisis

Tomas Czechowicz,Managing Partner at MCI CAPITAL

Founder of MCI, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Entrepreneur since 1985. For the past 20 years, Venture Capital/Private Equity investor, founder and Group Managing Partner @ MCI Capital – one of the leading European private equity groups with focus on technology and digitalization. In 1990-1998 Co-founder and CEO of JTT Computer SA – leading CE computer manufacturer with USD 100M+ revenue.
Selected as one of Top-20 best Polish managers in 2015 by Bloomberg Business Week. Guest speaker at many PE/VC conferences, including NOAH, Websummit. Supervisory board member and advisory board member of many of MCI funds portfolio companies across Europe. In 2001 the World Economic Forum awarded Tomasz Czechowicz with the title of Global Leader for Tomorrow for his exceptional feeling for the market, professionalism, vision and business efficacy. In 2000 one of the TOP-10 most influential people in the European Internet by Business Week. MBA holder from Warsaw School of Economics and Univeristy of Minnesota

Andrzej Bartos, Senior Partner at INNOVA CAPITAL

Mr. Bartos joined Innova in 2004 from Allianz Specialized Investments as a Head of Office in Warsaw. Prior to that, he worked in the investment banking and capital markets at the Commerzbank Group and the Polish Development Bank. During that time, Andrzej was involved in scores of IPOs, equity financings, corporate and privatization advisory projects. His principal area of responsibility is Manufacturing investments. Due to his extensive experience within Polish public markets, he is actively involved in any transactions involving the public markets. He co-led the investments in EBCC, Fuchosa, Donako, Libet, Energobit, Trimo, Flokk and PLIC. He was responsible for the successful IPO of ACE on the WSE in 2007. Mr. Bartos graduated from Warsaw School of Economics, and he holds several professional qualifications, including Securities Broker’s license and postgraduate executive trainings from INSEAD and Harvard Business School. In the past Mr. Bartos also served on the board of Polish Private Equity Association and established the first Polish Management Buy-Out Club, a gathering of over 70 local executives.

Vytautas Plunksnis, Head of Private Equity at INVL ASSET MANAGEMENT

Vytautas Plunksnis has more than 15 years experience in the Baltic private equity and capital markets – investing in Central and Eastern European equities, managing pension and investment funds, and handling M&A transactions. Other areas of expertise include the control of business operations and the development of strategy for business expansion. Vytautas Plunksnis has successfully implemented over 10 deals with a total value of EUR 250 million and was appointed to management/supervisory bodies of 20+ portfolio companies. Vytautas holds bachelor degree in Business Administration, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania. Vytautas has started its career path as a business journalist in 2002 and since 2004 for a year was Editor in Chief, Business Desk, Lithuanian News Agency Elta, UAB. His career in asset management started in 2006 as a strategic analyst and fund manager in Finasta Asset Management, UAB (INVL portfolio company). Since 2009 until 2016 he was an Investment Manager at INVL and since 2016 – Head of Private Equity and Member of the Management Board at INVL Asset Management.

Michal Rybovič, Partner at SANDBERG CAPITAL

Michal is a partner at Sandberg Capital, a private equity firm investing in mid-sized companies in the CEE region with AUM over 250 mil. EUR. He joined Sandberg Capital in 2014 and since then he led several investments especially in IT and Telco sectors.

Michal Popiolek, Managing Director for GLobal and Investment Banking at MBANK SA

Michal is a partner at Sandberg Capital, a private equity firm investing in mid-sized companies in the CEE region with AUM over 250 mil. EUR. He joined Sandberg Capital in 2014 and since then he led several investments especially in IT and Telco sectors.

Challenges of portfolio companies during the COVID-19 outbreak

Przemyslaw Raczka, Investment Director at RESOURCE PARTNERS

Przemyslaw is working with Resource Partners over 10 years and is holding the Investment Director position. He has rich experience in consumer sectors including retail operations, FMCG production, B2C services, including on-line. Przemyslaw serves currently as supervisory board member in World Class Romania. His higher education was complemented with Executive MBA diploma from the University of Quebec at Montreal and Warsaw School of Economics. Resource Partners was created in 2009 by former core members of The Carlyle Group CEE. Since then Resource Partners have successfully raised over EUR400 million to invest in small and medium sized companies in Central and Eastern Europe

Wojciech Jezierski, Partner at ABRIS CAPITAL PARTNERS

Wojciech is a senior investment Partner at Abris Capital Partners and member of the Investment Committee. He joined the company in 2012. He was responsible for Abris’ investment in Novago, a waste management company and currently, as a Chairman of the Supervisory Board Member he is responsible for investment in Graal – fish processing company and CADM Automotive – engineering services business in Poland. Prior to Abris, Wojciech worked for 12 years in investment banking, including 6 years with independent corporate finance boutique Lasanoz Finance and 6 years with Access (Rothschild’s joint venture in Poland) and later UniCredit Group. Wojciech holds M.Sc. in Finance and Banking and Accountancy from Independent University in Warsaw, and a postgraduate degree from Warsaw School of Economics. He also completed executive education from Oxford University Said Business School and Insead.

Daniel Tomov, Founding Partner at ELEVEN VENTURES

Daniel is the founding partner at Eleven Ventures where he has been investing in some of the most promising and exciting tech startups in CEE since 2012 – 130+ to date. Upon the early success of their first fund, Eleven launched an entirely private early-stage VC in 2018 supported by some of the most successful tech entrepreneurs and executives from Bulgaria and the region. Being passionate about building companies, Daniel has been involved in startups since 2000 as an investor and a founder in diverse domains ranging from software to cleantech.

Rokas Peciulaitis, Managing Partner at CONTRARIAN VENTURES

Rokas Peciulaitis is a Founding and Managing Partner at Contrarian Ventures an early-stage venture capital firm focusing on energy tech and e-mobility convergence theme investing across Europe and Israel. Rokas founded Contrarian Ventures at the age of 26 and is one of the youngest GP‘s in broader Europe. Before starting Contrarian Ventures, he was inflation and derivatives trader at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Before his trading career at BAML, he was part of the exclusive government program “Kurk Lietuvai” (eng. Create for Lithuania), where he was advising the Lithuanian government incl. Ministry of Economy and Innovation, Startup Lithuania and Ministry of Energy on entrepreneurship, FDI attraction and key strategic projects. Rokas is a founder of Energy Tech Summit and Energy Tech Network, where his goal is to build a more connected energy tech and e-mobility community. He is also Chairman of the Lithuanian Venture Capital Association, and is a board member of a non-profit organization Vilnius Marathon. Rokas graduated from the University of Glasgow with an M.A. in Economics and spent a year in University California Santa Barbara. Rokas has completed additional coursework at Harvard Business School’s Executive Program with a focus on venture capital and private equity.

Keynote

Tim Draper, Founder at DRAPER ASSOCIATES

Tim Draper is a top global venture capitalist, having founded Draper Associates and DFJ. The firms’ investments include Coinbase, Robinhood, TwitchTV, Skype, Tesla, Baidu, Focus Media, YeePay, Hotmail, SolarCity, Athenahealth, Box, SpaceX, Cruise Automation, Carta, Planet, PTC, Ledger, and many others. He is a leading spokesperson for Bitcoin, Blockchain, ICOs, and cryptocurrencies and led investments in the companies that would issue two of the largest ICO’s: Tezos and Bancor.