Event Speaker Profile - Kevin Dillon
| Company: | Partner, Atlantic Bridge LLP, London & Dublin |
| Website: | http://www.abven.com/ |
| Details: | Venture and Growth Capital Asset Classes have suffered in the recession as various categories of Private Investors have balanced portfolios and adjusted downward for the dramatic drop in values.
But Public Funds continue to support Venture and Growth Capital strategically and Technology is viewed as a key sector to lead the Global Economies back to growth. Capital remains available for good technologies developed by talented entrepreneurs and directed by experienced managers. 1. What Sources of Venture and Growth Capital? - How to target the right Public Funds, Private Equity and Venture Capital Funds, Family Offices and Fund of Funds to secure funding. 2. How to avoiding being Screened Out? - How to get the meetings and position the approach. How to qualify opportunities so as to focus the fundraising and not lose momentum. 3. What Pitch Sells post Recession? - What are the key things investors look for in a fund raising pitch and team? How do you optimize the position of your investment opportunity? 4. How are business cases evaluated in light of tougher exit markets? - What value drivers have to be present. How to sell exit potential along with growth potential and position risk. How do you ensure your technology business fits within large cap company 'white spaces'. 5. What Technology Domains are Hot? What technology shifts are perceived by Investors to be strong opportunities for growth and profit? How to position your Company to fit these. The session will be approached from the pragmatic perspective of a Growth and Venture Capital Investor and establish the thesis that despite less capital, downsizing of US Venture Capital and questions over European Venture Capital, the opportunity to secure funding does still exist in 2009 and will start improving substantially in 2010. Technology remains a key investment opportunity and 2010 investments will prove to be a great vintage for technology investors over the coming years. Kevin is a founding General Partner of Atlantic Bridge, a leading technology private equity partnership. Atlantic Bridge focuses on Middle Market Technology investments across Europe, with a strong emphasis on a transatlantic business building. It makes domain-specific investments in late-stage venture capital, growth capital and buy-out transactions in the communications technology, semiconductor and software sectors. He is a director on the boards of Panda SL (where he is Chairman), Envivio Inc, PolarLake Ltd and GeoVector Inc and is an observer on the board of Acision Ltd. Kevin has invested in all stages of growth companies including angel, venture and growth capital. Kevin has 24 years' operating experience in the technology sector, including a total of 13 years operational experience in Paris, London and Dublin as an executive in the software industry and five years in Silicon Valley. Kevin served as Vice President, Microsoft EMEA and helped grow the regional business from $500 million in 1991 to $9.5 billion in 2004. At Microsoft, Kevin was a member of Microsoft EMEAs' senior management team responsible for various roles in Finance, Operations and Sales and Marketing. At Microsoft, Kevin developed a substantial network of European and U.S. channel partners, outsourcing partners and service providers to technology companies. He was responsible for various EMEA finance functions, product manufacturing, distribution, logistics and merger and acquisition integration, licensing and subsidiary development, customer care and channel management. He supported and was jointly responsible for the formation of many new subsidiaries, functions and lines of business. This included working with local management in establishing financial, operational and customer functions in more than 20 subsidiaries. Kevin established the European Operations Centre in Dublin, hiring up to 700 people and serving all of Microsoft's customers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East while becoming one of Ireland's top revenue generating companies. He replaced 500 manufacturing jobs with operations, customer and partner roles moving the Dublin Centre 'higher up the value chain'. He was also responsible for building the operational infrastructure for the successful launch of Xbox as a new product and line of business within Europe. He led Microsoft's EMEA customer care, customer satisfaction, loyalty and related programs. From 1985 through 1991, Kevin was an international tax advisor at Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Europe, the U.S. and South Africa. In that capacity, he helped structure international growth, acquisitions and income repatriation planning for many leading technology companies in Silicon Valley. Prior to 1985, Kevin practiced law in South Africa, including serving as a Legal Officer in the South African Navy. Kevin is a frequent industry speaker and was ICT Ireland Industry Person of the Year in 2001 and elected a fellow of the Irish Management Institute in 2000. He holds various degrees in Business, Finance, Taxation & Law and is an Attorney at Law, Certified Public Accountant and Certified Investment Manager. « Back to event |