Inpho 2016 investor event to reach beyond photonics

20 Sep 2016

Bordeaux biennial conference embraces wider range of technologies to extend investment potential.

Inpho is the new identity of the biennial investment conference and “battle of the start-ups” competition, previously known as Invest in Photonics. The refresh of the event was announced at Photonics West 2016 by Hervé Floch, director general of the Route des Lasers cluster, based in Bordeaux, France.

This year’s event takes place October 6-7 in the city’s grand Palais de la Bourse, and will be broadened to include investment opportunities in a range of new technologies – many overlapping with photonics – such as naontechnology, the Internet of Things, biotech and healthcare.

French cluster Route des Lasers is co-sponsoring the event alongside CEA Leti and the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce. Floch commented, “The new message for Inpho is ‘photonics and beyond’. We are expecting to have at least 20 high-tech companies from around Europe presenting to a panel of global investors, both venture capitalists and corporates.

Explaining the broadened scope, Floch added, “We must consider the real world, where investors are putting money into a range of technology-based businesses. So we came to the conclusion that the best investment opportunities often involve a cocktail of technologies as well as photonics.”

Specialist speakers

Speakers announced so far and their areas of interest are as follow:

George Ugras, Inpho 2016 Chairman; MD, IBM Venture Capital; Stephen Alexander, Senior VP, Ciena; François Badoual, CEO, Total Energy Ventures; Jean-Marc Bally, Partner, Aster Capital; Alessio Beverina, Partner, Panakès Partners; Amir Elbaz, CEO, Iphotonix; Raffi Garabedian, CTO, First Solar; Solange Glaize, CFO, Twist Bioscience; Fabien Guillemot, CEO, Poietis; Iñaki Gutiérrez-Ibarluzea, Health Technology Assessment; Hyun Chul Jeong, Investment Manager, Samsung Ventures.

Also: Dieter Kraft, Investment Manager, Robert Bosch Venture Capital; Anne Laliron VP, Innovation Strategy, PSA Group; Pierre Laroche, VP Research & Technology, Legrand; Nicolas Leterrier CTO, Schneider Electric; Julian Lucek, Juniper Networks; Jean-Louis Malinge, Arch Venture Partners; Theo Meert, Head of R&D, Johnson & Johnson; Nitan Pathak, Business Development, European Investment Fund; Ethan Pierse, Partner, Nest Venture Capital; Christian Reitberger, Partner, Wellington Partners; Aymerik Renard, Director, Western Digital Capital; Pierre-Guy Therond, Head of Technologies, EDF Energies Nouvelles; Paul Thurk, MD, Arch Venture Partners; Colin Williams, Business Development, D-Wave; and Kyung Yoon, CEO, Talent Age.

The Inpho 2016 chairman Georges Ugras commented, "This year’s new conference offers an opportunity to pitch technology businesses in front of potential investors. All applicants will receive concrete feedback on their growth strategy and investment readiness by private investors.

“I am pleased to chair a new chapter in the Bordeaux region’s initiative to further private placement investment in disruptive hardware technologies. Each edition draws increasingly higher profile industrial players and investors with a singular objective: to strike a deal. The Inpho Venture Summit is an exciting place to be for high-level business networking in a unique setting where, over two days, everyone is accessible and very proactive.”