2 New Jury Members at the French Kick-Off Event

With a bit more than a week before the event all 5 pre-selected pitching startups are getting ready to present their company in front of an exclusive panel of European private investors.

Following the announcement of the first 3 jury members we are delighted that Francois Birnholz and Tom Horsey also join the panel of jurors. The first stop of this year’s ‘Invest and Connect’ startup award series – that focuses on smart mobility in 2020 – takes place on 4th June and first in the history of the series – virtually.

Françoise Birnholz is an experienced business angel investing in early-stage companies. She served for several years as a board member on a business angels’ platform (Go Beyond Investing). She is a trained international and multi-lingual attorney, qualified in both civil and common law. She has significant international experience having served in senior positions (from General Counsel to COO) in major global financial institutions like Citibank, Julius Baer, Credit Suisse, HSBC. In her latest position, Global Head Legal Special Projects, she was on the global Digital Committee of the Private Bank at HSBC handling cross-border regulatory issues such as GDPR and data protection looking at innovative banking tech solution including use of the blockchain. In 2019, she taught a course of International Financial Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She has worked in the US and Switzerland and has had responsibilities for the APAC and EMEA regions. She is admitted to the New York bar.