0100 Europe 2025

Constantijn van Oranje leads Techleap.nl, the accelerator for the tech ecosystem in The Netherlands. As Special Envoy, he is on a mission to turn The Netherlands into a unicorn nation. He and his team connect the Dutch tech ecosystem to help ambitious and promising Dutch tech companies grow fast internationally by improving their access to capital, market, talent and technologies. Constantijn co-founded StartupFest Europe, which is still the biggest start-up event ever organized in The Netherlands. Previously, he was Chief of Staff to VP Neelie Kroes at the European Commission in charge of the Digital Agenda and led the Brussels office of the RAND Corporation. He is also currently the Director Digital Technology & Macro Strategy at Macro Advisory Partners in London and New York, and Edge Fellow at Deloitte Centre for the Edge. Additionally, Constantijn is ambassador of the European Innovation Council. Aside from innovation and technology, Constantijn van Oranje is passionate about art, music, photography and nature.

Joaquin is currently Head of Secondaries at the European Investment Fund, where he joined in 2008 as part of the primaries lower mid-market investment team. At EIF he has led and closed transactions in Buyout, Development Capital, Growth, Credit & VC strategies, having successfully executed primaries, buy-side and sell-side secondaries (including single asset and multi-asset GP-leds, LP-tenders, preferreds, single LP-led and portfolio LP-led transactions) as well as co-investments across Europe. As part of the EIF’s private institutional investor programme (AMUF), a platform which has raised over EUR 1.6bn to date, Joaquin led and closed a EUR 100m private equity secondaries fund focused on GP-led solutions and acquisition of single LP positions in the lower end of the mid-market. Regular panellist on secondaries, primaries and co-investments across Europe. Holds a Degree in Law from Nebrija University, an International MBA from IE Business School and the Private Equity Certification Program from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Fluent in English (proficiency), French (mother language) and Spanish (mother language).

Mattias focuses on the European primary portfolio and is involved in the sourcing, screening, execution, monitoring, and exiting of growth and buyout co-investments. Prior to joining Adams Street Partners, he was a Managing Director in the Private Equity Advisory & Asset Management division of the StepStone Group where he led European primary, secondary, and co-investments. Previously, he was a Principal in the Private Equity Secondaries group of Greenpark Capital, as well as a Private Equity Analyst at Lehman Brothers. He was also a Sergeant with the Amphibious Battalion of the Swedish Marines. Mattias is a member of Adams Street’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Committee.

James joined Balderton in 2013 and became a Partner in 2016. He invests across geographies and stages with a specific focus on AI, energy, productivity and health. He sits as a board member and observer for multiple portfolio companies, including Sophia Genetics (Nasdaq-listed $SOPH), Depop (acquired by Etsy), Tibber and GoCardless, and has been involved in the sale of companies to Amazon, Epic Games and Elastic. Prior to joining Balderton, James helped launch and run one of the UK’s first social venture funds. He has worked with entrepreneurs and businesses in Europe and Africa, in a fintech startup, and as a consultant with McKinsey & Company. James is also a member of the UK Government’s Industrial Development Advisory Board, where he oversees large investments into critical infrastructure like the UK’s space, energy and transport sectors, and is a member of the investment committee for Christ Church, Oxford.

Kirsten joined Octopus Ventures in 2021 to launch First Cheque Fund, its first dedicated pre-seed fund. Before joining Octopus Ventures, Kirsten was the managing director of CyLon, Europe’s first deep tech and cyber security accelerator programme investing in and supporting more than 60 startups, including Tessian and Immersive Labs. Kirsten was also part of the original team at Seedcamp Investment Management. During her five-year tenure, she travelled extensively across Europe meeting the best local entrepreneurs and backed some of Europe’s trailblazers, such as Wise, UiPath and Revolut. Before launching First Cheque Fund, Kirsten dabbled as an angel investor and enjoys nothing more than helping founders on their growth journey.

Henrik joined Elevate, Verdane’s team of in-house operational experts, as Chief Technology Officer in June 2020. As CTO of Verdane Elevate, Henrik supports the technology and product organisations in our portfolio with architectural and organisational expertise to help them successfully deliver on high-priority projects. Through Henrik, Verdane connects relevant persons within our holdings to leverage the technology and methodology knowledge present in the Verdane portfolio and to help all its companies scale and succeed. Henrik is an experienced CTO and has been key in scaling several SaaS companies through his expertise in both Agile methods and System Architecture.

Matthieu Baret, Managing Partner in charge of Venture, joined the Group in 2005. He has overseen over 40 investments and is primarily active in the telecoms/media, software, B2B sectors. Before that Matthieu has worked 10 years in the telecom sector, mainly for carriers. He regularly speaks on entrepreneurship at Centrale-Supelec and Dauphine. Matthieu is a graduate of CENTRALE-SUPELEC, and holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech (Atlanta, USA) and an MBA from INSEAD.