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About us
C4 Ventures is a leading European venture fund founded by Pascal Cagni (VP & GM Apple EMEIA 2000-2012).
Based in London and Paris, we typically invest in early stage (Series A) startups based in Europe and later stage startups seeking to expand into European markets.
Our goal is to create a different kind of venture firm, one that focuses on partnering with entrepreneurs to navigate the complex European landscape.
We are passionate and knowledgeable about three themes:
• Smart Hardware
• Future of Commerce
• Digital Media
Both people and products drive our investments. We look for founding teams who are not afraid of challenging the status quo and want to revolutionise industries and practices — hence our explosive name.
Our team has strong experience in product development, omni-channel/go-to-market strategy and scaling up businesses in Europe and globally.
For more information, subscribe to our newsletter, check our portfolio and have a look at the companies and teams we believe in.
Boris Bakech
PartnerFormer Assistant Producer @ Ubisoft
Assistant to VP & GM @ Apple EMEIA
MSc Management ESSEC
Boris is a Partner at C4 Ventures with experience in product development, digital entertainment and corporate communications.
Previously, Boris was Assistant Producer at Ubisoft, where he contributed to the successful launch of a AAA game, selling over 2.5 million copies worldwide. Before that, Boris was Assistant to the Vice President and General Manager of Apple Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA). Most notably, he developed sales pitches for major accounts.
He also worked at Orange Business Services in the French Indirect Sales department, where he helped create and managed a new nationwide distribution channel that reached 2.5 million euros in revenue after one quarter.
Pascal Cagni
Founding PartnerChairman @ Business France
GM & VP @ Apple EMEIA 2000 – 2012
GM Europe @ Packard Bell 1995 – 2000
MA & MBA HEC Paris, EPGC Stanford University, MA Institut d’Etudes Politiques
In 2000, Steve Jobs appointed Pascal as General Manager and Vice President for Apple EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa).
Leading a region made of more than 120 countries, he launched groundbreaking products and services such as the iPod (2001), iTunes Store (2003), iPhone (2007), the App Store (2008) and iPad (2010).
He developed an innovative Go-To-Market strategy that included the successful rollout of the Apple Premium Reseller (APR) and Apple Shops while working with CEOs and Executive Teams of over 200 retailers and 170 telecom operators.
Under Pascal’s leadership, EMEIA was consistently Apple’s fastest growing region, with annual sales increasing from $1.2bn in 2001 to $40bn in 2012.
Since 2013 Pascal has been advising executive teams of large Private Equity and European groups on how to leverage at best the digital revolution and the opportunities it creates.
Across 2014, he conducted a strategic review of Net-A-Porter for Richemont SA, advising on a full business re-engineeering before the merger with Yoox.
Before Apple, Pascal led Packard Bell to become the leading European Home Computer Company. He started his career as strategy consultant at Booz, Allen and Hamilton.
Pascal joined the 63rd Promotion of IHEDN (Institute for Higher National Defence Studies) in 2011, providing deep view on geostrategic and foreign policy matters.
In addition to his role at C4 Ventures, in 2017, Pascal was appointed by French President Macron as Ambassador for International investment and Chairman at Business France.
Raphael Crouan
Partner Business DevelopmentFormer CEO & Founder @ Startupbootcamp IoT
Founding Board member @ AIOTI (European Commission)
President @ French Tech London
Business School @ ESSCA & BA @ McGill & HEC Montreal
Raphael is a Partner Business Development at C4 Ventures in charge of Business Development and Investor Relations for the C4V II fund.
Prior to joining C4 Ventures, Raphael was the successful Founder of the IoT & IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) Startupbootcamp program in London, having sourced more than 1000 companies per year, investing in more than 30 over 4 years and raising money from key Limited Partners and Strategic investors. This gives him a unique insight on the European scene.
This entrepreneuship experience followed 10 years at Apple in various business & sales responsibilities, lastly leading the effort on Business development for the Enterprise for iPhone and iPad in the EMEA region interfacing with key leading developers.
Raphael is also an international keynote speaker and a renowned digital influencer which brought him to be nominated President of the most vibrant community of investors and entrepreneurs of La French Tech in London.
Michel Sassano
Partner & Tech LeadFormer Founder @ Konbanwa
Associate @ Kima Ventures
Infrastructure as a Service architect @ Orange
MS Telecom Bretagne
Michel is a Partner at C4 Ventures with experience in software & systems engineering, social gaming, blockchain, big data and IoT. Michel uniquely combines a strong investment background with exceptional coding and data skills. At C4 Ventures, in addition to his work in the investment team where he focuses on the technology assessment, he oversees the sourcing platform development and the IT stack used by the team.
Prior to joining C4 Ventures, Michel was an Associate at Kima Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm, where besides his role as Associate, he built a proprietary platform and the tools allowing a three-person team to invest in 2 startups per week and manage a portfolio of 350 startups across 26 countries.
Previously, Michel was part of the Orange Graduate Program where he worked as an IaaS Architect on compliance, multi-datacenter relocation and big data projects. Before that, Michel also experienced the startup world by publishing and selling iPhone apps as soon as 2009 and working at Wooga, a fast-growing social gaming company based in Berlin as an associate product manager.
Hazel Naik
CFOFormer Head of Business Services @ Sopher + Co
Head of Finance @ Tyler Mangan Consulting Ltd
Sales and Marketing Finance Manager @ News UK
Group Finance Manager @ Hampson Industries PLC
Audit Senior, Corporate Finance Executive @ Arthur Andersen LLP
Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
BSc Economics Leicester University
Hazel is the CFO at C4 Ventures. She is responsible for the management of finances, Human Resources and other administrative aspects of the business and the fund.
Prior to C4 Ventures, Hazel was Head of the Business Services team at Sopher + Co. She managed a significant portfolio of corporate clients and owner managed businesses, including many start-ups across various industries, notably financial services and C4 Ventures. We enjoyed working with her so much that we asked her to join us!
Hazel qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen, later joining Deloitte where she worked in Audit and Corporate Finance. Her first move to industry was as Group Financial Controller for a listed aerospace company where she ran the group function and assisted on the acquisition of new subsidiaries. Following a move to London, Hazel gained a breadth of experience working in various finance roles at News UK over a period of eight years. This was at a time where the business model was changing from print to digital media, sparking her interest in new technologies.
Hazel is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Wladimir d’Ormesson
PrincipalCFO @ Creative Valley group
Auditor @ Cour des comptes
Judge @ Versailles and Paris Administrative Courts
Executive MBA @ INSEAD
Graduate of ENA & Ecole Normale Supérieure
Wladimir is Principal at C4 Ventures. Based in Paris, he is part of the investment team. He is also in charge of impact investing and public affairs.
Before joining C4 Ventures, Wladimir was CFO of Creative Valley group, a Paris based startup incubator after a first career in the public sector. He has a senior experience in drafting and evaluating public policies. Wladimir served as judge, at Versailles and Paris administrative courts, specialized in tax litigations. He also served at the Cour des comptes, France’s government accountability office, where he audited public universities and cultural organisations.
He was an elected member of Bourges’ local council. In particular, he invested himself in the fight against illiteracy and educational difficulties. He published with Matthias Fekl a book about political commitment (2027, Editions du Moment).
Wladimir has graduated from the Ecole normale supérieure de Lettres et Sciences humaines and ENA.
He holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD.
Christophe Walewski
PrincipalFormer Investment Manager @ family office
M&A @ BDA Partners
MSc Management ESCP Europe, LLB Université de Paris-II Panthéon-Assas
Christophe is a principal at C4 Ventures with expertise in financial planning, legal structuring, and mergers and acquisitions. He is in charge of Investor Relationships, administrative and logistical aspects of C4 Ventures’ operations.
Prior to C4 Ventures, Christophe was Investment Manager at a Family Office. Prior to that, he was responsible for the origination and execution of cross-border transactions between Europe and Asia at BDA Partners, in the consumer, retail, healthcare and technology sectors. He successfully managed the marketing of sell-side mandates for over 60 deals, ranging from $2m to $300m. With Pfizer, he also successfully originated the first forced divestment of a business as a result of a Chinese antitrust ruling.
Christophe started his career at the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court of Justice), then worked for ABN Amro and EY.
Charles Cagni
AssociateFormer Client Service Executive @ Nielsen
Consumer Insights @ Anki
Retail merchandising @ Hermes UK
BSc Finance NYU’s Stern School of Business
Charles is an Associate at C4 Ventures. Based in London & Paris, he evaluates new investment opportunities and supports portfolio companies as part of the investment team.
Before joining C4 Ventures, Charles worked at Nielsen as a Client Service Executive in New York City. He managed analytics projects, data inquiries and upselled various Nielsen tools to FOX Corp, one of their key accounts.
Before that, Charles worked on the Consumer Insights team for Anki, an AI and Robotics startup based in San Francisco. He put in place brand trackers, synthesised focus groups and monitoried the various product’s NPS to understand the needs and must-have features of Anki’s product line.
He also worked for Hermes UK in retail merchandising, where he helped create a cross-country analysis of Hermes’ stores stock management to better allocate the next seasons’ product lines across the UK stores.
Charles holds a BSc in Finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business School in New York.
Laura Thivolet
AssociateFormer Consultant @ 3BS
Analyst European and digital affairs @ SNCF
MA Public Affairs from Sciences Po
Laura Thivolet is an Associate at C4 Ventures. Based in Paris, she focuses on marketing, communication and content creation.
Laura Thivolet is a former Consultant at European Public Affairs consultancy 3BS, where she successfully led the group’s digital transformation and managed a growing portfolio of clients, including C4 Ventures, while graduating from Sciences Po Paris. We enjoyed working with her so much that we asked her to join us!
Before that, Laura was Assistant to the Head of European and Digital Affairs at SNCF. Most notably, she helped overhauling the company’s digital strategy, writing in-depth studies on disrupting trends and European regulation.
Laura holds an MSc in Public Affairs from Sciences Po Paris.
Siffrein Diana
AnalystAnalyst @ Entrepreneur First
Operations @ Uber
Sciences Po Paris, Princeton University, dual MSc in Management from London Business School & Fudan University in Shanghai
Siffrein is an Analyst at C4 Ventures. Based in Paris, he evaluates new investment opportunities and supports portfolio companies.
Before joining C4 Ventures, Siffrein gained operational experience at Uber in London. He first worked with Uber Eats, where he notably conducted an internal consulting project on grocery delivery, and then moved on to JUMP, Uber’s micro-mobility branch, where he led the NHS campaign to help hospital workers commute safely during lockdown. Siffrein then joined Entrepreneur First’s fund and portfolio team. At EF, he became passionate about early-stage investments and now aspires to help exceptional founders grow their businesses.
Siffrein graduated from Sciences Po Paris where he studied social sciences with a year abroad at Princeton University, and holds a dual MSc in Management from London Business School and Fudan University in Shanghai.
Grégoire Le Jeune
AnalystSales Analyst @Moonfare
Banking Operations Analyst @N26
Junior Officer @UNIDO
MSc Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Innovation from ESCP Europe
Grégoire is an Analyst at C4 Ventures. Based in Paris, he evaluates new investment opportunities and supports portfolio companies.
Before joining C4 Ventures, Grégoire was Sales Analyst at Moonfare. He also contributed to in-house product development as Banking Operations Analyst at N26 in Berlin. On the side he helped to bootstrap TheCoinTribune, a blockchain focused media which he grew from 0 to 1 million monthly users.
Grégoire is a self-taught price action trader since he’s 18. He launched a startup focusing on supermarket foodwaste in 2017 which he pitched in front of multiple investors.
This experience led him to pursue an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Innovation at ESCP Europe after a Bachelor in civil and common law at Saint Louis in Brussels and a six-month internship as a Junior Officer at UNIDO. Grégoire also pursued a Data Science bootcamp at Le Wagon and presented his CFA Level 1.
Paul-Henri Pinet
AnalystStrategy and Corporate Development @ Samsung Strategy & Innovation Center
Double degree in Engineering and Management: @ Centrale Lille/ EDHEC
Paul-Henri is an Analyst at C4 Ventures. Based in Paris, he evaluates new investment opportunities and supports portfolio companies.
Before joining C4 Ventures, Paul-Henri worked at Samsung Electronics as an intern in strategy. He conducted market and technological analysis in support to the Samsung Strategy & Innovation Center management team. He specialized in 5G and cloud. He also got exposure to the Samsung Catalyst fund, conducting sector coverage and startups analysis for the fund.
Paul-Henri comes from a Master in Global Economic Transformation & Technology, a joint track between EDHEC Business School, Sungkyunkwan University (Seoul) and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Prior to this, he studied at Central Lille.
Sumeet Anand
India & ME Growth StrategyFounder @ IndSight Growth Partners
President @ Indo-French Chamber of Commerce
Former CEO& CFO India & South Asia @ Pernod Ricard, Savencia, Arjowiggins
Ms HEC Paris
Sumeet is an Operating Partner at C4 Ventures. He focuses on accelerating start up and growth in India & Middle East for portfolio companies.
Sumeet is the Founder of IndSight Growth Partners, a strategy consulting and advisory boutique firm that assists clients and entrepreneurs on building successful businesses in Consumer, Retail, Industrial & Chemicals & recently Tech.
He works closely with top management at global and country levels on entry & growth strategy as well as M&A and strategic partnerships advisory. Prior to founding IndSight, he had over 15 years of CXO experience with leading European multinationals, twice as CEO & Country Manager for India & South Asia.
He is the President of the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce & Industry/ CCI France-India and is a Board Member of CCI France International. He is also a Member of the Global Committee of HEC Alumni.
André Auberton
HardwareFounder @ 4A-CE
Founder @ Soitec
Program Manager @ CEA-LETI
MS Centrale Lyon
André is Operating Partner at C4 Ventures. He focuses on hardware companies.
Most recently, André founded the consulting group 4A Consulting & Engineering to bring his expertise to Companies in Renewable Energy and Digital Innovation.
In 1992, André co-founded Soitec, a leader of the Industry 4.0. The company developed and commercialised the revolutionary Smart CutTM “atomic scalpel” technology for semiconductor fabrication. The advanced material produced by Soitec are used in almost all smartphone platforms and computing activities.
For 23 years as President and CEO, he was responsible for overseeing the strategic, operational and financial activities of the company. He built an international high tech firm in 10 countries, including 5 manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia and the US. He IPO’ed his Soitec in 1999 and managed financials operations for a sum close to $1bn.
André has been nominated “Chevalier de la légion d’Honneur” and “Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite”.
Philippe Bouissou
Scale upManaging Partner @ Blue Dots Partners, LLC.
Former Managing Partner @ Milestone Group Inc.
Former Managing Director @ Astra Venture Partners
Director of Apple Worldwide Internet Commerce & Services
CEO @ G2i, Inc.
Ph.D. in Physics, Université Pierre & Marie Curie (Paris VI)
Philippe Boissou is Operating Partner at C4 Ventures. He brings expertise in Scale-ups.
With 25 years of experience in Silicon Valley, Philippe has held CEO and executive positions in several companies. As a Venture Capitalist, he successfully invested $43M and generated a double-digit return. In addition to that, he has led a considerable number of management consulting projects and served on the board of 14 companies.
In 2014 Philippe Bouissou founded Blue Dots Partners where he is now the Managing Partner. Preceding that, Philippe co-managed the Milestone Group, an advisory firm serving over 220 clients. Previously, he held leadership roles as Managing Director and General Partner at Astra Venture Partners, Allegis Capital and Ventech.
Prior to becoming a Venture Capitalist, Philippe played a key role in building and managing the online Apple Store, growing its revenue from zero to $350M.
During his early career, Philippe has held roles at Matra Hachette Multimedia and G2i, Inc. as Senior VP and CEO.
Michel Coucke
TalentFounder & Partner @ Lancor
Partner @ Heidrick & Struggles
MSc Institut Meurice Brussels, Executive MSc Solvay Brussels School, AMP Graduate IMD
Michel is an Operating Partner at C4 Ventures. He leverages his expertise in Talent acquisition to support the growth of our portfolio companies. He advises them on a number of subjects including Recruitment, Talent assessment and the Organisational evolution.
In 2003, Michel founded Lancor. He has led numerous senior executive searches for board members, C-suite, and heads of function for financial sponsors and leading international corporations throughout Europe and the Middle East. He’s able to work with large companies and small Startups with equal success.
Prior to joining Lancor, Michel was Co-Managing Partner of the Global Technology and Media Practice at Whitehead Mann, a leading executive search firm. Prior to that, he founded and managed the European Telecommunications and Internet Infrastructure Practice at Heidrick & Struggles. In his early career, Michel was Deputy Managing Director of the Benelux countries for AT&T, with responsibility for sales, business development, and customer support.
Philippe Dewost
Consumer High TechCo-founder @ Wanadoo
CEO @ imsense, an imaging startup acquired by Apple
Inspired La French Tech
Deployed VINCI’s corporate innovation program
MS Physics ENS Ulm, MBA College des Ingénieurs, PostGrad in Telecom, Corps des Mines, French Navy (Officer)
Philippe Dewost has a deep experience in deploying for the many, through both scaling and empowering. He built and ran product management for Wanadoo across its first 4 years and first million subscribers. As CEO of imsense in Cambridge, he turned proprietary, patent protected dynamic range processing into eye-fidelityTM technology, now used half a billion times a day to enhance pictures taken with iPhones after Apple acquired the company.
While deploying Leonard, VINCI Group’s Corporate Innovation & Transformation Program, he combined a series of exploration groups ranging across 7 key future topics (Autonomous Vehicle, Climatic Resilience, AI, …) with an Intrapreneurship Program currently considered as a reference by other large Corporates.
Previously at Caisse des Dépôts, he led a €4,25 Bn digital package for the French Government – the « Investments for The Future » Programme, where he wrote the report to the Prime Minister on how to make France a more attractive destination for innovators, Tech Entrepreneurs, and foreign VCs: this report sparked “La French Tech“. He also initiated a joint Blockchain R&D effort with 27 institutions and partners.
Philippe is a senior advisor to CEOs & VCs funds, sits on Agritech SunR’s board, and serves as Keynote Speaker in international events on a large palette of tech topics.
A graduate in Physics at Normale Sup (Ulm), former Navigation Officer in the French Navy, Philippe holds a Master in Telecommunications from Telecom ParisTech and a MBA from Collège des Ingénieurs.
Luc Ducaroir
LogisticsPhilippe Gillet
Deep TechChief Scientific Officer @ SICPA
Professor and Vice President @ Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
President Director @ Ecole normale supérieure de Lyon
PhD in Geophysics and Geochemistry from Université Paris VII and Ecole normale supérieure de Paris.
Philippe Gillet is Operating Partner at C4 Ventures. He brings his expertise in Deep Tech related matters.
Philippe is currently Chief Scientific Officer at SICPA and a Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where he was also VP of Academic Affairs, President ad Interim and Director of the Human Brain project for 2 years. Before EPFL, he served as Chief of Staff of the French Minister for Higher Education and Research – Mrs Valérie Pécresse.
Prior to that, Philippe was Director of the CNRS Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers, President of the French synchrotron facility SOLEIL, of the French National Research Agency and Director of the Ecole normale supérieure de Lyon.
In addition to his professional career, Philippe holds several advisory board roles, including President of the Scientific Boards of both the French “Ile de France” region and of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique.
As part of his academic experience, Philippe published more than 150 articles in international scientific journals such as “Nature” and “Science”.
Yassir Khalid
Corporate DevelopmentManaging Director @ Torch Partners
Director @ Leonardo & Co
Analyst @ Credit Suisse
MS HEC, MBA London Business School & Columbia University
Yassir Khalid advises C4 Ventures on opportunity sourcing and transaction structuring and brings extensive expertise in corporate finance and fundraising in the telecom and digital sectors.
Yassir is currently Managing Director at Torch Partners. Previously, he was Executive Director at Leonardo & Co., where he was leading the coverage of the TMT sector for the French market and was in charge of the development of the bank’s operations on the Moroccan market.
At Leonardo & Co., Yassir advised large corporations, private equity funds and start-ups on over 30 successful transactions, and played an instrumental part in transforming a 5-people boutique into a pan-European investment bank.
Prior to joining Leonardo & Co., Yassir was an M&A analyst in the telecom team at Credit Suisse First Boston in London.
A French and Moroccan national, Yassir holds an MSc in Management from HEC Paris and a joint Executive MBA from Columbia Business School and London Business School.
Jean-Michel Lunati
Field EngineeringDirector System Engineering @ Apple Europe
Technical Manager Southern Europe @ NeXT
CEO @ Audientia, IMPROVE
Engineer in IT and Applied Mathematics
Jean-Michel is an Operating Partner at C4 Ventures. He advises portfolio companies on all aspects relating to Field Engineering. This covers everything from the development and structuring of direct and indirect engineering teams in charge of commercial development, to product marketing and product development cycles.
Previously, Jean-Michel spent a large part of his career as a member of the Executive Committee of Apple Europe, building, developing and directing for 20 years the technical pre-sales strategy, technical relations with partners, as well as professional services in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India.
An Engineer in IT and Applied Mathematics, Jean-Michel participated in the creation and development of various start-ups in the B2B world, both in hardware and software, before joining NeXT and Apple.
Sheryl Seitz
MarketingVP Communications @ Mode / Glam media
Senior Director Marketing @ Samsung
VP Communications @ Songkick
Director Consumer PR @ Symantec
PR Consultant & Head of Corporate PR @ Apple
Boston University
Sheryl is an Operating Partner at C4 Ventures, advising portfolio companies on brand marketing and communications.
Skilled at integrating a range of marketing channels, Sheryl specializes in aiding companies to establish a strong market position, communicate a compelling narrative and drive measurable impact to deliver growth.
An award-winning marketing and communications professional, Sheryl works with market leaders and innovators to build brand and market share. She has held senior leadership positions at Apple, Samsung and Symantec. At Apple, Sheryl helped create launch strategies for iconic products including the iPod, iTunes, iPhone and App Store. At Samsung, Sheryl led the marketing effort for the Global Innovation Center, a corporate marketing group responsible for M&A, investments, and two accelerators in New York and San Francisco. At Symantec, she led an EMEA team that created brand initiatives including product positioning and experiential events.
Sheryl also worked as VP Communications for Start-ups Songkick and Mode/Glam media, eventually founding a boutique marketing consultancy to help entrepreneurs grow their business through establishing an industry profile and building communications programs. She works with VC-backed Start-ups and entrepreneurs around the globe including the Start-up clusters in London, New York, San Francisco, Stockholm and Helsinki.
A judge for The Holmes Report SABRE Awards in 2016 and 2015, Sheryl is also a mentor for Seedcamp, Europe’s largest accelerator.
Michel Taride
Transport & MobilityFormer Group President @ Hertz International
Chair of the Advisory Board @ Global Travel and Tourism Partnership
Ambassador @ World Travel and Tourism Council
Michel is the former Group President of Hertz International, the leading global car rental brand, where he was responsible for all of its wholly owned and franchise operations in 150 countries across all continents, outside North America.
Over his 38-year career in the constantly transforming car rental business, Michel has progressed through the organization, holding numerous leadership positions in operational, commercial, country and divisional management.
Most recently, Michel has been championing the « smart mobility » strategies for Hertz, working closely with start-ups and incubators.
Since he moved on from Hertz in April 2019, Michel is an Advisor and a Consultant focusing on Travel, Transportation and Smart Mobility.
He is the Chair of the Advisory Board for the GTTP (Global Travel and Tourism Partnership), a non-for-profit organization that supports education programs enabling each year 700,000 students from 15 countries to build careers in Travel and Tourism.
He is also an Ambassador for the WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council), and a Foreign Trade Advisor to the French Embassy in London.
Roy Timor-Rousso
Product UXIL General Manager, VP Business Development @ Mavenir
GM Kandy APAC/EMEA @ GENBAND
Lt. Colonel (Res), Chief of Staff (XO), Elite Mobile Infantry Brigade, IDF
Former CEO @ fring, Former VP, Marketing @ Inneractive, Mavenir, Zlango, Nuance
PSB Paris School of Business (MBA), Bar Ilan & Tel Aviv University (MA Political Science)
Roy Timor-Rousso is an Operating Partner at C4 Ventures advising portfolio companies on Digital marketing, product user-experience and Go-To- Market strategies.
Roy currently serves as Digital Marketing & Go To Market consultant, specialising in mobile and enterprise to consumer applications, working with various companies both early stage as well as SMBs striving to strategise, launch and capture market share.
Previously, Roy was the IL General Manager, VP Business Development, at Mavenir where he oversaw the company’s R&D and Ops sites in Israel as well as the company Business Messaging business development, working closely with CSPs, API developers & cPaaS providers. Prior to joining Mavenir, Roy was the CEO of fring, a carrier grade OTT solution. As CEO, he was able to pivot the company and executed a successful turnaround, resulting in its acquisition by GENBAND.
As an experienced entrepreneur with strong connections to the Israeli eco- system, Roy has successfully envisioned and launched new product segments, crafted and implemented Go-To-Market strategies and has transformed companies into industry leaders with worldwide adoption.
In addition to his high-tech career, Roy is a Colonel (Res), Chief of Staff (CoS) in an elite mobile infantry brigade and is responsible for Operational planning, coordinating and executing the brigade missions in training and combat.
Joel Tiphonnet
International go-to-marketFounder & CEO @ CREAXIL Consulting
Former President & CEO @ Club Med Asia Pacific
President @ Oregon Scientific Global
MBA HEC Paris, MSc Engineering Arts et Metiers ParisTech
Joel is Operating Partner at C4 Ventures leveraging his expertise in strategy development, brand building, business turnaround to support international expansion of our portfolio companies.
Since 2007 Joel is the founder and CEO of CREAXIL Consulting specialized in conducting and managing consulting and development projects for corporate clients in fields of eCommerce, Hospitality, Lifestyle, Retail and Real Estate in Asia Pacific and Europe.
Prior to founding CREAXIL Consulting, Joel was President and CEO for Club Med Asia Pacific since 2001. He pioneered a new upscale strategy that he developed and implemented to make Asia Pacific the most profitable and fastest growing region. He led a turn around commercial strategy to radically transform the Club Med offer. This successful repositioning was rolled out globally in 2005.
As President of Oregon Scientific, he successfully engineered and led The @rt of Living global brand strategy. Joel previously held leadership roles at LVMH, General Electric and Bain & Company.
Joel is a Corporate Advisor on the Board of HKUST Business School.
Caroline Winter
Media & PREvents Manager NYC @ The Galion Project
NYC Lead Community Manager @ La French Tech
PR Manager @ Women in Innovation forum NY
Media & PR Officer @ Business France North America
BA in Communications @ EFAP Communication
BS in Biology @ Paris X University
Based in New York, Caroline is a 19+ years experienced Media & PR consultant, developing and implementing media and PR programs with a unique understanding of the communications challenges faced by European entrepreneurs coming to the USA.
Caroline was Head of Media & PR for Business France in North America, where she focused on highlighting the strength of the French economy and tech ecosystem to the US business community through high-profile events, media & PR programs.
Caroline started her career in 2000 with Pleon, the leading European Tech PR firm, handling media relations in France for global tech brands such as IBM Global Services, Phillips and American Power Conversion. She rapidly brought her experience and passion about science, entrepreneurship and innovation to develop and implement tailored media relations strategies to the emerging French startups ecosystem and moved to the United States in 2004 where she continued working as a PR consultant for various BtoB and BtoC tech startups.
She is now collaborating with the Galion Project, the exclusive French startups Entrepreneurs club founded by Jean-Baptiste Rudelle (Criteo). She is also on the executive Board of La French Tech NYC Community, playing a central role in bridging the gap between the French and local tech community. She actively supports the Women in Innovation Forum in NYC since its creation in 2016.
Caroline holds a degree in Biochemistry from Paris X University and a degree in Communications from L’EFAP Communications.
Franck Zayan
eCommerceCEO @ Clippings
CEO @ Style.com
Internet & eCommerce Director @ Groupe Galeries Lafayette
Founder & CEO @ Traffic Garden
Co-founder & CEO @ Sarenza
VP of Content & Production @ AOL France
Computer Science degree from Université Paris Sud (Paris XI) & New York City College
Franck Zayan is an expert in retail, e-commerce and technology.
Franck took the CEO role at Clippings, one of C4 Ventures portfolio companies. He brings along his unique experience and leadership skills in an effort to take the company to its next growth phase.
Franck started his career at Cabletron in 1994 as Manager of Information Systems before joining AOL as VP of Content and Production. At AOL he was Member of the Board of Directors, managing a team of developers, graphic/web designers and journalists.
He also participated in the development of the American payment platform IPIN before becoming COO of Gloria, the pioneer of DVD rental service in Europe. In 2004, he Co-founded Sarenza, the first online shoe retailer in France. He ran the company during 4 years as CEO, after which he created Traffic Garden in 2008 – an Online content Management and Domain Name Monetisation.
From 2011 to 2013, Franck was the head of Omnichannel and e-commerce for the Galeries Lafayette Group, a major retail chain with department stores in France, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. During his time there, annual visitors on the Galeries Lafayette Website grew from 12 million to over 40 million. He then took the role of CEO at Style.com, the e-commerce entity of Condé Nast Group. He led the company from its inception all the way to its sell to Farfetch.
Franck Zayan holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Sciences from Université Paris Sud and the New York City College.
About us
C4 Ventures is a leading European venture fund founded by Pascal Cagni (VP & GM Apple EMEIA 2000-2012).
Based in London and Paris, we typically invest in early stage (Series A) startups based in Europe and later stage startups seeking to expand into European markets.
Our goal is to create a different kind of venture firm, one that focuses on partnering with entrepreneurs to navigate the complex European landscape.
We are passionate and knowledgeable about three themes:
• Smart Hardware
• Future of Commerce
• Digital Media
Both people and products drive our investments. We look for founding teams who are not afraid of challenging the status quo and want to revolutionise industries and practices — hence our explosive name.
Our team has strong experience in product development, omni-channel/go-to-market strategy and scaling up businesses in Europe and globally.
For more information, subscribe to our newsletter, check our portfolio and have a look at the companies and teams we believe in.