On January 25, Expon Capital hosted its Digital Tech Fund event, gathering more than 100 people to discuss AI, digitalisation, and the latest investment developments in the country.
“The developments over the past decade have instilled confidence in the future”, said Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation. “As a country, we have tremendous potential to be a real testbed for startups looking to test their solutions with large organizations” she continued.
The diverse panels, featuring entrepreneurs, tech luminaries, and digital innovation experts, delved into crucial topics such as entry barriers, government support initiatives, and the landscape for launching digital-first startups in Luxembourg.
Reflecting on Luxembourg’s evolving startup landscape, Stéphanie Damgé, Director of Entrepreneurship at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, emphasized the strides made in community upliftment over the past decade.
Addressing future improvements, she noted: “To enhance the ecosystem, we need to tackle fundamental challenges like administrative overload, registration complexities, and offer more stock options to attract global talent.”
As the evening unfolded, the panel engaged in a spirited discussion on the upcoming decade of digitalization, bringing in a sense of optimism for budding startups in the country.
This panel, featuring Kevin Muller (CEO of Passbolt), Declan OhAnnrachain (Director of Cascade), and Matias Mäenpää (Co-Founder of Videobot), underscored the imperative for innovation to meet the expanding customer demand.
The panel stressed the urgency for swift action, highlighting the competitive landscape in the digital space where startups are racing against time.
Addressing the current wave of AI, the next panel took centre stage to explore artificial intelligence. Featuring Davide Martucci (CEO of NextGateTech), Franck Vialaron (CEO of Accelex), and Mamoun Benkirane (CEO of MarketLeap), the panel discussed the disruptive influence of AI on the market. While these businesses may not have AI at their core, they heavily rely on machine learning and large language models for tasks like data analysis, demand forecasts, pricing recommendations, and insight generation.
“AI has already disrupted the market we know,” commented Mamoun Benkirane, CEO of MarketLeap. As a startup democratizing the complexities of global marketplace operations, MarketLeap experiences AI’s impact on product recommendations based on purchase history or user behaviour, image processing, and automated content.
Expon increases investment targets
The evening proved highly beneficial for attendees seeking insights into Luxembourg’s digital ecosystem. Industry leaders led the dialogue, sharing valuable information on the intricacies of building a company in today’s market, significantly enriching the takeaways from the event.
Jérôme Wittamer, managing partner at Expon Capital reaffirmed the firm’s dedication to the growth of the Luxembourg startup ecosystem. Having invested €10.15 million between 2016-2019 and another €10.15 million between 2020-2022, the team aims to double its target, elevating the investment to €20 million for the 2023-2025 period.
This commitment brings a lot of hope to young minds and early-stage founders who are seeking a seed fund to expand their operations and position Luxembourg on the global stage.
