Our Team
Raph and his team work relentlessly with the local tech ecosystem to showcase the best talent, knowhow and experiences that will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs or help you soft land in London
Raph Crouan
Raph - who was part of the founding team in 2015 - is the President of the La FrenchTech London and is a founder himself & a passionate investor.
Born & raised in France, Raph built at 17 the very first European-wide magazine for young Euro enthusiasts.
He completed his studies in Canada (McGill), starting his carrier in Telcos before spending over 10 years at Apple (US & EU).
He then founded the Startupbootcamp IoT London Program, sourcing >4500 companies & investing in >30 over 4 years. He then joined C4 Ventures, a VC Firm based between London & Paris as Partner Business Development to raise their second Fund.
When not actively working on FrenchTech, during the day Raph is also Managing Director Tech Clients across Europe for the #1 European Tech Legal firm Orrick.
To get more out of the ecosystem, we’ve reorganised our team around 3 groups
DEEPTECH - SUSTAINABLE FINANCE - TECH for GOOD
Each group is co-lead by entrepreneurs and specialists in that area
If you are looking to settle in London or have any questions about the local Tech scene & market, GET in TOUCH with our group leads who can point you in the right direction
We look forward to collaborating with you!
DEEPTECH
The group gathers leaders from the Health-Tech, AI, IoT, Robotics & Drones, epreneurs, large companies and institutions connected to both French and British businesses.
We are deeply committed to federate, support and make the French DEEPTECH ecosystem flourish and thrive.
We aim at building new bridges between Universities, Research Centres, Labs and entrepreneurs to foster scientific knowledge exchange and opportunities for future collaborations.
Pierre Fred
Jaffre
Meet Pierre Fred’ in charge of leading the DeepTech group.
Think triathlon athlete, AI passionate and dedicated mentor all in one.
He won’t say it but we know for a fact he is one of the best AI and Machine Learning experts in Europe.
After studying at the University of Manchester, he started his career in Paris before moving to Microsoft in 2008 where he now leads the delivery teams in the Data & Artificial Intelligence EMEA consulting Practice.
In 2015 he won the EuroSeattle startup competition pitching the creation of a new platform connecting Organizations and Talents through Technology.
Matthieu
Ruatti
Matthieu brings his international tech experience, both as an operational executive & as a venture capital investor, focusing on EMEA scaling.
He recently co-founded Founders DAO, the 1st Web3-native investment protocol to accelerate decentralisation mass-adoption & game-changing potential.
He previously worked for Kuwait Holding family office & its digital early-stage / growth equity VC arm Cedar Mundi Ventures, & for Essilor-Luxottica. He then created a Dubai advisory practice for entrepreneurs with cross-border links between mature & emerging markets.
Graduated both from Mines Paris - PSL & from HEC Paris where he remains instrumental internationally, he is also one of the French Embassy’s Foreign Trade Advisors (CCEF).
He is as well a keen outdoor explorer, from underwater to deserts & mountains.
TECH for GOOD
Tech For Good is a much needed group.
Mathilde & Cyrus are taking the challenge of kicking off ambitious conversations around EDUTECH, TALENT, DIVERSITY, INCLUSION, MENTAL HEALTH, MOBILITY and ESG of course.
Needless to say you'll hear a lot from both of them on all those critical topics !
Stay Tuned!
“Real change occurs when people who are not used to speaking are heard by people who are not used to listening."
Mathilde is passionate about community and diversity - She co-leads the Tech for good group & planning a very active 2023 around female empowerment and others D&I topics.
In 2020 she created & curated the 1st ever French Tech Europe community event.
Gathering 11 Communities and 50 speakers around Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging.
She brings 15+ years of experience in Strategy, Client Development and Marketing roles helping businesses to grow their client base and revenue, while improving operationally.
“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it” Cyrus would get along just fine with Roal Dahl!
A serial entrepreneur who started his career in the wine trade.
He co-founded Rehoba in 2009, an e-learning solution for the hospitality sector and Vinoa in 2014 - great wines from around the world delivered to your door by the glass!
Cyrus exited Vinoa & launched the La Voie des Grands podcast & Aucturus a structure helping early stage businesses build automated acquisition engines.
Sustainable Finance
The Sustainable Finance group gathers leaders from the FinTech ecosystem connected to both French and British businesses and institutions. They curate events that look at the intersection of Finance & Sustainability with a care for ESG related topics in general.
Gaelle
Drory-Liaudet
Gaelle is Head of Client Engagement at Kite Insights, where she leads business development for the services sector for the Climate School and Kite’s sustainability thought leadership practice. She is also a Trustee for 1001 Fontaines, an NGO providing lifelong access to clean water to schools and underserved communities.
She comes with 20+ years in tech, financial services, fintech & sustainability sector, working for leading firms such as Cisco, UBS, Credit Suisse, Anthemis as well as start-ups & VC’s, where she held roles in strategy, innovation, business development & competitive intelligence.
As a senior advisor & non-executive director, she is focused on early stage & high growth tech companies, embedding ESG principles & hiring top talents.
She is a mentor at Catalyse change and is an engaged supporter for women leadership at the 30% Club Future Board scheme.
Great fan of family time, skiing, travelling & wandering in art galleries.
Born in Belgium and educated in the US, she lives in London since 1997 with her husband and two teens.
Emilie
Bellet
Co-founder of Founder of Vestpod and author of You’re Not Broke, You’re Pre-Rich
Emilie is the founder of Vestpod, speaker, independent financial writer and author. She published her first book “You’Re Not Broke, You’Re Pre-Rich” in May 2019 (Amazon bestseller).
Her mission is to change the conversation about money and empower women financially, she run their own Vestpod events and workshops (1,500+ attendees over the past 18 months) and speak at conferences (Boring Money, Ellevate, The AllBright, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Birmingham Literature Festival) and organise corporate financial wellbeing / education workshops and talks.
Her background is in private equity and entrepreneurship. She played hockey for the national French team for over 10 years.
She has been included in the Women In FinTech Powerlist 2018 ("Rising Stars") and is a finalist in the 2018 Women in Finance Awards (“Disruptor of the year”). She also write a column for the Financial Times while Vestpod has been featured on TV and in publications such as BBC News, Financial Times, Vogue, Glamour, This Is Money, Refinery29, Stylist, Sheerluxe, Monocle, Courier Magazine...
STATE ACTORS & Representatives
The French Chamber of Commerce - aka CCFGB - the French Embassy in London and Business France are essential and natural partners of our French Tech & helping in building a gateway to France.
They each have a representative seating in our Board of Directors
Francois
Landers
The new Managing Director of the French Chamber of Great Britain is joining the French Tech London Board to support our community & ensure continuity on our collaboration with the Chamber.
Karine
Maillard
Karine is an economic advisor at the French Embassy and her team follows industrial, environmental and digital issues.
With her assistant Lara, they monitor developments in the British regulatory and financial framework for the tech sector and promote meetings between French Tech London and French ministers, administrations and personalities involved in digital issues!
Geraldine
Filippi
A graduate in economics and law, Géraldine began her career in the tourism industry as a golf instructor before moving to New York in 1996, where she became the right arm of actress Isabella Rossellini. She then became director of the Italian Culinary Institute in New York before joining the Japanese company Dentsu as director of events. It was in 2000 that she began to work at the "French Agency for International Investments", today "Business France", where she held several positions in many countries around the world (United States, Kingdom, Turkey, Spain). After 2 years spent as Interregional Director for the South and Corsica region, Géraldine currently manages the United Kingdom and Ireland Zone.
Géraldine speaks French, Spanish, English, Italian and Turkish.