The UK doesn’t have to be Silicon Valley – Elena Pantazi, partner, Northzone

Ahti Heinla, CEO of Starship Technologies and one of the original creators of Skype discusses the surprising truth behind Estonia’s digital transformation over the past three decades, the massive and enduring impact of Skype and why whether its video calls or delivery robots, his businesses have always been the target of sceptics.   Heinla helped create the iconic video conferencing software back in 2003. Today, the Estonian is focusing his efforts on Starship Technologies, which develops autonomous last mile delivery robots.

Elena Pantazi, a partner at Northzone, discusses the challenges founders have managing startups in a fluctuating industry, why the UK might not need to compare itself to Silicon Valley and how VCs can unfortunately treat male founders very differently to women.   Northzone is a multi-stage venture capital fund based in London. It has backed some of Europe’s largest tech companies, including Spotify, Klarna and Kahoot. Pantazi talks the importance of mentorship and competing against tech giants in the war for talent. 

Jessica Lennard, chief strategy officer at the CMA, discusses how the regulator has to balance its work with the world’s largest tech companies with the vast startup market, how the CMA’s competition regulation is evolving to suit innovation and why the wider regulatory regime as a whole is changing in the era of the modern industrial strategy.   The Competition and Markets Authority is the UK’s regulator for corporate competition. Overseeing areas such as mergers and acquisitions, ensuring companies meet pro-competition requirements and consumer protection. 

Tanya Suarez, chief executive of IoT Tribe and head of the JANUS consortium, discusses why UK defence underinvestment has left the country vulnerable, the rising danger from international actors and the surprisingly thriving startup ecosystem in the defence tech sector.  IoT Tribe is an accelerator group that was appointed by the government’s Defence and Security Accelerator to run programmes for startups in the space. IoT Tribe leads the group of specialist organisations called JANUS, the UK participant in NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic. 

Ed Bussey, CEO of Oxford Science Enterprises, discusses why time is running out to solve British tech’s scaleup funding gap, why the potential for the UK tech industry is so much greater than its current performance and an out-there idea to improve the competitiveness of the London public markets.  Oxford Science Enterprises is a venture capital firm managing assets worth more than £800m. The group operates in partnership with the University of Oxford and is a prominent backer of spinouts from the university. 

Virraj Jatania, co-founder and chief executive of Pockit, discusses how the culture of financial services has changed since the 2008 crisis, why mergers and acquisitions have become an attractive option for fintechs and the trouble with push payment fraud regulations.   Pockit is a London-based fintech that acts as a digital banking alternative targeting those whose needs are not met by traditional banks. Jatania explains the importance of providing financial services to those left behind by major institutions and the reality of running a British fintech in 2025. 

Sam Nasrolahi, principal at InMotion Ventures, discusses the difference between corporate investment arms and standard venture capital, why UK companies often don’t scale up in Britain and the impact of the turbulent tariff policies in the United States.   InMotion Ventures is the investment arm of British automotive group Jaguar Land Rover. Nasrolahi has been leading the group’s enterprise and industrial tech investments since 2022.

Sharon Vosmek, chief executive and managing partner of Astia, discusses why backing female founders isn't just morally right, but also financial prudent, why not all definitions of women-led startups are equal and the danger of 'fomo' in investing.Astia is an inclusive venture capital group that seeks to address the vast and stagnant gap in funding for women-led businesses.

Steve Peralta, co-founder of Unmind, discusses the problem with the majority of corporate mental health programmes, why the world of work so often leads to deteriorating mental health, and how psychology-backed tech platforms can help.   Unmind is workplace wellbeing platform that partners with brands to offer employee mental health support. Peralta co-founded Unmind in 2016 having previously from a corporate wellbeing background alongside former NHS clinical psychologist Dr Nick Taylor. Peralta explains how so many workplace wellbeing policies are reactive, waiting from problems to occur before they even begin to try to help.

David Keene, CEO of Aurrigo, discusses how autonomous driving will progress in the UK, how a chance encounter pivoted his company’s entire market and the journey of turning grant funding into an initial public offering.  Aurrigo is an autonomous driving company that specialises in vehicles for the aviation industry, including self-driving baggage carriers. The Coventry-based company was founded in 1993, initially focused on autonomous passenger vehicles. A call from the head of innovation at International Airlines Group, convinced Keene that the future of Aurrigo’s technology was in supporting aviation. The group listed publicly on London’s AIM market in 2022.