Managing Partner, OpenseedVC

Maria is an operator turned investor. Before transitioning to investing, a better part of the first decade of her career was spent scaling multinational technology startups like Uber and Branch.co in leadership roles such as Country Manager and General Manager to millions of customers, and dollars in revenue.

Prior to Openseed VC, Maria was a Fund Manager at Octopus Ventures First Cheque Fund and before that, was the Managing Director of the Oxford Seed Fund.

Maria holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, a BSc. in Computer Science from Covenant University, and is also certified Chartered Accountant with the ACCA in the United Kingdom.

Maria is an experienced day zero investor having invested in over 60 startups, assessed over 7,000 startups mostly in the earliest stages.

Co-Founder and Former CEO, Mayht (acquired by Sonos)

Mattias Scheek, born and raised in Amsterdam, started his journey as an entrepreneur at the age of 18 while studying Industrial Design Engineering at the TU Delft. Since then, it has been an amazing rollercoaster ride: from a small business with his brother, to leading an international company with a team of 30 people, culminating in the sale of his audio company to Sonos for 100 million USD in 2022. He is the inventor of several dozen patented inventions, and having unrealistically large dreams, overcoming challenges, and changing paradigms are topics that he loves to discuss. By sharing his story, he hopes to inspire other young and diverse people, and, where possible, personally help them to make big dreams become reality.

President of the Board, European Innovation Council (EIC)

Michiel Scheffer is the President of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Board. He holds a PhD in geography (1992) A Dutch national, he has three decades of experience in business, academia, and public policy. From 2015 to 2019 he was regional minister for economy, education and Europe in the Province of Gelderland (NL), and member of the European Committee of the regions. He is equipped with a wide network in the world of research and innovation (Utrecht University, Wageningen University, Hochschule Rhein-Waal) and has a remarkable professional experience of more than 20 years in the field of innovation, including on breakthrough technologies, disruptive innovations, and start‐ups impact investment. He was involved in setting up close to ten companies.

Senior Advisor, Chemonics Capital

Victoria is the Senior Advisor for Innovation & New Ventures at Chemonics International, a leading global development firm with operations in 150+ countries, and Senior Advisor at Chemonics Capital, the firm’s CVC arm. 

Previously, she led as Executive Managing Director of Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s leading platform for startups tackling global challenges, and served as Head of Ecosystem at Walden Catalyst Ventures, a global VC firm investing in deep tech. Victoria is a deep tech VC platform leader recognized for building high-impact innovation ecosystems, fostering strategic investor relations, and building the flywheel that helps promising startups scale.

Partnership Manager Startups and VC, ASML

Passionate about fostering innovation and scaling groundbreaking ventures, Evelien specializes in driving strategic partnerships between startups, industry and investors. At ASML, she focusses on startup and VC engagement, leveraging deep experience in venture ecosystems, funding strategy and international business development. Previously at Techleap.nl, she spearheaded investor relationships and capital programs, helping Dutch tech scale-ups secure funding and grow. As a former founder, she brings firsthand experience of the challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurship, combining a practical mindset with a strategic outlook and always looking for the next big opportunity. She also a strong advocate for diversity as a catalyst for innovation.