Berenberg’s Post

My final thoughts on the 2024 JP Morgan Conference: The industry as a whole seems to be re-energized and companies are positioning themselves for an opportunistic 2024. I continue to see passionate people investing not only their money, but their career and lives in wanting to improve healthcare. Large pharma and medical device firms continue to seek collaborations with smaller companies that fit within their strategic vision - this lends itself to continued pushing for investment in early stage products. VCs are actively hunting for great new investments despite a lingering sense of caution towards spending too quickly. Law firms dominited the hosting of networking events and the events were packed. Overall, I think we are all in for a significant rebound away from the decline of pipeline activity caused by COVID. Hotel gouging was still happening despite JP Morgan's efforts to convince hotels that if something is not done about it, another city could be the destination for the conference.

Zeitgeist ‘24 x Google conference: They promised ‘a business gathering like no other’ – and yes, they were right. I had the honor to listen to a bunch of extraordinary panel talks, joined interesting masterclasses and exchanged thoughts with some high-profile leaders. Among them three former Prime Ministers, Sanna Marin (Finland), José Manuel Barroso (Portugal) and The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown (UK), as well as thought leaders Uğur Şahin, Chief Executive Officer, BioNTech SE and Özlem Türeci, Chief Medical Officer, BioNTech SE. Another add-on: the attending sports legends, like Michael Johnson and Thierry Henry gave the event a very different spin, thanks for challenging us 😉 Here are my highlights from the conference: 💡 Our planet: As Europe’s number one omnichannel premium beauty destination, sustainability plays a central role for us. Therefore it was great to talk about the challenges and posture about a shared responsibility on the topic of climate change and discuss solutions for the future. It was impressive to see that the power of the data of Google is hugely supporting to be better prepared. 💡 Role of AI: Omni- or cross-channel strategies are becoming increasingly important in addressing customers. The @DOUGLAS Group is a pioneer in this area, we continuously test AI-based services to further improve the customer journey. That’s why it was really interesting for me to see how other companies think about AI trends and developments. It is impressive, but sometimes even frightening to see what AI can bring to people’s life. Great to hear that Google has also defined principles and guidelines. Thank you Google and Dr. Jannika Bock for the invite and this great zeitgeist-experience. With this extremely well organized event you are really on the forefront. I had a very special time with valuable input and many food for thought that I will bring home to our #TeamDOUGLAS to discuss insights to further develop our ’Let it Bloom’ strategy.

A decade on since the last Liberty Global Strategy conference in the iconic city of Rome, I was delighted to welcome 50 colleagues from across our countries, ventures and corporate functions to tackle some of the most relevant themes in the ever-expanding universe of TMT.   We compared the hot topics of ten years ago with the topics of today, and we saw remarkable continuity in the broad themes: progress of OTT, continued drive for customer centricity, refinement of FMC, opportunities to expand the portfolio of services, emerging new technologies, and opportunities to enhance B2B and B2B2C services. Perhaps more focus this time round on data and AI, which has seen the biggest advancement in our business over these years.    However, some clear take-aways continued to resonate: we, in the TMT sector, operate at the centre of an amazing ecosystem that continues to evolve and expand, but always needs our connectivity to power it. The ability to pace investment and acquisitions will be critical as we grow with the emerging requirements, and we should not over-react to hype.   As the digital world becomes ever more exciting, we need to become better and better at working with partners and move away from the traditional “closed” systems of the past. And, perhaps most importantly, our customer relationships are unique and precious, and we need to ensure that whatever we do we keep these at the heart of everything we do.    I hope that we won’t leave it ten years to our next conference, and judging by the buzz from the two days, nor do 50 more. Rome was able to twice become the centre of world influence, what better place for Liberty Global to get inspiration. It is a privilege to work with such talented, engaged, and energising colleagues. Anne Nguyen Adrian Drury Madalina Suceveanu John Paul Amy Blair Pieter Vervoort Alberto Rey Villaverde Jeroen Hoencamp Fleur van Beem Andreas Merz Dieter Nieuwdorp Piet Porteman Campbell Scott

🆕 New blog post, all about our annual conference Siân Williams, CENSIS’s Marketing and Comms Manager, looks back at the foundations - and growth - of the Technology Summit. Read the full post at https://lnkd.in/ecwDeRJS From an unassuming start in 2014 with just 90 delegates, the #TechSummit is now the largest event in the CENSIS calendar. Taking months to organise plus a full day - and night shift - to set up, the Summit now welcomes upwards of 650 guests, scores of exhibitors, and a lineup of international speakers. So how have we done it? What makes the Summit such a success when there are so many events competing for people’s attention? The article argues it stems from these principles: 1️⃣ By ensuring it's not all about us The Summit is not designed as a showcase of our work or as a vehicle to keep retelling our story. It exists to generate new relationships and partnerships across the entire technology ecosystem, not just create opportunity for CENSIS. 2️⃣ Making sure there’s something for everyone If we’re asking you to give us a whole day of your time to attend the Summit, it’s our duty to make sure you leave thinking it was a worthwhile trade. 3️⃣ We focus on inclusion, not profit We don't charge delegates. Charges - no matter how small - create a barrier to entry. Innovation is for everyone, not just those who can afford to buy a ticket. We can do this thanks in no small part to our exhibitors and sponsors. Even then, we keep costs competitive, with prices remaining steady for several years, despite inflationary pressures. That’s why you’ll still see innovative start-ups exhibiting side by side with blue-chip companies. 4️⃣ Sales pitches? No thanks. Ever attended an event before where presentations felt like thinly disguised sales pitches? It's cynical and doesn’t inspire trust. No-one ‘pays to play’ at the Summit, and we work hard to find relevant thinkers who are experts in their field and have something genuine to share with our audience. We’re incredibly proud of what the Summit has become, and delivering it is truly a team effort. Rest assured, while you may not see some CENSIS staff until November, we're working hard to bring you another great event that continues to deliver against these principles. Registration is already open if you want to join us - https://lnkd.in/eEkWWJAA

Our CEO, Christian Jomaas, opened our 4th annual Nordic TechSaaS Conference in Stockholm today with an introduction to the three key topics for this year's conference: AI, Defence Tech and the shift from growth to profitability. The tech market downturn bottomed out almost on the day of last year's conference, and since then, the Nasdaq 100 index has risen by 45%, whereas the broader S&P 500 index is up 17%. As increasing interest rates have reduced the value of future cash flow, profitable large tech has dominated the market, and large-cap technology companies with a clear AI angle have been the winners.   We also see strong growth in defence technology. With the current global geopolitical situation, defence technology companies become even more important. Nordic companies play a vital role within this industry, as evidenced by the strong annual growth rates of the presenting companies at our conference. Over the last year, the sentiment has shifted from growth to profitability. In a market climate where money was almost free, growth was highly valued. However, with the increased cost of capital, the importance of scaling back growth investments and focusing on cash flow has taken precedence. Investors now favour cash flow and profitability. During a period when the cost of capital was almost zero, investors and companies prioritized growth. Increasing interest rates have reduced the value of future cash flow, driving investor appetite towards larger liquid and profitable tech companies.   Our 4th annual Nordic TechSaaS Conference welcomes 48 innovative technology companies and over 500 investors and industry professionals for a full day of presentations, investor meetings and technology discussions. Learn more about our conferences and events on our websites: https://lnkd.in/daWAfBz

What is the CXO journey of the future? TomorrowLab and BDO will show 5 hot topics from experience and how we use them. Generative AI, Metaverse, Sharing data & twins, Interaction with the citizen scientists, Future of strategy! You will be able to visit the digital experience center of Living Tomorrow. The afternoon is organized with round tables where you can participate and discuss with your peers: Do you recognize the challenges? How do you solve it in your company? How do you see the future ?  What are you missing today to move forward in this topic? Please note that places are limited and reserved for CxO's.

#OMR24 in Hamburg - one week later, what did I take away? A lot, because I was able to listen to so many inspiring people like Britta Behrens 💡 on conference stages or exchange ideas with them at the Bitkom side event in the FC St. Pauli von 1910 e.V. football stadium (Jenny Gruner, Marianne Stroehmann, Karin Libowitzky, Tobias Kellner, Marc Opelt and many more). Professional insights: 🔹 It's all about data and the IT systems have to work (and be accepted by users), otherwise there will be no targeted and effective customer approach, customer acquisition and increase in sales and profitability. 🔹 Marketing, like IT, is under pressure in companies. CEOs perceive it as a cost centre and do not trust it to play the role of a driver of growth or even innovation. 🔹 The alignment between marketing and IT is a huge issue and the crucial sticking point as to whether the thing will fly. The situation is similar when it comes to AI empowerment in the organisation. 🔹 Success on LinkedIn, whether with a corporate account or a personal profile, is based on authenticity and well-researched content. Business influencers and thought leaders are becoming increasingly important in order to attract the attention of decision-makers and the C-level. 🔹 AI also influences purchasing decisions in B-to-B, for example for software solutions or IT services. With this trend in mind, it is important to look at where GPT obtains its data from and what relevance it ascribes to the individual sources: 82% public web, 13% digital books, 1% Wikipedia, 4% Reddit. Reddit, Inc. is a social news aggregator on which registered users can post and offer content. GPT rates the relevance of Reddit content at 20 per cent. According to OMR editor-in-chief Roland Eisenbrand, we should ask ourselves whether our company already exists on Reddit? If not, how can we ensure that we are mentioned there... My personal learning: 🔸 To get the most out of such large events with 70,000 people, you need a lot of chutzpah, resilience and experience. Otherwise everything can quickly become too much: too many people, too much content, too many stimuli, too much noise. 🔸 The days in Hamburg didn't stress me out, 15 years at the CeBIT computer trade fair, 7 days packed with moderating panel discussions, interviews at the trade fair stands and writing for the trade fair newspaper steeled me. 🔸 Sometimes it's only in retrospect that you realise what really got you ahead in life. For me, it was CeBIT, in many ways: physical resilience, moderation, getting to C-level, up-to-date reporting. 🔸 It's also the biggest source of dopamine for me to meet new people, exchange ideas with them and learn something new. OMR satisfied my curiosity and thirst for knowledge in the best possible way. Many thanks to Felix Frank from Bitkom for the invitation and to the whole OMR-team for this really great festival.

A pleasure to co-host our Private Equity Breakfast in NYC this week alongside Denzil Rankine and Dhruv Yadav. We discussed: - Why now is a good time for investing in the Events Ecosystem, given above-expectation performance over the past 12 months and valuations being yet to catch up - In an industry that has traditionally seen 30%+ margins, how the market leaders in each segment (organisers, service providers, tech vendors, venue operators) achieve this - Market opportunities across the spectrum of asset size and business model

Organisations have been invited to showcase their innovations as part of the department’s plans to champion the work of UK industry and academia. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is inviting leading innovation firms, technology businesses and research organisations to showcase their innovations at the entrance to the new DSIT HQ.   Each exhibit, which will be in place for around one month, will give each business or organisation prominence and visibility to Ministers, other businesses, Government officials, and influential individuals who visit the area. Those selected to exhibit will be promoted across the Department’s social media channels as well as at internal events, highlighting their work to the innovators and decisionmakers who are leading the push to cement the UK’s status as a science and technology superpower.     The first exhibitions are expected to begin early in 2024 and interested participants will be asked to outline how they are helping the UK to cement its position as a science and technology superpower. They will also be asked to show how their organisation will deliver improved public services, create new better-paid jobs, and grow the economy.  https://lnkd.in/gevKkYnH

Paddy Cosgrave returns as Web Summit CEO, after resigning over Israel/Gaza controversy Paddy Cosgrave, the co-founder of the Web Summit tech conference, is returning to his relation arsenic CEO aft resigning successful October implicit controversial statements helium made astir the Israel/Gaza warfare past twelvemonth connected societal media. Rumors of his instrumentality began to surface implicit the weekend; Cosgrave confirmed the determination successful a post connected X today. Notably, successful his announcement, Cosgrave does not marque immoderate notation of the governmental remarks helium made (with the societal media posts helium wrote astatine the clip deleted arsenic well). Instead — taking a leafage from Mark Zuckerberg’s displacement to “community” astatine Facebook successful the aftermath of the societal network’s immense post-2016 predetermination ungraded (Cambridge Analytica, predetermination manipulation, Congressional hearings and the rest) — Cosgrave goes for de-escalating with a planned displacement successful absorption to smaller groups. “As Web Summit becomes bigger, our purpose should beryllium to marque it smaller for our attendees. More intimate. More convivial. More assemblage focused,” helium writes. Smaller groups, of course, gives a larger entity — whether its a societal web oregon an lawsuit — a mode to cater to antithetic agendas and opinions. And, much opportunistically, with Facebook, the content of tiny assemblage is meant to beryllium a counterweight to the bigger concern aim. Web Summit runs a fig of planetary tech Conferences, the champion known and biggest of which is successful Lisbon, which successful caller years attracted upwards of 70,000 attendees. That flagship lawsuit went done a tumultuous play past twelvemonth aft it was engulfed successful disapproval from its ample tech sponsors, who pulled retired of the lawsuit successful the aftermath of Cosgrave’s remarks. The contention started when, soon aft October 7, the time of the Hamas massacre of Israeli citizens, Cosgrave posted information connected X of the quality outgo of the Israel-Palestine struggle betwixt 2008 and 2023, but omitted the events (and casualties) of that weekend. In look of an outcry, Cosgrave continued to double-down successful consequent posts. Cosgrave besides posted enactment for the Irish government’s disapproval of Israel’s implied plans to chopped disconnected h2o and energy to Gaza arsenic portion of its plans for the war. Cosgrave tweet This was the past straw for galore of Web Summit’s speakers, with the loudest voices of criticism coming from Israel-based VCs and founders, who were past backed up by U.S.-based tech founders and investors. Large sponsors, including Microsoft and Google, past pulled out of the conference. Under pressure, Cosgrave apologised for ...