Constructor Start Demo Day

Founder & Chairman of the Board of Constructor Group, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of Constructor University

Singaporean businessman, entrepreneur, and investor. He co-founded and led many global enterprise software companies, including cyber protection company Acronis, virtualization provider Parallels, service automation platform Odin, and the Constructor ecosystem as founder and primary investor.

Managing Partner & Advisor, Constructor Capital

Matthias joined Constructor Capital as a Managing Partner and Advisor in 2023.
Matthias is a consultant veteran who spent over 20 years at McKinsey & Company in Zurich as a Senior Partner. He led the European Telecom Practice leadership team and advised a variety of telecom clients on various projects. Before McKinsey, Matthias worked as a Research Associate at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Information Management from EBS Universität.

General Partner, Constructor Capital
VP Business Development & Chief of Staff, Constructor Group

Marie Lepske joined Constructor Capital as a General Partner in 2023. Her role within the Constructor Group includes serving as the VP for Business Development and Chief of Staff. Before her current position, Marie worked as a Senior VC Associate at Runa Capital, primarily focusing on the DeepTech sector from 2019 to 2022. In Constructor Capital Marie is continuing to share her expertise in due diligence of DeepTech startups. Besides that her professional journey includes roles as the former IR Director at Innov8 (Venture Capital fund) and COO at Kinian (Family Office). Marie holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

Chairman, Constructor Group Strategic Advisory Board. Physicist, Professor at the Centre for Advanced 2D Materials, National University of Singapore. Langworthy Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. Nobel Prize in Physics 2010.

Professor Novoselov is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who specializes in condensed matter physics, mesoscopic physics, and nanotechnology. He received his master's degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1997 and his doctorate in physics from Radboud University Nijmegen in 2004. Novoselov has published over 320 papers, including more than 25 in Nature and Science, and has a vast background in nanofabrication and nanotechnology. He is known for his groundbreaking experiments with graphene and has been included on the list of most highly cited researchers since 2014.

Founder & CEO, you.com
Founder & Managing Partner, AIX Ventures

Richard is the CEO and Founder of you.com, the world’s first chat-based search assistant. Furthermore, he is founder and managing partner at AIX Ventures where he is active as both an investor and mentor. Prior to his entrepreneurial career, he served as the Chief Scientist and EVP at Salesforce. A recipient of numerous academic and professional accolades, including being named to Time Magazine’s Time100 AI, he is widely recognized as having brought neural networks into the field of natural language processing, inventing the most widely used word vectors, contextual vectors and prompt engineering. Richard received his Ph.D. in computer science at Stanford University in 2014 and later served as an adjunct professor in the CS department at Stanford.

CEO & Co-founder of Quandela

Niccolo Somaschi is the co-founder and chief executive of Quandela, a quantum computing company building quantum computers that scale. Niccolo has more than fifteen years’ experience in semiconductor, photonics, and quantum computing, bridging research development and industrial products. He holds a PhD in experimental physics at the University of Southampton and worked in several research laboratories in Europe, before joining the C2N-CNRS laboratory in Paris, France, where he spun off Quandela. He is at the origin of the first generation of quantum computing systems built by semiconductor quantum emitters, and their commercial deployment via Quandela.

Director, Institute of Quantum Control · Professor of Physics, University of Cologne

Dr. Tommaso Calarco is a theoretical physicist and a leading expert in quantum technologies and quantum control. He is the Director of the Institute of Quantum Control, where he leads research on the control and optimization of complex quantum systems. He is also a Professor of Physics at the University of Cologne and holds a senior research position at Forschungszentrum Jülich, one of Europe’s leading research centers. His work focuses on quantum computing, quantum simulation, and the development of robust control methods for next-generation quantum technologies. Dr. Calarco is actively involved in shaping Europe’s quantum ecosystem, contributing to major research initiatives and advising on the strategic development of quantum science and innovation.

Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, CEO of Constructor Start

Seasoned executive with over 15 years of experience in innovation strategy, product development, startup acceleration, and venture investments. Proven track record in driving digital transformation, managing venture capital funds, and building innovation ecosystems across Europe and Central Asia.
Skilled in leading cross-functional teams, scouting global technology trends, and delivering business growth through strategic partnerships and investments. Founder and ex-director of a leading corporate innovation and venture investment function in IT&digital in Eastern Europe. Experienced management partner of a VC fund. Speaker and academic expert of Business schools.

Project Manager at LIFTT

Pierluigi is an atypical engineer keen on design and technology, pursuing innovation with an entrepreneurial mindset. Lately, he has focused on how the disruptive potential of blockchain is reshaping the concept of business innovation. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Sherlock S.r.l., a startup in the IoT sector, and he holds a Ph.D. in Material Science and Technology from Politecnico di Torino.

Co-founder and CEO at Ludenso

Eirik Wahlstrøm is Co-founder and CEO of Ludenso, an Oslo-based augmented reality platform for educational publishers. Founded in 2018, Ludenso provides a drag-and-drop tool that allows publishers to embed 3D models and interactive content into textbooks. The company works with approximately 30 publishers across 10 countries, including Cambridge University Press and Oxford, and raised $1 million in seed funding in 2022. Wahlstrøm studied Industrial Economics and Technology Management at NTNU, where he met co-founder Harald Manheim. Together they first launched MovieMask in 2016, a mobile headset for smartphone-based viewing that sold tens of thousands of units globally after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Recognizing the scalability challenges of hardware in education, they pivoted to create Ludenso's software solution, which works with devices already present in classrooms.