Our Team

Entrepreneur and blockchain enthusiast, Philippe Rodriguez has been passionate about emerging technologies for the last 25 years. He co-founded Avolta Partners in 2013 with Patrick and Arthur.

Prior to Avolta Partners, Philippe created Mixcommerce, a leader in e-commerce delegation solutions for brands, sold to LaPoste Group in 2012. He also co-founded the Electronic Business Group (EBG) in 1998.

Philippe is very active in European networks dedicated to blockchain and cryptocurrency. Since 2014, he is the president of the organization Bitcoin France. He is the author of a reference work on blockchain and crypto-money : “La Révolution Blockchain” published in 2017 by Dunod.

Philippe started his carrier as an engineer in Microsoft where he worked as Startup & VC Community Lead and then as Director of the Server & Tools Business unit. Philippe graduated from EISTI and holds an MBA from ESCP Europe.

Internet pioneer and public figure in the digital eco-system in France, Patrick has also been a serial-entrepreneur for 30 years. He has founded more than 20 startups and backed 30 others as business angel in the digital eco-system.

Prior to Avolta Partners, Patrick founded 24h00, a leading agency specialised in digital communication and social marketing, sold to Webedia in 2012. He was also Vice-President of France Digital during the last 4 years, and was one of the leaders of the “Pigeons” protest.

Self-taught man, he had many others lives as publisher of art books (Love Me Tender), press publisher (Photo-Revue, CD-Media, Internet-Reporter) and internet pioneer in France (ImagiNet, ROL Régie-On-line, Le WebMarchand).

Entrepreneur, process and data addict, Arthur co-founded Avolta Partners in 2013 with Philippe and Patrick.

Alongside to his activities in Avolta Partners, Arthur has had several entrepreneurship experiences (L’Oriento restaurants in Brussels, la Gazelle d’Or pastries in Paris and La Plantation pepper farm in Cambodia).

Prior to Avolta Partners, Arthur worked at BNPP CIB as an M&A Analyst in the SmallCap team. Arthur holds a Master in Finance from ESCP Europe.

Serial entrepreneur pioneer in the French high-tech industry, deeply involved in the Digital and growth companies Ecosystem. He joined Avolta Partners as a Senior Partner in 2016.

After a career as sound engineer in a recording studio, he wrote a dozen of books on personal computers in the 80’s, starting era for the computer industry. He co- founded Avanquest in 1984, which became under his leadership one of the leading software company in Europe.

He was also a founding member and President of the Croissance Plus association, Vice-President of the National Digital Council, President of the Software Publishers Committee and creator of the “Top 250 publishers” and “5000 Startups” initiatives at Syntec Numerique.

Investment banker, active business Angel, Blockchain and crypto-currencies specialist, Philippe joined Avolta Partners in 2017 as Senior Partner.

Born and raised in the US and Canada, Phil attended Carleton University, then the ESCP. He worked in Investment Banking for over 25 years in London, Singapore and Paris. He ran Global Equity and Derivatives Flow sales for BNP Paribas and he was Managing Director of Equity markets at Merrill Lynch.

More recently, he was CEO of Alternativa a Fintech SME Exchange (MTF) and he was a founding member of the European Crowdfunding Network. He is involved in Blockchain and more specifically crypto-currencies. He has been an active business Angel with various Tech companies such as Vistaprint (US), Attenda (UK), DigitalKeys (FR) or Pepins (SW).

IT expert and VC specialist with a great trackrecord in helping companies to scale, David joined Avolta Partners as a Senior Partner for Southern Europe in  2015 and is based in Portugal.

After a Master’s in Social and Economic Administration and a Masters in Political Science, David Laurent began his business career at a communications/incentive agency. In 1997, he entered the IT market, where he got his first experience selling IT services and projects at Sitinfo. Later in 1998, he joined the ITS Group to organise and take responsibility for the Group’s sales and marketing management.

In 2007, David Laurent joined Grant & Partners as managing director. His experience in communications and IT provided a new impetus (both operational and financial) to the fund.

Engineer turned entrepreneur and startup investor with +10 years of experience. Javier joined Avolta Partners as a Senior Partner for Southern Europe in 2017.

Prior to joining Avolta Partners, he was MD in a Rocket Internet venture leading commercial and operations teams, marked by the inception of a sales effectiveness data-driven entity.

In 2011, Javier co-founded a startup, raised funds and subsequently exit to venture partners.  Since 2005, he has been a Director at VentureSpec, a US-based boutique advisory for innovative Startups and SMEs on application and implementation of emerging techonologies (Bots, DeepTech, Blockchain, Machine Learning, etc.), product management, P-M Fit, geo expansion, growth-by-acquisiton and venture capital.

Javier Gonzalez attended University of Miami, ENSEA and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Engineer, interested in data mining & statistical thinking, Pascal joined Avolta Partners in 2013 at Analyst position and became Associate in 2015. He worked on more than 40 A/B Series and M&A transactions in the Tech industry.

Prior to Avolta Partners, Pascal worked at SG as a financial auditor. He also co-founded a life science startup backed in A Series by Seventure in 2015.

Pascal graduated from EISTI in Computer Sciences and GEM Business School in Corporate Finance.

Entrepreneur in the fashion industry, Eve joined Avolta Partners in 2013 as Business Developer. Eve is leading start-ups sourcing in France & Europe. Since 2017, she is also in charge of all Avolta operational processes in France and abroad.

Eve started her carreer in TV and radio production. She also worked for 10 years as an entrepreneur in the fashion industry as head of collection.

Eve graduated from the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Art.

Legal expert, passionate about start-ups and finance, Baptiste joined in September 2015 as an Analyst. Baptiste has worked on more than 20 Series A/B and M&A transactions including Cityscoot, JulieDesk, MinuitUne and Crédit.fr.

Baptiste was previously M&A Analyst at ARFILIA holding and Junior Digital Consultant at E-Bridges in Shanghai.

Baptiste holds a Law degree from the University of Assas and graduated from the EM Lyon Business School in Corporate Finance.

Engineer and deep-tech enthuthiast, Claire joined Avolta Partners as Analyst in January 2016. Claire has worked on more than 10 Series A/B and M&A transactions including Cityscoot, MinuitUne, C-Radar and Patatam.

Claire was previously researcher at the fluid dynamics lab of UCSB, IT consultant at Areva and aerospatial R&D engineer at Airbus Group.

Claire graduated from ENSEIRB in both Engineering and Mathematics, and also from the EM Lyon Business School in Corporate Finance.

Data-cruncher and a SaaS advocate, Thomas joined Avolta Partners in 2016 as an Analyst. Thomas has worked on more than 15 Series A/B and M&A transactions including Cityscoot, Izigloo, Julie Desk, Crédit.fr and C-Radar.

He was previously working at Btwinz Ventures, a VC fund specialising in B2B SaaS businesses. He also took part in organizing Startup Assembly in 2015.

Thomas holds a Master degree in Corporate Finance from Sciences Po (Paris) and studied Mathematics and Philosophy at UCL (London).

Hardware specialist and VC research decoder, Evan joined Avolta Partners as Analyst in June 2017

Evan was previously M&A Analyst for leading biotech company Eurofins and VC Analyst within Engie New Ventures, the venture capital arm of French energy leader Engie. He also worked as the CEO right-hand man of DAMAE Medical, a medtech startup for which he took an active part in the €2m Series A fundraising round with top-tier VCs (Idinvest and Partech).

Evan graduated from L’Ecole des Mines de Paris with a specialisation in Biotech and Entrepreneurship and holds a double degree from HEC Paris with a major in Corporate Finance.