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.

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.

Thomas started his career as a financial journalist. He worked for Bloomberg, BBC World, The Independent, Le Figaro, BFM and LCI. He was the first one to cover the start-up ecosystem with a famous program named “Start-Up” as soons as 1998.

Always keen on technology and entrepreneurship, he then was a pioneer of web TVs in France when he launched in 2005 DECIDEURS TV a business, finance and tech web TV.

In his third life, he joined Avolta to help the bank to benefit from his extensive experience in the media and new media landscape. For him, the endeavour is still the same : getting to understand what drives entrepreneurs and helping them to develop their business.

Frédéric began his career at Société Générale’s General Inspection, being involved in various missions related to investment banking and stock market activities in France and abroad. He then worked for BGP Indosuez, Lazard Frères and Meeschaert, both in private banking and M&A.

These experiences led him to create Fintesis in 2006, a strategic, financial and operational consulting boutique dedicated to SME and midcaps managers. With Fintesis, Frédéric advised several companies and family offices in their M&A operations (AutoContact, Planasa, Darbonne Group, etc.).

He then created Yooji in 2012, a turbulent new entrant in the baby food sector. Repeatedly awarded at regional, national and European level, Yooji became a leading French FoodTech company and now employs 35 people, while being distributed both online and in 1,000+ retail outlets. To finance this growth, Yooji completed several funding rounds, notably with Danone Manifesto Ventures.

After 8 years as CEO & founder of Yooji, Frédéric decided to leave his position in 2020 and now joins Avolta Partners as Senior Partner.

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.

Jeremy joined Avolta Partners in 2018 as Head of our Advisory practice.

Jeremy began his career in 2005 at SGCIB as an M&A analyst, then joined Barclays Capital in the Coverage team (M&A + Debt advisory). He quit the bank in 2011 to co-found a start-up specialized in geo-located coupons app. In 2014, he was appointed COO at SmartAngels, a leading European crowdequity company, supervising +60 funding rounds for start-ups and SMEs.

Jeremy graduated from a Master degree in Economics and Finance from HEC.

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.

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.

Passionate about finance and tech, Vincent joined Avolta Partners in January 2019 as an Associate within the Advisory practice.

Vincent was previously member of the BPCE Inspection department for two and half years where he worked on advisory and audit missions in France and in the US. He started his career in M&A at Edmond de Rothschild, and at SGCIB US and CMCIC where he worked in sales and on quantitative models.

Vincent graduated from GEM with a master’s degree in Management and holds a MSc in Finance.

Engineer and crypto enthusiast, Jean joined Avolta Partners in January 2018 as an Analyst, working on both fundraising and M&A transactions.

Jean was previously Operations Manager at FinChatBot, a South-African fintech start-up developing AI-powered chatbots for the financial industry. Prior to that, Jean was a Ventures Analyst in a tech incubator and accelerator based in Cape Town.

Jean graduated from CentraleSupélec and holds a Master Degree from the Imperial College London in energy and finance.

Fascinated by entrepreneurs seeking to capture value by delivering disruption that cuts across industries.

Axel joined Avolta Partners in 2018 from Tandem Capital Advisors, a top-tier Belgian boutique investment bank, where he has been involved in M&A transactions and other strategic and financial advisory assignments, mainly in the energy, infrastructure, and food & beverage sectors. He has also worked at PwC in the International Tax & Transfer Pricing team, and at Innovity, a Belgian management consulting firm, where he advised clients on internationalization strategy and innovation financing topics.

Passionate about technology, Axel contributed to the expansion of Uber in the Benelux as an Operations & Logistics Coordinator where he focused on Driver growth, experience, and analytics. A Belgian national, Axel holds a BSc in Economics & Management from the UCLouvain, as well as a joint MSc in Corporate Finance from both the UCLouvain (Louvain School of Management) and KU Leuven.

Data driven and tech-savvy, Alexandre joined Avolta Partners in July 2019 as a M&A analyst.

Prior to joining Avolta, Alexandre worked on fund of funds operations at BNP Paribas and as a VC analyst at Omnes Capital, with a special focus on deep tech startups. Alexandre graduated from ESCP Europe specializing in corporate finance and entrepreneurship.

Corporate Finance and Startup enthusiast, Julie joined Avolta in January 2020 as a M&A analyst. Previously, Julie was Fundraising analyst at Edulis Capital, a French Advisor specializing in Private placement and crowdfunding for SME and startups.

Prior to that, Julie was B2C Operations Manager at Cheese Republic, a FoodTech start up based in Shanghai. Julie is currently graduating in Msc Finance at Paris-Dauphine University and holds a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from Dauphine and East Normal China University.

Passionate about innovative and disruptive models, Benjamin joined Avolta Partners in January 2020 to work as an analyst on both fundraisings and M&A transactions.

After developing an app connecting DIY enthusiasts to people in need of small services, Benjamin saw an opportunity in technology expansion within the travel industry, reason why he launched a B2B hotel reservation platform for travel agents.After he had demystified entrepreneurship, Benjamin started to deconstruct startup myths by sharing both his knowledge and growth hacking tools with students and professionals. Thus, he became President of Smart Up, the Student Association of Entrepreneurship and Innovation of Em Lyon and Centrale Lyon where he multiplied the number of bootcamps and hackathons, organized several conferences with successful French Startups and launched a student incubator.Benjamin graduated from Em Lyon Business School where he specialized in Corporate Finance and Strategy Consulting.

Entrepreneur and fascinated by DTC startups, Antoine-Baptiste joined Avolta Partners in January 2020 as an Analyst, working on both Private Placement and Strategic Advisory.

Prior joining Avolta, Antoine-Baptiste created a DNVB aiming to cure hangover. He also worked at the BNP Paribas Plug and Play acceleration program at Station F focusing on Fintech and Insurtech.
Antoine-Baptiste graduated from Paris Dauphine University and holds a Bachelor in Financial Engineering, he is now enrolled at Edhec Business School for a Master Degree in Strategy and Consulting.

Lucien joined Avolta Partners in January 2020 as an Analyst on fundraising and M&A transactions.

Prior to Avolta Partners, Lucien worked on business development at Krank Club, a SporTech start-up, and at the Strategy & M&A department of Prisma Media, a leading European bi-media company.
Lucien is currently enrolled at ESSEC Business School, where he specialised in both Corporate Finance and Media & Digital industries.

Passionate about corporate finance with a focus on tech startups and data-driven analysis, Luca joined Avolta in January 2020.
Prior to Avolta, Luca was deeply involved in the development of a wine-oriented business start-up based in Montreal, where he was a consultant for French and Italian wineries in the North American market. Luca graduated from emlyon business school in corporate finance.