Over the past three weeks, 10 VC scholar candidates (selected from a multitude of applicants) gained access to the often opaque world of venture capital investing by participating in The VC Scholar Programme delivered by MiddleGame Ventures in conjunction with the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT) with a special focus on FinTech, Financial Services and the Luxembourg ecosystem.
Following an intensive series of keynote seminars from industry experts, deep dive practical sessions delivered by the MGV investment team, and collaborative take-home exercises Clemence Jerome and Romaric Senturo were crowned as winners of the 2022 VC Scholar Programme.
A huge thank you to our 10 exceptional VC scholar candidates, Antony Martini at the LHoFT, our keynote speakers and all who contributed to help us put together an informative and engaging three weeks!
An overview of the 2022 programme
The VC Scholar Programme is an intensive course in the science, art and business of venture capital consisting of both sessions delivered by the MGV investment team and external speakers on topics relating to the financial services industry, FinTech and innovation within the Luxembourg ecosystem.
From day one the 10 VC scholar candidates were immersed within the Luxembourg FinTech ecosystem hearing first-hand from a wide range of industry heavyweights including:
- An introduction to the LHoFT and FinTech within Luxembourg financial services industry delivered by Alex Panican, Deputy CEO at The LHoFT, Chris Hollifield, Head of Business Development at Luxembourg for Finance and Luis Galveias, COO at LPEA
- An overview of life as a VC from Jerome Wittamer, Founding Partner at Expon
- Insights into the fund services industry from Femy Mouftaou, Managing Director at IQEQ, Lee Godfrey, CEO at Kurtosys and Julien de Mayer, CEO at Fundcraft
- Key regulatory and compliance considerations in Luxembourg from Petra Krizan, MD at The Blockhouse Technology
- A concise history of FinTech from Pascal Bouvier, co-Managing Partner at MiddleGame Ventures
These industry insights were followed by a series of engaging workshops with the aim of increasing transparency around venture investing activities and providing the candidates with the opportunity to try their hand at screening, evaluating and writing investment memos for selected start-ups.
The workshops tackled three key areas topics:
- Sourcing & Screening: How to build, refine and evaluate a start-up screen
- Start-up Evaluation & Diligence: How to construct an investment memo
- Investment Execution & Portfolio Management: Cap table modeling, term sheets and supporting portfolio investments
The VC scholar candidates were assigned a specific investment theme to focus on and tackled a weekly task based on the prior workshops and learning sessions. By the end of the programme each of the candidates had prioritised over 50 start-ups, written three summary investment memos and one long form investment memo on a high priority start-up of their choice.
The five investment themes were:
Meet the winners of the 2022 programme
Clemence Jerome, University of Luxembourg
A proactive participant in the Luxembourg start-up ecosystem, Clemence has participated in the 6th, 7th and 8th edition of the University of Luxembourg Incubator Ideation Camp, Digital Transformation in finance JP Morgan Hackathon and Logistics and Supply Chain X Digital Transformation in Finance Hackathon.
Clemence currently works as a Research Assistant at the University of Luxembourg with a focus on sustainable finance and holds a Masters in Economics and Finance from the University of
“The VC Scholar programme is a fast-paced challenge where we are put in the shoes of a Venture Capitalist, led to analyze the market, and determine how best to find the most exciting start-up in which to invest. Regular meetings with the MGV team over 3 weeks gave us a deeper sense of how the VC industry operates and their very own approach to innovation and the future.”
Romaric Senturo, University of Luxembourg
Romaric is the founder of Fintech4Inclusion, a student-run project that aims to identify financial technologies that contribute to greater financial inclusion.
Romaric holds a Masters in Banking and Finance from the Catholic University of Lille and is currently studying towards a Masters in Management from Lyon Business School.
“Participating in the VC Scholar program was a wonderful experience. In addition to the great people I met, I gained a lot of knowledge about the FinTech industry and the day-to-day running of a Venture Capital fund. I invite all students interested in this industry to apply for future editions! Many thanks to the LHoFT and MGV teams for this great edition!”
What’s next?
Following the success of the last two years, MGV intends to run the VC Scholar Programme on an annual basis and continue to establish itself as the premier channel that links the academic world with financial services, innovation, technology, start-ups, and venture investing.
Want to join the leading programme for students interested in FinTech, Financial Services and Venture?
Make sure to follow MiddleGame Ventures and the LHoFT on LinkedIn for application updates or send an email to vcscholar@lhoft.lu.
