U.S. Investment &
Business Landscape
Roundtable discussion with experts
Norrsken House Barcelona RedRoom / 12th May / 10:00-11:30
The State of the US - Startup Roundtable
U.S. Investment & Business Landscape
12 May 10:00-11:30 CESTNorrsken House Barcelona
U.S. Investment &
Thinking about expanding your startup to the U.S.? Is it the right time? Is it even worth it?
Join us for an open and honest roundtable discussion on the realities of entering the U.S. market: from incorporating as a C-Corp to competing in Silicon Valley, navigating geopolitical risks, and understanding how investment strategies shape international expansion.
We’ll explore different perspectives: Should European startups make the leap now? Should U.S. companies consider Europe instead? What are investors really looking for; and what worries founders the most?With insights from:
· Alex Rodríguez Bacardit, Founder & CEO at MarsBased and Director at Startup Grind Barcelona· Sarah Luppino, Principal at M Ventures· Pepe Borrell, Venture Builder & ex-CEO Europe at Crowdcube
Moderated by Kat O'Brien, VP of Corporate Engagement at Emergent.
Expect real talk, tough questions, and space to share concerns, challenge assumptions, and connect with others facing similar decisions.A must for any founder thinking cross-border!
Hosts
Alex Rodríguez Bacardit Founder & CEO @ MarsBased
MarsBased is a high-end development consultancy based in Barcelona, specialized in web and mobile applications using Ruby on Rails, Node.js, Angular, React, and other JavaScript frameworks. Its Head of Growth leads business development and also serves as Director of Startup Grind Barcelona, part of a global community for entrepreneurs present in over 600 cities across 135+ countries.
As a business angel, he focuses on Barcelona, London, and San Francisco, mainly investing in B2B SaaS companies and B2C startups that are likely to pivot to B2B. He typically invests up to €10,000 per deal and is also a Managing Partner at Winning Capital and a Limited Partner at itnig Fund One.
Sarah LuppinoPrincipal @ M Ventures
Sarah is a Principal at M Ventures, the strategic corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. She leads the team's efforts on sustainability investments, while also investing in semiconductors and frontier tech. She earned her Ph.D. from MIT in chemistry and has previously worked in business strategy consulting as well as in startups in the nanotechnology and energy & sustainability sectors.
Pepe BorrelVenture Builder
Born and raised in Barcelona, Pepe's journey has taken him from Hamburg to Madrid and around the world, competing in field hockey for various clubs and representing the Spanish national team. In 2014 he co-founded Crowdcube Spain, a joint venture that was later acquired by his parent company. He then served as VP International & CEO Europe, opening offices in Paris and Stockholm and joining the company’s Leadership Team. Over the years, Pepe led Crowdcube European teams and originated over 200 deals including Cowboy, Qonto, Finary, ID Finance, and Heura. Crowdcube itself secured venture funding from Balderton, Molten, Circle, and over 13,000 retail investors from its own customer community.
Kat O'Brien VP of Corporate Engagement @ Emergent
Kat O'Brien works as a Vice-President of Corporate Engagement in Emergent, a U.S.-based NGO in sustainability that leads the LEAF Coalition to stop tropical deforestation. She’s been working in partnerships and business development for more than a decade, both in startups such as Polaroo (fintech) and ClimateTrade (sustainability) and in multinationals such as Mastercard, ESPN or Samsung Pay.
She is the president of the U.S. Spain Executives Community, a group with the mission of driving connection and building relationships among people with business interests in both the U.S. and Spain.
