Age: 39
Nationality: French
www.goldmansachs.com

An Internet entrepreneur in his own right, Schwartz and his team have backed a slew of successful European tech companies, including optical networking firms Algety Telecom and Qeyton Systems, which were sold this year to U.S. buyers for more than $1 billion each.

London-based Schwartz and the Goldman Sachs team also offer strategic advice to young companies plus a global network of bankers to facilitate contacts.

Schwartz learned what it was like to build a business in the U.S. He left Goldman Sachs from 1989 to 1992 and with a friend bought a bank and relaunched it as TeleBanc, a wholesale operation without bricks-and-mortar branches.

A few years later TeleBanc evolved into the first U.S. Internet bank and was acquired by E*Trade.

The vision thing: "This has been a turbulent year in the public equity market, but we will go into a period of more stability. It will be an interesting period to make early stage investments."

Forward spin: Look for more European companies to become global tech leaders.

Digital Europe | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13
14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | TIMEeurope Home | Back