Benjamin Levy

Founder, Technologist, Corporate Development & Strategy, Product Development, Advisor, Operator. Ben is the Co­Founder of BootstrapLabs, a leading venture capital firm, based in Silicon Valley and focused on Applied Artificial Intelligence. Born in France and living in Silicon Valley for the past 18 years, Ben is a repeat entrepreneur who launched, built, and exited two startups in the financial technology space. Praedea Solutions, a data mining software company using machine learning and image recognition technology, was acquired by Mergent in 2005, and InsideVenture, a financial social network for the founders of venture­backed pre­IPO startups and long­ only institutional investors on Wall Street, was acquired by SecondMarket in 2009 (and is now part of NASDAQ). Earlier in his career, Ben was a Technology, Media, and Telecom Investment Banker who advised startup founders and CxOs of Fortune 500 companies on corporate strategy, financing, and M&A. Over a period of 10 years, Ben helped his clients raise over $300M from institutional investors and close over $5B in M&A transactions. Always a top performer, he quickly climbed through the ranks, starting as an Analyst at SG Cowen, Associate at Lazard, Vice President at Houlihan Lokey, SVP & Head of Technology Private Equity at Wedbush Securities, and Managing Director & Head of US at QuantumWave Capital. Ben is a frequent keynote and panel speaker on innovation, technology investing, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, and globalization in the US, Europe, and Asia.