Last week, World Financial Symposiums' “Growth & Exit Strategies for Software and IT Companies” conference was held in London and celebrated its 10th anniversary. As Corum is the Platinum Sponsor, I was happy to chair the event. 

This the only event I know of that brings together leaders from the financial community with the owners and senior executives of technology companies, to look at how to maximize enterprise value and which exit and/or growth options are best right now with a focus on European Technology on a Global Stage.

We worked very hard to bring together a lineup of the leading investors, technology executives and visionaries to educate European technology leaders about financial and other strategies to apply to their companies.

With an extensive agenda consisting of five panel discussions and two keynotes, this WFS event was the most successful to date. One attendee said, “If you want to know the principal keys about growth and exit strategies, and how not to fail, this is the event you should go to and listen. It was excellent.” And another described, “The event provides invaluable access to experience and facts from the main actors in M&A operations.”

We had two excellent keynote speakers including Arkaidiy Dobkin, the CEO and founder of EPAM Systems who has built the company from scratch to being valued on the NYSE at $1B. Joining Arkadiy was JR Smith, the CEO of AVG Technologies who has become a leading provider of security technologies, focused on both organic and inorganic growth.

The success of the conference pointed out how strong tech M&A is currently and that 2013 will be a record year given what we are seeing at Corum in the first quarter alone.

A detailed agenda and speaker bios can be found here.