50 SHADES OF VENTURING

Luc De Vos pioneered "the Internet" in Europe in 1993 when UUCP was some weird protocol and WWW was still a CERN project. He was founding father of the EUnet International group as the first commercial ISP in Belgium and the first pan-European large(st) ISP. Advent Int'l was our VC from 1996 to 1998. EUnet International was acquired in 1998 for $154 million by US based Qwest Communications (NYSE:Q) and subsequently injected into a new joint venture with KPN, creatively named KPNQwest.

As such, he is one of the very early business angels of this new "media and Internet" generation industry that was shaped in the nineties.

Luc has been a key actor in the creation, development and internationalisation of some of the household names that have sparkled on the ICT sky of Europe such as: KPNQwest, Stepstone, Starlab, and was an early business angel, director and private investor in the used car remarketing company CarsOnTheWeb, acquired in 2018 by US based KAR Auction Services (NYSE:KAR) for €156 million.

Luc invested in a diverse portfolio of 50+ other (mainly) ICT companies. He also executed pure advisory, M&A or non-executive director positions for selected companies such as venture capital fund Arkafund, global leasing and fleet mgt company Sofico and local UTM security provider AXS⎢GUARD.

Luc is now a non-executive director in UK headquartered and Euronext quoted Hybrid Software Group plc ("EBR:HYSG").

Vintage year 1958 but still feeling rather young Luc has now ventured in over 60 companies for some 30 years in one or another role as a (co-)founder, director, investor or advisor.

Cumulative numbers (as of 2023) on the venturing chart:

185 years as director

157 years as investor

79 years as chairman

63 years as (co)founder

33 years in management

and a weighted total of

252 years of venturing

in 69 companies.

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