Sven Lingjaerde

Sven started his career over three decades ago at Genevest SA, the oldest private investment firm in Switzerland and spearheaded in 2019 its evolution into Reference Capital where he is currently Managing Partner. Prior to that, he was co-Founder and Managing Partner of Endeavour Vision SA , the leading European Growth Stage Medtech investment firm. In 1997, Sven co-founded Vision Capital, a Trans-Atlantic venture capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley and Geneva. In 2004, he co-founded Euro Private Equity Advisors, a gatekeeper for Pension Funds focusing on Private Equity investments acquired by Natixis Bank in 2013 and rebranded Flexstone Partners in 2019 when it had AUM $7.3bn and 300+ Funds in portfolios. Through his leadership, Reference Capital developed an outstanding track record of early to late stage investments in high tech and biotech private investments on both sides of the Atlantic. Over three decades, Sven has developed an extensive network globally. This network of contacts was consolidated through his founding of the “Tech Tour” organization in 1998. Since then, this initiative has helped many European scale-up companies to accelerate their international growth. Sven has been recognized for his contribution in shaping the European Tech and Life Sciences ecosystem through a number of industry awards (Time Magazine, Investor AllStars, Innovate Europe). Sven studied business administration at HEC, Lausanne, Switzerland and graduated from the ECADE business school, also in Lausanne. He is a member of the YPO-WPO organisation, the premier global leadership network and is the former YPO Alpine chapter's Chairman. A keen skier and golfer, Sven is married and has three children. He is a former Norwegian citizen, became Swiss in 1972 and completed his time in the army as a first lieutenant in the armored forces.