Nicolas Brusson

CEO

Paris, Île-de-France, France25 yrs 4 mos experience
Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

  • Led BlaBlaCar's expansion to 22 markets.
  • Expert in venture capital and corporate development.
  • Strong advocate for autonomous local teams.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a leader in the Transportation and Venture Capital sectors.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

LeadershipBusiness Strategy

Other Skills

Venture CapitalCorporate DevelopmentMergers & AcquisitionsInternational GrowthTechnology IntegrationTelecommunicationsProduct DevelopmentInvestmentsStart-upsAnalyticsMarketingCleantechEntrepreneurshipBusiness DevelopmentValuation

About

Nicolas is CEO and co-founder of BlaBlaCar. BlaBlaCar is the world’s leading community-based travel network enabling over 100 million members to share a ride across 22 markets. BlaBlaCar leverages technology to fill empty seats on the road, connecting members looking to carpool or to travel by bus, and making travel more affordable, sociable and convenient. BlaBlaCar’s environmentally and human-friendly mobility network saves 1.6M tons of CO2 and enables 120M human encounters every year. Nicolas leads the company’s global operations and international growth. He drives BlaBlaCar’s corporate development and has successfully led the company’s various rounds of financing and acquisitions. Nicolas is a strong supporter of autonomous local teams and acqui-hire, a strategy he implemented to expand BlaBlaCar’s footprint to a global scale. Prior to BlaBlaCar, Nicolas was a venture capitalist focusing on consumer internet and telecommunication investments for Amadeus Capital Partners in London, UK. He led or co-led investments in Linkdex, Octotelematics or Secerno (now Oracle). Nicolas started his career at DiCon Fiberoptics in Berkley, California and spent 6 years at Gemfire in Silicon Valley. Nicolas holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MSc in Optics from the Ecole Superieure d’Optique and an MSc in Applied Physics from Paris XI University. Specialties: Venture Capital, Internet/Media, Telecom.

Experience

Synthesia

Investor

May 2023Present · 2 yrs 10 mos

Mistral ai

Seed Investor

May 2023Present · 2 yrs 10 mos

Dust

Seed Investor

Mar 2023Present · 3 yrs · Paris, Île-de-France, France

  • Make and Deploy Large Language Model Apps

Unobravo | servizio di psicologia online

Investor

Jul 2022Present · 3 yrs 8 mos · Naples, Campania, Italy

  • Unobravo is the first online psychology service in Italy formed by a diverse team of psychologists working only by videocall, remotely. Through a simple completion of a questionnaire, it is possible to be assigned to the psychologist best suited to treat the type of difficulty the user is experiencing. The patient-psychologist relationship takes place digitally, and therapy is carried out in the comfort of your own home.

Moka.care

Investor

Apr 2022Present · 3 yrs 11 mos · Paris, Île-de-France, France

  • Soins de santé mentale

Sequence

Seed Investor

Dec 2021Present · 4 yrs 3 mos · Greater London, England, United Kingdom

Cirplus

Seed Investor

Oct 2021Present · 4 yrs 5 mos · Berlin, Germany

Ÿnsect

Investor

May 2021Present · 4 yrs 10 mos

Helsing

Seed Investor

Apr 2021Present · 4 yrs 11 mos · Berlin, Germany

Homeexchange

Investor

Jan 2021Present · 5 yrs 2 mos · Paris, Île-de-France, France

  • HomeExchange is the global leader in home exchange vacations, offering authentic, sustainable and affordable vacation opportunities for everyone. With almost 100 000 subscribers across 130 countries, HomeExchange makes vacationing on a budget easy with a nominal annual membership fee, no hidden costs or cancellation fees and 24/7 assistance.
  • In late 2021, HomeExchange's newest venture HomeExchange Collection was created, an exclusive community for like-minded travelers to meet, share, and exchange their luxury homes.

Ankorstore

Seed Investor

Nov 2020Present · 5 yrs 4 mos · Paris, Île-de-France, France

  • Ankorstore is an online B2B marketplace that connects brands and designers with boutiques all over Europe.

Gostudent

Investor

Oct 2020Present · 5 yrs 5 mos · Vienna, Austria

  • GoStudent is a digital school connecting students to teachers in a virtual learning environment.

Riff

Seed Investor

Jun 2020Nov 2023 · 3 yrs 5 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

  • Riff is advancing a voice-first tool and technology designed to mimic the instant, collaborative interactions people get from working in an office while working remotely.

Les alchimistes

Investor

Jun 2019Present · 6 yrs 9 mos · Paris, Île-de-France, France

  • Les Alchimistes is a Cleantech, Energy - Sustainable development.

Bellman

Seed Investor

Jun 2019Present · 6 yrs 9 mos · Paris, Île-de-France, France

  • Bellman is the first co-ownership trustee to offer a no obligation contract.

Tencent music entertainment group

Investor

Jul 2018Jan 2021 · 2 yrs 6 mos · Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

  • Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) Group is the operator of music streaming and download services.

Lanes & planes gmbh

Seed Investor

Jun 2018Present · 7 yrs 9 mos · Munich, Bavaria, Germany

  • Lanes & Planes is the Travel Management solution as Software-as-a-Service that truly maps all areas of the business travel in a digital way.

Zenaton

Investor

Mar 2018Jan 2020 · 1 yr 10 mos

Duo security

Investor

Jan 2017Oct 2018 · 1 yr 9 mos

Blablacar

2 roles

CEO & Co-Founder

Promoted

Oct 2016Present · 9 yrs 5 mos · Greater Paris Metropolitan Region

  • BlaBlaCar is the world’s leading community-based travel network enabling over 100 million members to share a ride across 22 markets. BlaBlaCar leverages technology to fill empty seats on the road, connecting members looking to carpool or to travel by bus, and making travel more affordable, sociable and convenient. BlaBlaCar’s environmentally and human-friendly mobility network saves 1.6M tons of CO2 and enables 120M human connections every year.
Venture CapitalLeadershipBusiness StrategyCorporate DevelopmentMergers & Acquisitions

COO & Co-Founder

Apr 2007Sep 2016 · 9 yrs 5 mos · Greater Paris Metropolitan Region

Fondation pour l'audition

Board Member

Jan 2016Present · 10 yrs 2 mos · Paris, Île-de-France, France

  • The Fondation Pour l'Audition wishes to unite talents to advance the cause of hearing health and help the deaf, hard of hearing and their loved ones to live better every day.

Stripe

Investor

Jan 2015Present · 11 yrs 2 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

  • Stripe is the best way to accept payments online. Stripe aims to expand internet commerce by making it easy to process transactions and manage an online business. We want to increase the GDP of the internet.
  • Stripe now processes billions of dollars a year for thousands of businesses, from newly-launched start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Since Stripe powers so many new businesses, it's a snapshot of how the internet is changing; many users are in categories that barely existed five years ago. Web and mobile businesses around the world using Stripe include Twitter, Kickstarter, Shopify, Salesforce, Lyft, and many more.

Side capital

Investor

Jan 2015Present · 11 yrs 2 mos

  • Plusieurs entrepreneurs français lancent un fonds d'investissement pour soutenir les start-up qui innovent dans le numérique. Baptisé «Side Capital», celui-ci investira en amorçage dans les entreprises, et accompagnera les porteurs de projets dans le développement de leur activité et dans la préparation de leurs prochaines levées de fonds.

Shapr - business networking app

Investor

Jan 2015Present · 11 yrs 2 mos

  • Networking should be a joyful experience, because It's about meeting new people. It's not just a trick to generate more sales or find some humdrum job – we see it as a lifestyle. Connecting regularly with inspiring individuals is the key to a more meaningful, fulfilling, healthy existence. And that's why we made an app.

Checkr, inc.

Seed Investor

Jan 2015Dec 2021 · 6 yrs 11 mos · San Francisco Bay Area

  • Checkr is a startup that provides either online access or an API that returns automatically generated background checks.
  • Checkr uses the same data sources as traditional background check companies, but can usually turn them around a lot more quickly than traditional providers.

Deliveroo

Investor

Jan 2015Jan 2021 · 6 yrs · London Area, United Kingdom

  • Our mission is to bring the world's local restaurants into everyone's home or office - fast.
  • Deliveroo lets you order amazing food from the best loved local restaurants who otherwise may not offer delivery.
  • We work with hundreds of restaurant chains and many top quality independents to deliver their food to your home or office. Our customers are as passionate about great food as we are!
  • We have a fantastic team of drivers who take pride in getting your food to you as quickly as roo-ly possible. We call them the Roowomen and Roomen.

Doctolib

Investor

Jan 2015Jan 2020 · 5 yrs

  • Depuis octobre 2013, Doctolib a pour objectif d’améliorer le quotidien des professionnels de santé et des patients. Pour les patients, trouver un praticien près de chez soi et prendre rendez-vous en quelques clics n’a jamais été aussi simple. Pour les professionnels de santé français, Doctolib est le premier service complet de gestion des rendez-vous médicaux et de développement de patientèle.

Clustree

Investor

Jan 2015Jun 2019 · 4 yrs 5 mos

  • Founded in November 2013, by Bénédicte de Raphélis Soissan, Clustree is the 1st SaaS solution that leverages big data to provide evidence-based HR decisions and help companies better manage careers and recruitment.
  • The idea came about after Bénédicte, looking to find guidance for her next job, single-handedly analyzed 500 professional profiles that were similar to hers. Clustree is revolutionizing the HR industry by giving HR professionals ways to find inspiration in the real world.

Menu next door

Investor

Jan 2015Mar 2018 · 3 yrs 2 mos

  • Menu Next Door's chefs are enthusiasts from all walks of life who want to share their talents. So you'll always enjoy freshly-made, delicious meals originating from all over the world.
  • Eat healthy for cheaper
  • On Menu Next Door, you'll find these quality meals at affordable prices because they're homemade and prepared locally with no delivery charges.
  • It's great food for the many, not the few.

Onfido

Seed Investor

Jan 2014Present · 12 yrs 2 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

  • Onfido delivers next-generation background checks, helping businesses across the world verify anyone, anywhere.
  • Powered by machine-learning technology, Onfido is the solution of choice for businesses seeking to verify identities and carry out adverse history searches at scale.
  • Onfido works with over 1,000 clients globally including companies such as HelloFresh, TaskRabbit, Crowdcube and JustGiving.

Livementor

Investor

Jan 2014Dec 2020 · 6 yrs 11 mos

  • What is Live Mentor? Simply put, Live Mentor is a completely new way for you to push beyond your current perceived limitations. Our mentors have a world class level of experience they will bring to the table. Using their experience you can shorten the time it takes to learn your craft and increase your workflow. We expect a learning ratio to increase very significantly with our service.
  • Why do we think so?
  • Remember when you learned to swim, ride a bike, drive a car, or even tie your shoelaces? Sure, we take these things for granted. These things are all learned and you had someone to help show you how to do it until you got it right. Now imagine how much longer if would have taken if you did not have that instructor sitting with you, walking you through the right way to do it. Yep, that's exactly what we thought too.
  • That's what Live Mentor is all about. It's about helping you take your skills to the next level.
  • There are ways to shortcut your learning process. We can help.

La belle assiette

Investor

Jan 2014Dec 2017 · 3 yrs 11 mos

  • We believe people should love entertaining others.
  • We believe entertaining should be delicious, easy and enjoyable.
  • In the future, hosting meal with loved ones will be simple and stress-free. Ingredients will be fresh. Prices will be affordable. Logistics will be invisible.
  • We believe in a future where chefs will not have "restaurants". Where "catering companies" will not exist. Where people won't buy ingredients in supermarkets. Where sharing a meal with friends won't require planning.
  • La Belle Assiette was built to change the catering industry. La Belle Assiette was built to bring back people into the center dining experiences.
  • We believe that great catering can enable great entertainment, for the host and the guests. So we’re building tomorrow’s great catering experience.

Linkdex

Board Director

Jun 2011Sep 2013 · 2 yrs 3 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

  • Linkdex was founded by a team of seasoned search marketers and developers who have grown big search agencies, run global, national and local search campaigns and managed in-house teams.

Octotelematics (holding company)

Board Director

Jun 2010Nov 2011 · 1 yr 5 mos · Rome, Latium, Italy

  • I co-led Amadeus' investement in Octotelematics, a leading Italian software telematics company. I sat on the board of the holding company.

Secerno

Board observer

Feb 2008May 2010 · 2 yrs 3 mos · Greater Oxford Area

  • I co-led the Secerno investment in early 2008 the worked on the sale of the company to Oracle in May 2010

Amadeus capital partners

Investment Manager

Jul 2007Dec 2011 · 4 yrs 5 mos · London Area, United Kingdom

  • Prior to BlaBlaCar, Nicolas was a venture capitalist focusing on consumer internet and telecommunication investments for Amadeus Capital Partners in London, UK. He has worked on a number of investments including Secerno (now Oracle), a database security company successfully acquired by Oracle in 2010, Octotelematics, a leader in insurance telematics, Lindex, a novel web based SEO software and Tobii, a leader in eye tracking systems. Nicolas was a Director in Octotelematics holding company, a Deputy Director in Transmode AB and PacketFront AB and an observer in Secerno, Veebeam and Intune Networks.

Gemfire corporation

Manager

Nov 2000Aug 2006 · 5 yrs 9 mos

  • Participated in the creation of GCH (Gemfire Holding) in 2003 as one of the first 12 employees primary in charge of defining the technology roadmap, re-building the operation team, and assisting the fund raising effort
  • Developed a cost and capacity model used to assess the company’s valuation in order to raise new capital.
  • Formed and directed a team composed of 14 engineers and technicians
  • Managed the wafer fabrication and packaging assembly production lines.
  • Led an engineering development team to achieve the stabilization of both wafer fabrication and packaging processes
  • Negotiated a supply scheme between two Asian component manufacturers that reduced Gemfire’s customer response time and manufacturing cycle time by 25%
  • Coordinated a cost reduction project with team members in the US and in Scotland.
  • Led the initial development of Gemfire’s defense program. Secured Honeywell as key strategic customer and partner

Dicon fiberoptics

Optical Engineer

Apr 2000Nov 2000 · 7 mos

Education

INSEAD

M.B.A. — Finance; Entrepreneurship; PE/VC; Strategy

Jan 2006Jan 2007

University of California, Berkeley

Project Management Certificate — Project Management

Jan 2003Jan 2005

Ecole Superieure d'Optique (SupOptique)

MS — Engineering and Optics

Sep 1997Mar 2000

Paris-Sud University (Paris XI)

PhD qualifier (French DEA) — Optoelectronics

Jan 1999Jan 2000

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