Damien Balsan

Damien Balsan is a repeat technology entrepreneur with roughly 25–30 years in the industry, concentrated in telecommunications, mobile communications, electronic payments, and digital identity and security. Earlier in his career he was General Manager for Gemplus/Gemalto in South America (1994–2001), Head of NFC at Nokia, and Head of Point-of-Sale Partnerships at PayPal (2007–2011). He earned an MS in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management (2002).

As a founder and operator, Balsan co-founded Way Systems (2002–2017, acquired by VeriFone), Roam Data (acquired by Ingenico), and LoopPay (2014–2018). Samsung acquired LoopPay in 2015 to launch Samsung Pay, after which Balsan served as EVP and Head of Business Development at Samsung Pay from 2015 to 2018. He is credited with three fintech exits totaling close to $500M, tied to Ingenico (Roam), Samsung (LoopPay/Samsung Pay), and Apple (via Mobeewave).

Today he is Co-Founder and General Partner at Conexo Ventures, the venture arm associated with GED Capital / Buenavista Equity Partners, founded around 2018–2019 and headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Balsan is based in Boston and leads the fund's U.S. operations, using his operating network to connect European founders with U.S. markets. He also holds several board and advisor roles, including at LoginID, Kushki, and Halgo.

• Invests in seed and Series A rounds; checks of $100K–$5.0M, sweet spot ~$2.5M, from a fund of ~€100M.
• Thesis in the firm's own words: back "exceptional individuals with passion for solving hard challenges by applying artificial intelligence to high-impact markets."
• Explicitly de-risks deals across three axes: Team • Technology • Market Acceptance.
• Looks for capital-efficient technologies with a proven team, product, and market fit — "smart money" from operating partners who work directly with founders.
• Core sectors: Fintech/Payments, Cybersecurity/Data Protection, Healthtech, Spacetech/Geo-analytics, Future of Work, and increasingly AI and Web3/Crypto.
• Transatlantic mandate: connect innovation between Europe (Spain/Portugal) and the Americas (Boston & Silicon Valley), helping portfolio companies expand into the U.S.