Raph Crouan

Raph Crouan is a London-based entrepreneur, angel investor and technology-ecosystem operator. He began his career in the telecommunications industry (leading telecom sales for Gemalto/Gemplus in Spain) before spending roughly a decade at Apple, where his responsibilities grew from business and sales roles to Head of iPhone & iPad in Business for Europe, a post he held until around 2011. He holds a B.A./Master's in Management from McGill University in Canada (with study also referenced at HEC Montréal) and a business degree from ESSCA School of Management in France.

Leaving corporate life to pursue his interest in entrepreneurship, Crouan founded and ran the Startupbootcamp IoT / Connected Devices accelerator program out of London until 2018. Through that program he and his team screened well over 1,500 early-stage companies and invested in roughly ten each year, building relationships with thousands of startups worldwide and backing more than 30 IoT companies.

Crouan subsequently joined C4 Ventures (c4v.com) as a Venture/Business Development Partner, where he led fundraising and LP (investor) relationships for the firm's funds. C4 Ventures is a European deep-tech investor — "operators backing entrepreneurs" — with a portfolio spanning robotics, quantum computing, space technology and advanced manufacturing (including names such as Formlabs and NEURA Robotics), and a track record cited on its site of 57 companies backed, 16 unicorns and multiple exits/IPOs.

In parallel he has built an active personal angel portfolio — described as nearly 30 companies invested and around 25 active holdings with at least one exit. He is a Founding Board Member and President of La French Tech London (the largest French-government-backed community of French founders, investors and corporate leaders outside France, 2,000+ members), a Founding Management Board Member of AIOTI (the Alliance for IoT Innovation at the European Commission), and a Founding Board Member of the French IoT Think Tank. He founded and served as CEO of DisruptVenture and is an advisor to the Greentech Alliance. Today he is Managing Director for Technology Clients across Europe at the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, acting as a liaison between the European tech ecosystem and the firm.

• Stage: Seed and early-stage; comfortable at the accelerator/pre-seed frontier given his Startupbootcamp roots.
• Sectors: IoT and connected devices are his core specialty; broader interest in deep tech, hardware, and innovation-driven companies. Through C4 Ventures he is exposed to robotics, quantum, space and advanced manufacturing theses.
• Angel check profile: A prolific angel — invested in ~30 companies over four years, ~25 active, one exit — implying typical individual angel-scale checks rather than lead-round sizing.
• What makes him say yes: As an ex-operator (Apple, Gemalto) he backs founder execution and go-to-market ability; his accelerator experience screening 1,500+ companies means he values coachability, a clear connected-devices/hardware wedge, and European-with-global ambition.
• In his own words (paraphrased from his Startupbootcamp advice interviews): he stresses focus, listening to customers and mentors, and building strong founding teams over chasing technology for its own sake.