Oliver Samwer and Marco Boerries top the list of the first round of speakers to be announced for TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin this autumn. Rocket Internet founder Samwer is a controversial figure and will certainly prove a big draw, while serial entrepeneur Boerries has just seen his latest company, NumberFour, raise a whopping $38 million (€29.5m) in Series A funding.
Sonali de Rycker from Accel Partners is also set to appear at the conference from October 26-29, which marks the first time it has ventured into Europe having previously visited San Francisco, New York and Beijing.
Alongside the talks, panels and fireside chats, there will be the traditional Startup Battlefield where competing companies will have the chance to pitch their companies live and onstage to innovators, investors and influencers to win a prize of €40,000 and the Disrupt Cup.
Startup Alley, meanwhile, will offer another way for early-stage companies to gain exposure through exhibiting and networking. It will comprise around 100 startups with half demoing on the Monday and the other half on the Tuesday.
The event takes place at Arena Berlin and you can buy earlybird tickets here.