The future of digital platforms
AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
5th June 2025
5th June 2025
An initiative by Launchworks & Co
Platforms and their ecosystems are now part of our daily lives. They are redefining the way we work, the way we learn, how we innovate and how we collaborate. As a community of platform leaders, how do we ensure that the full potential of these digital ecosystems is realised for all?
What is Platform Leaders?
Platform Leaders brings together entrepreneurs, policy makers, academics, investors and practitioners to exchange insights and best practices on the future of digital platforms and ecosystems. These communities don’t always talk to each other, yet are collectively building the platform economy. Platform Leaders provides strategic insights into key topics and allow experts to share complementary perspectives to shape the debate so that the potential of digital markets can be unlocked for all.
Agenda
Interested in understanding the state of the platform economy? How to adapt to Generative AI and new regulations being rolled out? What’s the current investment landscape? How can platforms help with the circular economy? How can academic research help practitioners and policy makers? Is the future of payments crypto and decentralised? These are some of the topics that were addressed on 9 November 2023.
Platform research in focus: decentralisation and network effects
Fundraising for your platform startup: Insights from the best VCs
Eco-Innovations Unleashed: How BackMarket, Vestiaire Collective and Vinterior Are Shaping the Future of Circular Economy
Payment platforms: innovation at lightning speed
The platform economy: historical impact and future trends
Entering a new era of platform regulation
Keynote Benoit Reillier, CEO Launchworks & Co - 9 November 2023
Benoit Reillier reviews the present-day dynamics, challenges, and opportunities within the platform economy as well as new emerging trends.
How can platforms power the circular economy - 9 November 2023
Jennifer Schenker, Founder & Editor-In-Chief at The Innovator, Julie Lejeune, Head of Germany/Austria & UK Vestiaire Collective, Katy Medlock, Back Market's General Manager UK, and Sandrine Zhang Ferron, Founder & CEO at Vinterior, discuss how platforms can power the circular economy at scale.
Policy Making and Enforcement in an AI world - 9 November 2023
Tom Smith, Partner, Competition Law and Digital Regulation at Geradin Partners, Matthew Braovac, Director at Digital Markets Unit at the CMA and Oliver Bethell, Head of Competition, EMEA at Google discuss key challenges as regulators shift from policy making to enforcement.
The future of payment platforms - 9 November 2023
Laura McCracken, Advisory Board member, The Payment Association, Ezechi Britton MBE, CEO CFIT, Mark Shaw, Director, Global Payments Strategy at Spotify and Derren Powell, VP, Business Development, Fintech UK&I at Mastercard review the state of payment platforms and how the future might look like.
Keynote Arka Dhar, Head of Product, OpenAI - 9 November 2023
Arka Dhar, Product Lead at OpenAI, discusses the impact of Generative AI on digital platforms. He also talks about OpenAI's emerging platform strategy.
Securing exponential returns - 9 November 2023
Joe Schorge, Founder & Managing Partner, Isomer Capital, Andrin Bachmann, Partner and Founder, Piton Capital, Camilla Dolan, General Partner, Eka Ventures explore how to secure exponential returns for digital platforms in the current investment landscape.
The Future of Platform Research - 9 November 2023
Joost Rietveld, Associate Professor, UCL School of Management, Jean-Philippe Vergne, Associate Professor, UCL School of Management and Xu Zhang, Assistant Professor London Business School explore ongoing academic research, emerging theories, and future directions in platform research.
Here are our confirmed speakers.
Arka Dhar
Arka Dhar
Arka Dhar is Product Lead at OpenAI, the organisation that created chatGPT. Arka is also co-founder of Zinier and is responsible for driving the company’s overall strategy and expanding to new verticals and global markets. Zinier is an intelligent field service automation platform that helps organisations work smarter, faster, and more efficiently.
Zinier is Arka’s second company started with co-founder Andrew Wolf. At age 23, the pair founded and sold Lift12, a Singapore-based data-driven supply chain management solution for retail brands. Prior to Lift12, Arka led market development at TripAdvisor and was a venture partner at Rocket Internet, a leading European venture capital incubator.
Arka is an MIT-trained engineer and a graduate of London Business School’s Sloan Programme.
Jennifer Schenker
Jennifer Schenker
Jennifer L. Schenker, an award-winning journalist, has been covering the global tech industry from Europe since 1985, working full-time, at various points in her career for the Wall Street Journal Europe, Time Magazine, International Herald Tribune, Red Herring and BusinessWeek. After leaving BusinessWeek Schenker founded Informilo, a U.K.-based media company that published print magazines about the global tech sector. She is currently the founder and editor-in-chief of The Innovator, a global subscription newsletter about the digital transformation of business (www.innovator.news). Jennifer was voted one of the 50 most inspiring women in technology in Europe in 2015 and 2016 and was named in Forbes 2018 list of 30 women leaders disrupting tech in France. She has been a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneers judge for 20 years. She lives in Paris and has dual U.S. and French citizenship.
Joe Schorge
Joe Schorge
Joe Schorge is Managing Partner of Isomer Capital, based in London and focused exclusively on European venture capital. Isomer accesses high-potential opportunities in European technology through limited partner investments in early stage funds, company co-investments, and secondary purchases of funds and company positions. Joe has spent 25 years’ working as an LP, GP and technology operations executive, previously at Pomona Capital, a leading global secondaries firm, and at Cambridge Associates responsible for advising institutional investors on private equity investments. Joe began his career in information technology operating roles at Invensys plc (now Schneider Electric) in the US and Europe. He received a BS Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and an MBA from London Business School.
Laura McCracken
Laura McCracken
Laura McCracken is Advisory Board Member of The Payments Association.
She was until recently Accenture's Global eCommerce & Payments Industry Lead within the Software & Platforms practice.
Laura brings to her clients over 25 years of e-commerce, financial services, Fintech and payments industry experience from her career with Facebook, Amazon, Citi, and American Express. She has also served on the Boards of AIG Life UK as an Independent NED.
Having lived in London, Luxembourg, Singapore, New York and Los Angeles and worked across over 30 markets in North America, EMEA, Russia/CIS and Asia Pacific, Laura has an international network and views the world through a global lens.
She holds a BS in Accounting from Auburn University and MBA degrees from Columbia and London Business School.
Benoit Reillier
Benoit Reillier
Benoit Reillier specialises in strategy and corporate development for innovative high growth companies and platform businesses/ecosystems. He has been advising the boards and top management teams of many blue chip companies as well as regulators and Governments for more than 20 years. Prior to founding Launchworks Benoit was Director of Economics and Regulation at KPMG where he focused on Telecommunications, Media and Technology clients globally. Benoit is a guest lecturer in a number of top business and engineering schools and is in charge of the executive Platform Strategy module of the HEC Paris MBA. He is a graduate from IMT Business School in Paris and holds Master degrees in Management, Economics and Law. Benoit is also a graduate from Columbia University in New York and London Business School (MBA).
He is the co-author of Platform Strategy: How to unlock the power of communities and networks to grow your business and Mission BlaBlaCar.
Xu Zhang
Xu Zhang
Xu Zhang is a marketing expert who specializes in developing effective marketing strategies for digital platform markets. She possesses extensive expertise in analyzing how information design and pricing can impact market efficiency, business profits and consumer welfare. With a global reach, she collaborates with companies across various industries, including healthcare, freelance, e-commerce, online travel, and NFT.
Her work has been published in leading journals such as Journal of Marketing Research and Marketing Science. She serves on the editorial board of Marketing Science. Xu was recognized by Poets & Quants as one of the Best 40-Under-40 MBA professors in 2023 and being a runner-up for LBS's Best Teacher Award in MiM 2021. Additionally, Xu has been interviewed by leading media outlets such as BBC and the Economist.
Jean-Philippe Vergne
Jean-Philippe Vergne
Jean-Philippe studies capitalism’s evolution at the intersection of technology and organization, with a focus on how socially contested organizations affect the birth and renewal of industries. His work contributes to related research on (a) industry evolution and organizational adaptation; (b) categorization, stigmatization and disapproval; and (c) organizational decentralization.
After researching international trade in the 17th century, analog & digital communications in the 1960s-90s, and the global arms industry around 9/11, JP’s focus has been on Web3 since 2015. He regularly collaborates with established firms, startups, and regulators interested in this space.
In 2016-2020, JP was a founding director of the fintech-focused Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab at Ivey Business School, in Canada, where he launched and chaired the first three editions of the Toronto Fintech Conference.
JP’s award-winning research has been featured in such media outlets as the Financial Times, The Globe & Mail, The Economist, Bloomberg, CBC, Forbes, Al-Jazeera, as well as in various cryptocurrency news sources. JP has given keynote presentations at international technology conferences (Google Zeitgeist, South by Southwest, TEDx) and at high-profile corporate events. JP advises start-ups and consults on strategic issues involving adaptation and technology innovation.
In his spare time, he enjoys live music, art shows, and wine tasting.
Camilla Dolan
Camilla Dolan
Camilla is General Partner at Eka Ventures, a seed and Series A Venture Capital fund focused on investing in founders creating positive system change through solving an environmental or social objective.
Camilla co-founded Eka in 2018 having been investing in consumer technology companies from seed to growth since 2013.
She has been fortunate to work with some extraordinary entrepreneurs at Bloom & Wild, Gousto and Elder, seeing them develop into emerging category leaders.
Camilla started her career at Bain & Company, in Tokyo and San Francisco and studied Law at Oxford University.
Matthew Braovac
Matthew Braovac
Matthew is a Director in the Digital Markets Unit within the Competition and Markets Authority with particular responsibilities for the DMU’s relationships with other competition agencies and regulators, the operational readiness of the DMU for the UK’s planned pro-competition regime for digital markets and the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum which brings together the CMA with the ICO, FCA and Ofcom to work collaboratively to improve the coherence of the different regulatory regimes that impact digital markets and build capabilities across its member regulators.
Before joining the CMA, Matthew had a long career in the private sector leading legal, regulatory and public policy teams at Sky and Vodafone. Previously, Matthew trained and practiced as a competition lawyer at a leading City firm.
Derren Powell
Darren Powell
Derren is the bridge between new entrants to the payments ecosystem and Mastercard. He joined Mastercard in 2018, having spent 22+ years in Financial Services working for HSBC & Citi across numerous roles and verticals.
Derren’s true passion for technology, people and new business development (with collaboration, partnership underpinned by Purpose) is at the epicentre of his role where his focus is to support clients bringing a card proposition to market (in addition to helping clients navigate the Mastercard landscape).
Derren is a passionate advocate for financial inclusion coupled with being wholly aligned to Mastercard’s overarching ethos of “doing well by doing good”. He is an Ambassador for the KidsOut charity, and, outside of Covid is a volunteer with the First Love Foundation.
Francois Coumau
François Coumau
At Launchworks & Co, Francois specialises in scaling platforms and marketplaces internationally, both in terms of adapting strategy and value propositions to market specifics but also in assembling, organising and developing multi-market teams. He also has deep expertise in platform search/matching (overall model, testing, optimisation), and in platform monetisation.
Previously Group Managing Director at Immediate Media Co, Francois led the digital transformation of the Group and played a key role in the successful sale of this private-equity owned business.
Prior to this, Francois spent 9 years at eBay Europe, where his last role was General Manager for Continental Europe, leading the growth of the eBay e-commerce marketplace in France, Italy and Spain in particular. Francois was also closely involved in the eBay Europe turnaround where he led the buyer experience and search teams across 12 European markets, which included extensive data optimisation work.
Before joining eBay, Francois spent 10 years at Mars Inc, the confectionery business where he held a variety of marketing roles, creating new products, designing advertising and sales strategies.
Francois holds a Master in Management from HEC Paris as well as an MBA from London Business School and an MSc in Organisational psychology from Birkbeck University. He is also a qualified Executive Coach.
Laure Claire Reillier
Laure Claire Reillier
Laure Claire Reillier is Co-founder and COO of Launchworks & Co, the leading experts for designing and scaling marketplaces & platforms. Formerly a senior exec at eBay Europe, she has 20 years’ experience in developing, managing and marketing products and services for digital, e-commerce, and platform companies. Laure Claire was appointed in 2019 as one of the 8 experts on digital platforms at the World Economic Forum. She is also the co-author of Platform Strategy: How to unlock the power of communities and networks to grow your business and Mission BlaBlaCar.
Oliver Bethell
Oliver Bethell
Oliver is Head of Competition EMEA at Google where he leads a large multidisciplinary and cross functional team covering Policy, Legal, Economists, Product, Eng, Comms.
He was previously in private practice at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in Brussels before moving to Google’s in-house team in London in 2008.
Oliver is a graduate of Oxford University, BPP Law School and King's College. He is a member of the Bar of England and Wales.
Oliver was named Competition Individual of the Year, 2018 (Global Counsel Awards); Competition Individual of the Year, 2018 (European Counsel Awards); and Corporate Counsel of the Year, 2012 (Global Competition Review).
Sandrine Zhang Ferron
Sandrine Zhang Ferron
Sandrine Zhang Ferron is the Co-Founder and CEO of Vinterior. Born in China, Sandrine emigrated to France as a child in the 90s. Her family home was focused on utility and function, a consequence of her parent’s upbringing in Communist China. It wasn’t until later in life that Sandrine’s love and exploration into design developed. As she travelled, her exposure to different cultures and design viewpoints led her to develop a love of vintage due to its ability to transform a space, bringing character to a room.
Sandrine majored in finance and graduated from ESSEC Business School in France before embarking on a career in London focusing on structured products sales covering institutional investors in Benelux and Switzerland. Her next role was in the investment team of a family office.
Sandrine left finance to start Vinterior in 2015 following an extensive search for a yellow Poul Volther chair. Endless weekends were spent scouring vintage dealers around London and though eventually successful, Sandrine realised there was a need for an online marketplace where people could easily search and buy quality pre-owned and vintage furniture.
In early 2016 Sandrine learnt to code and launched the initial iteration of Vinterior. The first sale was a pair of Belgian mid-century armchairs. By 2017 the vintage marketplace was booming and Vinterior hit a humbling milestone, £1 million in sales, securing a venture capital injection and creating a marketplace of 500 sellers. The next key marker was reached in 2021, following a series A funding round of £8 million.
Joost Rietveld
JOOST RIETVELD
Joost Rietveld is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the UCL School of Management, University College London.
His research interests are at the intersection of technology strategy and innovation management. His work seeks to understand how inter-organizational dynamics, including platform-complementor relationships, alliances, and mergers and acquisitions, affect product-level outcomes. He is also interested in how digitization facilitates new and innovative ways of doing business including the freemium and platform-based business models.
He has done extensive research in the video game industry after having worked as a strategic manager and consultant for several years prior to entering academia.
Katy Medlock
Katy Medlock
Katy Medlock is UK general manager at refurbished devices online marketplace Back Market and joined the team after working for a slew of other technology companies, including car-sharing marketplace Getaround (previously Drivy) and real estate valuation software maker Forbury. Through her work at Back Market, Katy hopes to make a true impact on the levels of e-waste generated in the UK.
Andrin Bachmann
Andrin Bachmann
Andrin is Partner and Co-Founder at Piton Capital and invests in network effect businesses.
He brings his entrepreneurial spirit and investment experience to Piton. Andrin was a co-founder of Glocalnet, which became Sweden's 3rd largest consumer telecom service provider and was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange before being acquired by Telenor. Following this, he was a partner at M/C Venture Partners - one of the leading private equity investors in the US telecom services space. He was also one of two principals establishing an investment company that became QXL Ricardo PLC's largest shareholder in 2005, and was instrumental in the transformation of QXL leading to its sale to Naspers for around $1.9 billion.
Tom Smith
Tom Smith
Tom is a partner at Geradin Partners, a boutique law firm in London and Brussels that focuses on competition law and digital regulation. He was previously Legal Director at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Tom led the legal team on the Digital Markets Taskforce, set up by the UK Government to advise it on the new regulatory regime for ‘digital gatekeepers’ such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. He also directed the CMA’s influential digital advertising market study, the CMA’s work on setting up the Digital Markets Unit, its antitrust enforcement cases in the tech sector, and the implementation of the UK’s Open Banking regulations.
Tom advises a range of broadcasters, news publishers, app developers, tech companies, e-commerce sellers and other companies on competition law and digital regulation issues. He testified to the House of Commons public bill committee on the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, which is currently going through Parliament. He writes regularly for the Platform Law Blog.
Mark Shaw
Mark Shaw
Mark Shaw, is Director, Global Commerce & Payments Strategy at Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with 551m users, including 220m subscribers, across more than 180 markets. He is a recognised expert in payments, having spent 20 years working across the full breadth of the international payments ecosystem.
He joined Spotify in 2019, having previously worked at Visa, Mastercard, Vocalink, Barclays, TSB and LEK Consulting, and holds a Masters of Engineering from the University of Bristol.
Julie Lejeune
Julie Lejeune
Julie Lejeune is the Head of Germany/Austria & UK at Vestiaire Collective.
Prior to this, she was worked in e-commerce and product manager roles at Zalando, Christian Dior Couture, Celine, and Louis Vuitton.
Julie is a graduate from EDHEC Business School.
Ezechi Britton MBE
Ezechi Britton CFIT
A serial tech entrepreneur, Ez’s journey has taken him from Software Developer to Co-Founder and CTO to Venture Capital. He now begins the next stage of his mission as CEO of CFIT the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology. An industry body backed by the UK Treasury and the City of London with a mission to unblock the barriers to growth for financial technology by bringing together the best minds from across the UK to drive better outcomes for consumers and SMEs.
Ez was previously Principal and CTO in Residence at Impact X Capital Partners LLP a venture fund focused on supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs.
He is the Co-Founder of Code Untapped, a digital skills accelerator that helps companies find innovative product solutions by giving them access to diverse and underrepresented technologists through their innovation labs events.
He is a former Co-Founder & founding CTO of Neyber a multi-award-winning Fintech firm focused on financial well-being.
9:00AM – 9:30AM
GUEST REGISTRATION AND FRENCH BREAKFAST
In-person guest registration at the Science Museum
9:30AM – 9:40AM
WELCOME TALK
Start of the online webinar and the in-person conference.
Platform Leaders introduction by the master of ceremony.
9:40AM – 10:00AM
STATE OF THE PLATFORM ECONOMY
This keynote on the state of the platform economy will set the scene for the day and highlight how the fundamental shift from value chains to digital platforms has profoundly transformed organisations in the past decade. Based on the most recent research and the forthcoming second edition of Platform Strategy, this session will review the present-day dynamics, challenges, and opportunities within the platform economy as well as new emerging trends that will no doubt shape the organisations of tomorrow.
What is new in the platform economy? How digital platforms have adapted post pandemic? What are the key challenges faced by new and existing platforms, including regulatory, competitive, and technological challenges? What is the likely impact of AI on digital platforms? Beyond today’s platforms what are the new organisational forms, from ecosystems to distributed autonomous organisations (DAOs) that are emerging?
10:00AM – 10:20AM
KEYNOTE: HOW AI IS TAKING PLATFORM STRATEGY TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Digital platforms have long been using the power of artificial intelligence. However, the emergence new generative AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT are nothing short of transformational. It changes competitive advantage in many industries. Even established platforms are not immune.
So, how can digital platforms build or sustain competitive advantage in this fast changing environment? What are the potential impacts on talent, strategy, and society as a whole?
10:20AM – 11:00AM
HOW CAN PLATFORMS POWER THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY TO BUILD SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEMS?
Digital platforms have emerged as a catalyst in propelling the circular economy, which emphasises the reduction of waste through the reuse, repair, and recycling of products. These platforms facilitate the exchange of goods and services, extending the lifespan of various items, especially those that are resource-intensive to manufacture, such as smartphones, furniture and high-quality apparel. As these platforms grow in scale, they have the potential to create more sustainable ecosystems by reducing the demand for new products, thus alleviating the strain on natural resources and minimising environmental degradation.
What strategies can be employed to scale circular platforms and amplify their impact on sustainable ecosystems? How can collaborations between digital platforms, governmental bodies, and other stakeholders expedite the transition towards a circular economy? What are the potential challenges that might arise in scaling circular platforms and how can they be mitigated?
11:00AM – 11:30AM
COFFEE BREAK
11:30AM – 12:20PM
THE FUTURE OF PLATFORM REGULATION: POLICY MAKING & ENFORCEMENT IN AN AI WORLD
While digital platforms have been able to innovate and scale their businesses largely unencumbered by specific regulations, this is about to change. In Europe, two new milestone regulatory packages, the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Market Act (DMA), are now laws, so called ‘gatekeepers’, ‘very large online platforms’ and ‘very large search engines’ have been designated and enforcement will start soon. Other countries such as the UK and the US are following suit. Yet the speed of change and innovation in the market is accelerating and the ‘coming wave’ of AI is upon us.
What will happen as regulators shift from policy making to enforcement? How can regulation keep pace with fast changing and high innovation markets? Is there a new emerging regulatory paradigm beyond utilities? How can platforms continue to innovate in increasingly regulated environments? How will regulation shape the sector going forward? What are the risks?
12:20PM – 13:30PM
NETWORKING LUNCH
13:30PM – 14:15PM
THE FUTURE OF PLATFORM INVESTMENT: SECURING EXPONENTIAL RETURNS
Digital platforms have been the darlings of investors over the past decade and provided some of the highest returns ever witnessed. This has helped platform founders secure significant VC investments to finance their growth. However, with a lower number of IPOs, a more difficult investment landscape, and the new AI wave, digital platforms will have to demonstrate their potential and ability to monetise sooner rather than later.
What are the key challenges that digital platforms are facing in the current investment landscape? What are the key trends affecting the investment landscape at the moment and what advice would you give to platform founders looking to secure VC investment? How can digital platforms demonstrate their potential and ability to monetize in a more difficult investment environment? What role will AI play in the future of digital platforms?
14:15PM – 15:00PM
THE FUTURE OF PLATFORM RESEARCH
This panel explores ongoing academic research, emerging theories, and future directions in platform research. Given the interdisciplinary nature of platform research, that panel will touch upon technical, economic, social, and regulatory perspectives. Speakers will review recent significant findings as well as new emerging trends.
What are the more interesting recent research findings and what are the implications for practitioners and policy makers? What are the current hot topics in platform research? How is AI both becoming an important research topic beyond computer science, from ethics to economics? What are the new emerging trends and most promising areas for future research?
15:00PM – 15:30PM
COFFEE BREAK
15:30PM – 16:15PM
THE FUTURE OF PAYMENT PLATFORMS
Firms like Visa and Mastercard were among the original platforms - connecting billions of cardholders and merchants globally to transact - thus creating a unique payment ecosystem that is still at the heart of our economies. However, the system is rapidly changing to meet the evolving needs of merchants and consumers and respond to new payment regulations. Moreover, a raft of new entrants around the world are developing alternative payment solutions, including wallets, identity, open banking, peer-to-peer, BNPL, super-apps, digital currencies, and NFTs.
How is the UK and Europe stacking up against the rest of the world on payments? How are payments evolving to meet the unique needs of marketplaces and platforms? How can social media companies, such as YouTube and Instagram, build trusted native payment solutions to empower the creator economy? How are new payment regulations impacting the traditional payment ecosystem? What lessons can we learn from some of the leading regional payment systems around the world, such as mPesa, Pix, and UPI? How are cryptocurrencies and other alternative payment methods changing the landscape? Tips for other platforms -like marketplaces- keen to get the best payment experiences for their ecosystem participants? What is the future of payments?
16:15PM – 16:35PM
CONFERENCE WRAP UP
Closing remarks and key insights from the event by our master of ceremony and conference co-chairs.