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For the September issue of WIRED we surveyed our extensive network to identify the 100 most influential people in our world, across Europe. Ahead of the issue hitting newsstands on Thursday 6 August, we are publishing 25 profiles everyday. You can check out the WIRED 100 numbers 100-76 here and 75-51 here.
Here are numbers 50 to 26:
50
Web/Politics Advocate peer, London
The former Lastminute.com exec has been on a roll since she sold up for £577m in 2005: becoming Open University chancellor, giving this year’s Richard Dimbleby Lecture, chairing Go ON UK, and being on the boards of Marks & Spencer and Channel 4. Plus, she is waking up the House of Lords.
49
Other Blablacar, Paris
BlaBlaCar has a community of 20 million users, making it the world leader in long-distance ride sharing. Last year, it raised $100 million in a funding round led by Index Ventures. Over 12 months, it has launched in several markets: Turkey, India, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Serbia, and in Mexico after acquiring competitor Rides.
48
Other
President, ETH Zurich
In January, thermotronics professor Lino Guzzella, 57, took office as president of ETH Zurich -- the top university in mainland Europe, with 21 Nobel Laureates associated with it. The university, which has an endowment of 1.5 billion CHF (£1 billion), has spun out more than 300 startups since 1996, including 22 in 2014 alone.
47
Web/Other Co-founder, Klarna, Stockholm
The online-payments provider is one of a rising number of European startups valued at over $1 billion. Siemiatkowski, 33, expanded Klarna into the UK and the US in 2014. In 2015, he plans to expand from payments into payment systems for news articles and public transport.
46
Gaming/Apps Chairman, Rovio, Helsinki
The father of Rovio's ex-CEO Mikael Hed -- who left the company at about the time that the profits began to fall -- Kaj owns almost 70 per cent of its equity. Kaj, 60, continues to be an active investor in Nordic startups via his new venture fund MOOR Capital, which launched back in May 2013.
45
Retail Founders, Transferwise, London
Estonians Käärmann, 35, and Hinrikus, 34, started the peer-to-peer money-transfer startup TransferWise in 2011. It claims to have saved users £135 million in fees and is a powerful symbol of how fintech startups disrupt banking. The $1bn company has 300 employees.
44
Events European director, TED; Le Forum des 100, Geneva
As European director of TED, Giussani, 51, has one of the most impressive contacts books in the world of ideas. He has curated and hosted the TED University programme and the TEDGlobal conference, and is the man to impress if you want your 18 minutes of fame.
43
Tech/Computing Chairman, Nokia, Helsinki
When Nokia sold its mobile division to Microsoft in April 2014, Risto Siilasmaa saw an opportunity: the 49-year-old chairman of Nokia's board is currently overseeing a €15.6 billion (£11.2 billion) deal to buy French rival Alcatel-Lucent, showing doubters that Nokia is still, despite everything, a major player.
42
Events Convenor, Pitch@Palace, London
Even as his PR team was denying historical allegations about his personal life, the duke, 55, was reinventing himself as a startup supporter. His three Pitch@Palace events have brought hundreds of top-grade investors to St James's Palace to hear pitches from startups from across the UK.
41
Tech/Gaming/Design CEO, Lego, Billund
In the decade since Knudstorp, 46, joined LEGO, he has pulled it from a company on the brink of bankruptcy to one with revenues of £2.7bn. The former McKinsey consultant launched a programme to hire LEGO fans as designers. The LEGO Movie and Minecraft competitor LEGO Worlds paid off hugely.
40
Tech/Computing Founder, Raspberry Pi foundation, Cambridge
When Upton, 37, launched his credit-card-sized Raspberry Pi computer in 2012, he hoped to teach kids programming skills and dreamed of selling 10,000. By February 2015, the company had sold five million units. Recent school curriculum changes have placed the Pi at the forefront of ICT in British schools.
39
Telecoms/Apps Vice-president, iTunes International, London
Music sales on iTunes declined significantly in 2014 (hence the firm's investment in Apple Music) yet the platform generated $10.2 billion in net sales in 2014, up from $9.3 billion, and still dominates the global market. Schusser is responsible for all iTunes business outside the US, including fast-growing Asia.
36
Web/Retail/Apps Founder, Yoox, Milan
The 46-year-old CEO of luxury e-commerce platform Yoox pulled off an all-share deal takeover of his largest rival Net-A-Porter in April -- creating the world's largest online luxury retailer, valued at €3.12bn. The company was founded on his negotiating with high-end fashion brands to sell at discount prices.
35
Tech/Investment Venture capital, London
The London-based investors -- already one of Europe's biggest tech venture firms, with around $2.3 billion of assets under management -- is looking towards Europe from its new base in Kings Cross, with a round of hiring for an office in Paris. It has been part of rounds in 3D Hubs and Lyst and backed Kobalt early on.
34
Web/Social/Retail Founders, Stripe, California/Limerick
Patrick, 26, and John, 24, usurped Amazon when Kickstarter ditched the retail giant for their Stripe payments system in 2015. Backed by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, the company has soared to a reported $5 billion valuation. When you press "Buy" on social media, you're probably using it.
33
Investment Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Anthemis, Geneva
Park's investment firm focuses on startups disrupting financial services through technology. Companies invested in include Betfair, Zoopla and Simple. Park, 46, launched the Anthemis Fellowship programme in 2015, whereby three fellows will be placed across portfolio companies.
32
Retail/Apps/Events Slush, Helsinki
As CEO, Kuusi spent 2011 to 2014 leading Slush's growth from a local, 150-person conference to a global event, attracting 14,000 delegates from 79 countries. Kuusi stepped down in 2014 to launch his own startup, the fledgling food-payments app Wolt, with $500,000 seed funding led by Lifeline Ventures.
31
Web/Other CEO, Reed Elsevier, London and Amsterdam
Engstrom, a 52-year-old Swede, is CEO of Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch multinational publisher and information provider operating in the science, tech and medical sectors. Under Engstrom, it has transformed from a trad print-publication and events company to a digital information business.
30
Events Co-founder, DLD, Munich
The 61-year-old former journalist and founder of Europe's most influential tech conference, Burda's DLD, is securing a foothold in the US – the second DLD NYC took place in May 2015, joining the DLDsummer conference, DLD Tel Aviv Festival, DLD Moscow and DLDcities in Burda's portfolio.
29
Tech/Investment Angel investor, Cambridge
The Canadian expat, 51, is on the advisory board of LinkedIn, a non-exec at the London Stock Exchange and Cambridge University, and has backed Zoopla, LoveFilm and YPlan. She runs Silicon Valley Comes to the UK and Founders4Schools, which gets entrepreneurs speaking in classrooms.
28
Web/Retail Chairman, Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, London
The Richemont Group's sale of Net-A-Porter to Federico Marchetti's Yoox Group means that, while Massenet is chairman to Marchetti's CEO, the 50-year-old founder of the company is now part of the world's largest online luxury-goods business, valued at €3.12bn. In May 2015, Net-A-Porter launched The Net Set app.
27
Retail/Tech Founder, Just Eat, Marbella
In April 2014, the food-delivery startup debuted on the London Stock Exchange at a valuation of £1.47 billion. Buch, the platform's 40-year-old Danish founder, is an active angel investor -- in 2014, he was involved in seven series A fundings, two series B and a series C. He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
26
Tech/Web/Politics Eu Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Brussels
The EU is taking the fight to the world's biggest internet firms -- and Oettinger is its warrior. Less than six months after taking office, 61-year-old Oettinger announced plans to create a "digital single market", a strategy covering everything from online retail to broadband.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
