Biography
Mike Butcher MBE is the founder and editor of Pathfounders, a technology media outlet and podcast covering startups, investment, and the AI-driven transformation of the technology industry. He was previously Founding Editor-at-Large at TechCrunch, where he spent 18 years covering the European startup ecosystem and the rise of global technology companies.
A technology journalist since 1995, Mike is an influential commentator, moderator, and broadcaster who has interviewed leading figures in technology, politics, and culture. He regularly appears on BBC News, Sky News, CNBC, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, and Channel 4, and has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Web Summit, DLD, and 4YFN.
He is also the founder or co-founder of initiatives including The Europas, Techfugees, TechHub, Startup Coalition, and TechVets. He received an MBE in 2016 for services to the UK technology industry and journalism.
His profile is especially relevant for sessions on European AI startups, venture capital, the future of technology, AI policy and sovereignty, technology media, and moderated conversations with founders, investors, and public-sector leaders.
Session
- AI For TodayModerator
Fireside 2 — Agents That Touch Real Money
Tuesday 22 September, 17:20 – 17:35Auditorium StageMost AI-in-finance sessions are about what could be automated. Sophie Cornay runs Qonto AI, a team of ten shipping agentic workflows into a live banking product used across Europe: invoice handling, payment tracking, categorisation, real-time cash visibility. That means agents operating where mistakes cost money and someone has to be accountable for them. This fireside is about the line she drew — what an agent decides, what it never decides, what broke in production, and what actually slows a team down when the product is regulated. A working account of shipping agents in finance, not a forecast.
With Sophie Cornay