AXA Sponsors La French Touch Conference Promoting Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship between France and the US

AXA announced today that it will serve as the lead sponsor and host of the La French Touch Conference (LFTC), an event bringing together leading French and American innovators and entrepreneurs to share their experiences and successes. The second annual event will be held at The AXA Center, 787 Seventh Avenue, in New York City, June 24 - 25.

The two-day conference, organized by AXA and La French Tech, will create a forum for attendees and participants to debate and promote shared experiences driving digital transformation and entrepreneurship on both sides of the Atlantic. Last year’s inaugural event attracted several hundred attendees, including CEOs of startup companies, investors and journalists.

Speakers this year will include visionaries, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from a wide range of brands, including Sigfox, FF Ventures, Placemeter, French designer Ora Ito, Sketchfab, Techstars, and many more. A featured attendee this year will be Emmanuel Macron, the French Minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs, who will present closing remarks on the first day of the conference. Mr. Macron will be joined by Axelle Lemaire, the French Minister of Digital Affairs.

“Following last year’s highly successful event, we look forward once again to convening some of the brightest innovators and thinkers in the startup world,” said Frédéric Tardy, Group Chief Marketing and Distribution Officer of AXA. “AXA is a proponent of digitalization within the insurance industry, and this event will pave the way for the creation of new ideas that will further strengthen the relationship between the American and French tech networks.”

With this conference, AXA has formed a partnership with La French Tech, a group that connects and supports people working for and with French startups around the world. The La French Tech ecosystem includes entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, designers and developers, among others. AXA is committed to empowering entrepreneurs around the globe, having launched Data Innovation Labs, AXA Labs in Silicon Valley and Asia, and AXA Strategic Ventures, a €200 million venture capital fund dedicated to fostering entrepreneurial discovery in insurance and financial services.

In addition to hosting and sponsoring the event, the following AXA senior experts will also participate:

• Priscilla Brown, Chief Marketing Officer, AXA US
• Manish Agarwal, General Partner, AXA Strategic Ventures
• Bastiaan de Goei, Business Development Manager, AXA Lab
• Cedric Mathorel, Product and Pricing Director, AXA France P&C
• Gaelle Moyere, Head of the Incubator, AXA Global Direct

Representatives from AXA Strategic Ventures portfolio companies, including Flyr and Evercontact, will also be present.

For more information and to register for the event, visit www.lafrenchtouchconference.net

About AXA

“AXA” is the brand name of AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC and its family of companies, including AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (NY, NY), MONY Life Insurance Company of America (AZ stock company, administrative office: Jersey City, NJ), AXA Advisors, LLC, and AXA Distributors, LLC. In business since 1859, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company is a leading financial protection company and one of the nation’s premier providers of life insurance, annuity, and financial products and services distributed to individuals and business owners through its retail distribution channel, AXA Advisors, LLC (member FINRA, SIPC) and to the financial services market through its wholesale distribution channel, AXA Distributors, LLC.

Group insurance products are issued by AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (AXA Equitable), by MONY Life Insurance Company of America (MONY America), and by unaffiliated third-party issuers. AXA Equitable and MONY America have sole responsibility for their insurance and claims-paying obligations.

AXA S.A. is a Paris-headquartered holding company for a group of international insurance and financial services companies, including AXA Equitable Financial Services, LLC companies. AXA S.A. is a worldwide leader in financial protection strategies and wealth management with 103 million clients in 59 countries as of December 31, 2014.

Find AXA on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. For more information, visit www.axa.com.

About The AXA Center

The AXA Event & Production Center (“The AXA Center”) is a comprehensive production venue offering a variety of media services and premier event spaces, including an expansive yet intimate 487-seat theatre. Ideally situated in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, the AXA Center helps serve event, production, or post-production needs – all in one convenient location. For more information or to schedule a tour, go to www.axaeventproductioncenter.com. Follow us on Twitter at @AXACenter_NYC

About The French Touch Conference

Founded in 2014 by Gaël Duval, a serial entrepreneur and French Internet pioneer, the French Touch Conference is an event favoring interactions between the most promising start-ups of the French entrepreneurial world, and dynamic, recognized ecosystems in the area of Tech innovation. The goal of this nomadic event is to build bridges between different ecosystems, while promoting innovation and creativity.

After a successful first edition in 2014, La French Touch Conference is back on June 24 and 25, 2015 at the AXA Center in New York, to build momentum and become a durable event. Another edition will later be launched on November 25 and 26, 2015 in Tel Aviv, Israel, with multiple conferences and debates, to favor a better understanding of the French innovation landscape before an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, thinkers, business angels and journalists from all horizons.

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