About
Steve Anavi is the engineer who became an entrepreneur — EPFL, which gave him its alumni award in 2025, built a whole lecture around the idea. He co-founded Qonto in 2016 with Alexandre Prot, a school friend he had reconnected with at a birthday party a decade later, after the two had already built and sold the connected e-cigarette company Smokio; the banking friction they hit running Smokio became the company. As president he has helped grow Qonto to more than 600,000 business customers across eight European markets and around 1,700 employees, profitable since 2023, on €622 million raised — including the €486 million round that valued it at $5 billion in January 2022. He holds a master's in microengineering from EPFL and an INSEAD MBA, studied at the University of Tokyo, and worked in consulting at Deloitte and operations at Groupon before founding anything.
Beyond investing
- Education
- Took a master's in microengineering at EPFL and an MBA at INSEAD, and studied at the University of Tokyo.
- Awards
- Received EPFL's Alumni Award in 2025 and is a Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite.
From Steve's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Co-founder & President at Qonto
Intro paths
In turn, Steve can intro founders to Qonto's investors below.
Qonto's investors · 8
Co-founders at Qonto
Experience
- QontoCo-Founder & Presidentcurrent2016 — presentGreater Paris Metropolitan Region
- Smokio (acquired)Co-Founder & President2013 — 2015Greater Paris Metropolitan Region
- GrouponDirector of International Operations - Goods & e-Commerce2012 — 2013
- GrouponDirector of Operations, France - Goods & e-Commerce2012 — 2013France
- Deloitte ConsultingSenior Consutant2007 — 2010Greater Paris Metropolitan Region
Education
- INSEADMBA, Business2011
- EPFLMaster of Science (MSc), Microtechnical Engineering2001 — 2006
- The University of TokyoMaster Thesis, Image processing2005 — 2006
Skills & more
+4 more
Mobile ApplicationsManagementStrategic PartnershipsSoftware Product ManagementLanguages English · French · Japanese · Spanish
From Steve's professional profile.
Network3
Investors connected to Steve in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does Steve Anavi work?
- Steve Anavi is Co-founder & President at Qonto.
- What check size does Steve Anavi write?
- Steve Anavi typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.
- What companies did Steve Anavi found?
- Steve Anavi founded Qonto.
Same school
Also attended INSEAD776
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+ 770 more
Also attended EPFL103
+ 97 more
Also attended The University of Tokyo80
+ 74 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Qonto16
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+ 10 more
Also worked at Smokio (acquired)1
Also worked at Groupon93
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+ 87 more
Also worked at Deloitte Consulting1,240
+ 1,234 more