Panathēnea

Startup Support

Panathēnea is a not-for-profit festival of innovation in technology and culture held annually in Athens during springtime. Inspired by ancient traditions and organized entirely by students and recent graduates, the festival's mission is to discover and support founders and creators dedicated to building a better future.

Team

Lars Rasmussen

Founding Board Member

Lars Rasmussen is a renowned technology entrepreneur and angel investor, best known as the co-founder of Google Maps. He is currently a Founding Board Member at Panathēnea, a not-for-profit festival of innovation in Athens, Greece. Lars has a rich history in the tech industry, having co-founded Where 2 Tech, which was acquired by Google and became the foundation for Google Maps. He later worked at Google as an Engineering Manager and Member of Technical Staff. Lars also served as Director of Engineering at Facebook, where he managed the Graph Search team and led the Workplace project. As an angel investor, he has invested in companies like Canva, Astranis, and BitFury. Lars holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and has a passion for kite surfing and coffee.