# Pierre-Alain Masson

> Pierre-Alain Masson is a Swiss entrepreneur and investor, and CEO and co-founder of Seedstars. A University of St. Gallen graduate who started his first company at 20, he worked in mergers and acquisitions and as an insurance-company CFO before helping build Seedstars and its international startup competition. His work spans company building, founder education and investment in emerging markets.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-founder at Seedstars
- **Organizations:** Seedstars, Seedstars World, Seedstars International Ventures, Ensures Capital, Trace Technologies, Jobooh, Market.ch, Sandbox
- **Nationality:** Swiss
- **Education:** B.A. in Business Administration, University of St. Gallen
- **Known for:** Co-founded Seedstars, which currently describes operations across more than 90 countries., Helped establish a startup competition through events in 20 cities in its first year., Advised on multiple M&A transactions or exits valued above $100 million, according to his official biography.

## Career timeline

- **During university** — Founded his first company at age 20 while studying at the University of St. Gallen.
- **2007** — Founded Ensures Capital; co-founded Trace Technologies, where his listed tenure ran to 2012.
- **Before Seedstars** — Worked in mergers and acquisitions and served as CFO of an international insurance company; also wrote a column on Swiss startups for Market.ch.
- **2012** — Co-founded Seedstars with Michael Weber and Adrien de Loës.
- **2013** — Helped establish the Seedstars World competition; Masson and Alisée de Tonnac launched events in 20 cities during a year of travel.
- **2017** — Published articles explaining M&A auctions and acquisition financing; presented the Seedstars World trophy to Acudeen Technologies.
- **2019** — Co-led the Seedstars Summit CEE growth bootcamp in Kazakhstan with Agahuseyn Ahmadov.
- **2023** — Commented publicly on AI Start, an exploratory investment-analysis collaboration between Seedstars, Katapult and Bakken & Bæck.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Seedstars, which currently describes operations across more than 90 countries.
- Helped establish a startup competition through events in 20 cities in its first year.
- Advised on multiple M&A transactions or exits valued above $100 million, according to his official biography.
- Serves as an investment committee member at Seedstars International Ventures, as listed on its team page.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Research check: Seedstars’ official about and team pages list Masson as CEO and co-founder; the Seedstars International Ventures team page lists him as an investment committee member. These are observed current listings, not a newly announced appointment.
- **2023-06** — Publicly discussed AI Start as an exploratory collaboration on investment analysis using information beyond financial metrics.

## Links

- Website: https://www.seedstars.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierrealainmasson/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/pierre-alain-masson
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26