TMT WEBINAR SERIES
AI agents: the next big thing in artificial intelligence and M&A
AI agents are reshaping the future of work, decision-making and enterprise operations — and the investment world is taking notice. Join us for an exclusive webinar bringing together leading investors and pioneering founders to explore why AI agents represent the next major wave in this key sector.
We’ll dive into how these autonomous systems are already driving efficiency, innovation and competitive advantage — and why they’re poised to spark a surge in investment and M&A activity in the near term.
🗓️ Date: Tuesday 14 May 2025
🕙 Time: 10:00 EST, 16:00 CEST
👉🏻 Register here to gain insights into one of the most exciting areas in digital media today
What you’ll learn:
- Why AI agents are the next frontier in AI
- How businesses are leveraging them today
- Where investors are placing their bets
- What opportunities are emerging for founders and enterprises
The speed of developments in the AI field is breathtaking, and businesses from all sectors need to have a handle on what’s happening and the potential impact for their company. AI agents are the latest big thing within this landscape, taking autonomous processes to the next level and delivering countless opportunities to both firms and investors bold enough to take embrace them.JOHN MATTHEWS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SPECIALIST, OAKLINS
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Meet our hosts, moderator and speakers
Host
Joanna Stone Herman will introduce this webinar and is guiding the whole series as Oaklins’ expert on emerging TMT trends.
Partner
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Joanna Stone Herman is a partner at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips in New York, and co-leads Oaklins’ TMT and legaltech teams. She has worked in the broader media and technology industry for over 20 years, and been involved in dozens of transactions on both the sell-side and buy-side. Notable recent transactions include representing Hay House in its sale to Penguin Random House, and supporting the acquisition of Netmaster Holdings Limited (CaseLines) by Thomson Reuters Corporation.
Moderator
Senior Advisor
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John Matthews is a senior advisor at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips in New York. Coming to investment banking after a career in the technology and management consulting sectors, John has more than 10 years of investment banking experience advising sell-side and buy-side middle-market clients on M&A transactions. Notable AI-related transactions include the sales of Admeta to WideOrbit and Helixa to Telmar.
Panelists
CEO and co-founder of Scope3
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Brian O’Kelley is CEO and co-founder of Scope3, which provides agentic media solutions with a focus on sustainable growth. He also co-founded and was CEO of AppNexus through its US$1.6 billion sale to AT&T in 2018, co-founded Waybridge, a supply chain technology company, and served as CTO of Right Media through its successful acquisition by Yahoo. Credited with the invention of programmatic advertising and the online ad exchange, Brian is committed to technology-driven innovations that benefit society while improving the health of the planet. He is an active board member of Tech:NYC, has been named on Crain’s 40 Under 40, Adweek 50 and Silicon Alley 100 lists, and holds multiple patents.
Co-founder of VC Flybridge Capital
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Chip Hazard is a founding partner at Flybridge, a Boston- and New York-based VC firm with over US$1 billion under management. A longtime investor in AI and tech, he serves on the board of MongoDB and multiple private AI startups. Chip also co-founded XFactor Ventures, which backs female-founded companies, and was previously a general partner at Greylock. Over his 30-year career, he’s achieved a more than 5x return on realized investments, and was named a top-100 seed investor by Business Insider. He holds degrees from Stanford and Harvard Business School.
Co-founder of PensarAI
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Kerem Proulx is co-founder and CTO of PensarAI, a security company that uses AI to detect and automatically fix security vulnerabilities in web and AI applications. He recently led the release of Pensar's AI agent security framework to help customers build safe and secure agents. Before PensarAI, he worked in risk at Barclays, and holds a BBA in Finance from Hofstra University.
Partner, BetterFutureLabs
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Mark Yackanich is a veteran technology entrepreneur and executive focused on building AI-native businesses that solve real-world problems. As a partner at BetterFutureLabs, a New Jersey-based venture studio, he leads the creation of entirely new companies that leverage agentic and multi-agent AI to unlock novel business models and transform how industries operate. With more than two decades of experience across media, advertising and enterprise software, Mark has served as CEO, chairman and board member of multiple VC-backed ventures, including co-founding and leading the successful sale of Column6, a programmatic CTV platform. Earlier in his career, he advised major media and telecom companies like Comcast and Verizon, and played a foundational role in launching Hulu while working at NBC Universal.
About our TMT webinar series
This session on AI is part of Oaklins’ TMT webinar series, hosted by our global TMT specialists Joanna Stone Herman and Brad A. Adams. Each webinar focuses on technology-driven trends that are reshaping industries and creating new opportunities for growth.
Check out our previous webinar on:
And get ready for our next upcoming webinar covering:
- Healthcare communication & technology
Stay tuned to learn about the rest of the series where we’ll continue exploring the future of TMT.
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