Adrien Nussenbaum (H.01) to deliver keynote address at HEC Paris 2024 graduation ceremony

The co-founder and co-CEO of Mirakl, Adrien Nussenbaum (HEC 2001), will deliver the congratulatory speech to the 2024 graduates of the Grande école, Masters and PhD programs programs, on Friday June 7 during the commencement ceremony, which will be broadcast live on YouTube from 2:30 pm.

Successful tech entrepreneur and founder of Mirakl, a French unicorn and world leader in marketplace solutions, Adrien Nussenbaum is not only a role model for our students embarking on entrepreneurship and digital innovation, but more broadly for the entire HEC community, through his commitment to peace.

Repairing the world

Eager to give back what the school has given him, but above all to have a significant impact on the world, Adrien Nussenbaum is creating in 2022, alongside the HEC Foundation, an unprecedented scholarship program for students from war-torn countries called "HEC Imagine Fellows". "Today, more than ever, it is necessary to strengthen the societal role of HEC Paris to make higher education a place for dialogue between peoples", he declares.

He urges the entire HEC community to participate in this movement: “Let's be naively optimistic in our entrepreneurial hearts”. His dream is for education and business to help “repair the world”, a notion he holds dear.

Today, 12 students from Afghanistan, Belarus, Syria and the Ukraine are continuing their studies on the HEC campus after leaving their war-torn countries. And the program is growing every year.

Largest startup funding round by a French entrepreneur

In 2021, he was named HEC of the Year by the entire HEC Almuni community for his entrepreneurial success and his contribution to the digital revolution, which he had already foreseen in the 2010s as an innovation that would "radically transform traditional business models and, more broadly, all organizations" (source: HEC Stories).

In 2020, Mirakl completes the largest funding round ever recorded by a French startup, a feat hailed by the French President himself.

But unicorn status and record-breaking fund-raising are of little interest to Adrien and co-founder Philippe Corrot, who declared: "We're not building a unicorn - we're building a great company with great people".

Adrien Nussenbaum Biography

Adrien Nussenbaum is a French entrepreneur, he is the co-founder and co-CEO of Mirakl, a global leading software company. Mirakl's suite of e-commerce marketplace and retail media solutions provides retailers and B2B organizations with a transformative way to drive significant growth and efficiency in their online business.

Since graduating from HEC Paris in 2001, Adrien has founded three companies, including All Instant, a New York-based instant messaging platform that was sold in 2003, SplitGames, an online video games marketplace that was acquired by FNAC in 2008 and Mirakl in 2012 with co-founder Philippe Corrot.

His Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "The Online Marketplace Advantage", was published in 2023.

With a career dedicated to pioneering disruption and fostering innovation, Adrien has spent the last two decades assembling and guiding successful teams worldwide, contributing to the generation of billions in revenue for customers.

Adrien is also the founding donor of the "HEC Imagine Fellows" program supporting exceptional students from war-torn countries through tuition and living expenses scholarships. It empowers students to become global leaders that understand the power of business as a force for peace.