Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Cambridge based Partner operating in the Financial Services space. If you think a Partner is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Hermann Hauser
Co-founder, Director, and Venture Partner of Amadeus Capital Partners
Hermann Hauser co-founded Amadeus Capital Partners in 1997 with Anne Glover and Peter Wynn. In his long and successful history as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Hermann has founded or co-founded companies in a wide range of technology sectors. These include Acorn Computers (where he helped spin out ARM), Active Book Company, Virata, Net Products, NetChannel and Cambridge Network Limited. He was a founder director of IQ (Bio), IXI Limited, Vocalis, SynGenix, Advanced Displays Limited (acquired by Cambridge Display Technology), Electronic Share Information Limited, E*Trade UK and has supported many other start-ups. Hermann’s successes at Amadeus include: CSR plc (LON: CSR); Entropic Research Laboratory (acquired by Microsoft in 1999); Solexa (acquired by Illumina in 2007); and Icera (acquired by Nvidia in 2011). He is currently a non-executive director of XMOS, a company that is revolutionising re-configurable silicon chips; Intune Networks, a pioneer in the field of Optical Packet Switch & Transport; Tobii, the world leader in eye tracking and gaze detection; Plastic Logic, the first company to commercialize flexible plastic transistors (currently used in computer displays); and Cambridge Broadband Networks, a leader in point-to-multipoint wireless backhaul products. Hermann holds an MA in Physics from Vienna University and a PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Hermann holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Bath, Loughborough and from Anglia Ruskin University and was awarded an Honorary CBE for ‘innovative service to the UK enterprise sector’ in 2001. In 2004, he was made a member of the Government’s Council for Science & Technology. In 2012 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his contribution to the translation of science into business, and in 2013 a Distinguished Fellow of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. Austrian by birth, Hermann speaks German, English and conversational Italian and French.
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About Amadeus Capital Partners, Intune Networks, XMOS: Amadeus Capital Partners caters to the technology sector with seed, early, and later stage venture, and private equity investments.
Pierre Socha
Partner of Amadeus Capital Partners
Pierre is an investment manager at ACP where he focuses on the medtech and healthcareIT sectors. He brings operational experience to our portfolios, having grown and turned around several life science businesses (in biopharma, molecular diagnostics, population genetics and medical foods) and cleantech companies (green fuels, feeds and fibres) in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Over a decade with Avesthagen Ltd, he guided the group’s global strategy and European activities, raised US $120 million and led two dozen transactions including acquisitions, joint-ventures and exits. Pierre started his career as an auditor with KPMG in France. He subsequently worked as a financial engineer at Natixis and as a research fellow in environmental econometrics where he focused on water management, health microeconometrics, oceanic resources management and spatial and urban econometrics. Pierre is French and holds an MSc in Environmental Economics (Hons) from Universite de Provence, France and a BSc in Finance & Econometrics (Math Spe.) from Universite Louis Pasteur, France. He also attended executive programs at Harvard, MIT and Stanford. Pierre speaks French, English and conversational German.
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About Amadeus Capital Partners, V7: Amadeus Capital Partners caters to the technology sector with seed, early, and later stage venture, and private equity investments.
Alex van Someren
Managing Partner of Amadeus Capital Partners
Alex van Someren is a serial IT entrepreneur and CEO with two exits through IPO, nCipher pls (acquired by Thales SA), and ANT plc (acquired by Espial plc). He grew up near Cambridge, UK and worked at Acorn Computer on the BBC Microcomputer and its successor the Acorn Electron. With his brother, Dr. Nicko van Someren, he co-founded nCipher with venture capital backing to develop internet security products using advanced cryptography. The company became a world leader in IT security, counting major banking, finance and governments among its customers. He subsequently raised a total of £14 million in VC before he led the company as CEO to an IPO listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2000 (LSE:NCH) at a £350 million valuation. nCipher plc was sold to Thales SA in 2008. Alex lives in Cambridge, UK and is married with three children. He was appointed an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge in 2005. He has authored several books on computer applications and microprocessors, including the first published book on the ARM RISC chips, which was also pirated in Japanese. During 2019, Alex will be the Visiting Clore Innovation Professor at the Royal College of Art, London.
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About Amadeus Capital Partners, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), CyLon, Seldon: Amadeus Capital Partners caters to the technology sector with seed, early, and later stage venture, and private equity investments.
Andrea Traversone
Managing Partner of Amadeus Capital Partners
Andrea is a partner at Amadeus Capital Partners Limited, focusing on the wireless telecommunications sector. Since joining Amadeus in 1998, Andrea has worked on several transactions, and he is currently on the board of Riskclick, which supplies business process management software to the insurance industry; AePONA, which is a provider of open standards service creation platforms for the telecommunications industry; Seven Networks, which allows mobile phone users real-time access to email applications and Nujira. Andrea started his career as a financial auditor at a chain of resort hotels in Costa Rica, rising to become head of operations, finance and development. He holds an MBA from Cambridge University and a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. Italian by birth, Andrea is fluent in French and Spanish, as well as English and Italian.
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About Amadeus Capital Partners: Amadeus Capital Partners caters to the technology sector with seed, early, and later stage venture, and private equity investments.
Steven J. Kafka
Managing Partner of Section 32
Steven J. Kafka (PhD) is the Chief Business Officer at Foundation Medicine Inc. Steven Kafka joined Foundation Medicine in January 2013, bringing over 15 years of business and strategy experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with a focus on targeted therapies in oncology. Steven Kafka was previously Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Aileron Therapeutics, where he led the company’s operations, finance, and human resources functions, and helped to secure a major collaboration with Roche worth up to $1.1 billion. Before this, Steven Kafka was vice president of finance at Infinity Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: INFI) where he led finance, investor and public relations and business operations. While at Infinity, he worked on a number of innovative collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies, including the company’s strategic alliance with Purdue Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Steven Kafka was Senior Director of Finance at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he was a key member of the product team in driving strategic planning and alliance management efforts with partner Johnson & Johnson for VELCADE®, a novel targeted cancer therapeutic. Steven Kafka earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University. His B.A. with Distinction and Honors from Stanford University.
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About Section 32: Section 32 is a venture capital fund that invests at the cutting edge of technology, healthcare, and life sciences.
Ben Robbins
Venture Partner of GV
Ben is a dual degree student at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School. He co-founded a company to monitor drug adherence at a community health center in Boston and a non-profit to operate a school for AIDS orphans in Tanzania. Ben received his Bachelor of Arts with honors from Dartmouth College and has been recognized multiple times for his social impact work including the Harvard Medical School Dean’s community service award, Harvard Medical School Agents of Change seed grant, Harvard Medical School Master Scholar scholarship, and Harvard Business School Social Enterprise fellowship.
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About CareBridge, Cerevance, GV, Headway: GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies.
Brendan Bulik-Sullivan
Partner of GV
Brendan Bulik-Sullivan is a partner at GV where he focuses on life sciences investments. Prior to GV, Brendan’s career focused on applied statistics and machine learning research in genetics and biotechnology. He designed machine learning models for personalized immuno-oncology therapeutics at Gritstone Oncology and developed methods for statistical genetics research at the Broad Institute. Brendan’s work has been published in high-profile journals including Nature, Science, Nature Biotechnology and Nature Genetics.
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About GV: GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies.
Matthew McAviney
Partner of New Enterprise Associates
Matt is a Senior Associate at F-Prime Capital and focuses primarily on the biopharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. Prior to joining F-Prime in 2013, Matt was a healthcare consultant at Oliver Wyman, a biotech equity analyst at Robert W. Baird, and a healthcare investment banker at J.P. Morgan. He began his career researching lipid metabolism at the NIH. Matt holds a M.D. from the University of Illinois and a M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He received his B.A. in biology with honors from the University of Chicago.
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About New Enterprise Associates: New Enterprise Associates is a global venture capital firm investing in technology and healthcare.
Mike Tyrrell
General Partner of Venrock
General Partner at Venrock Associates.
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About Venrock: Venrock is a venture capital firm investing in technology and healthcare companies.
Felda Hardymon
Partner of Bessemer Venture Partners
Felda Hardymon, a partner in Bessemer’s Cambridge, Mass. office, joined the firm in 1981. He focuses on investments in the software, communications and storage sectors. He serves on the boards of Vertica (acquired by HP), Streambase, Goal.com (acquired by Perform), Endeca and SVB Financial Group (aka Silicon Valley Bank). Past investments include superconducting materials company American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC); telecommunications providers Cascade Communications (acquired by Ascend) and Sirocco (acquired by Cascade); Celcore, a maker of switches for wireless-telephone networks (acquired by DSC); African telecommunications provider Celtel (acquired by MTC, now called Zain); Parametric Technology, a provider of product cycle-management software; sporting-goods chain Sports Authority; office-supply company Staples; and Axis Networks (acquired by ACE) a 4G, wireless-remote radio head supplier. Since 1998, Felda also has taught and done research at Harvard Business School where he holds the appointment of MBA Class of 1975 Professor of Management Practice. He is currently on leave from Harvard and is a visiting professor of finance at The London School of Economics. Prior to joining Bessemer, Felda worked at BDSI, the original venture subsidiary of General Electric, where he was an investor in Ungermann-Bass, Stratus Computer and Western Digital. Prior to that, he taught mathematics and served as director of systems and research at Duke University. Felda has a B.S. from Rose Polytechnic, an M.A. and Ph.D from Duke and an MBA from Harvard.
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About Bessemer Venture Partners: Bessemer Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that funds consumer, enterprise, and healthcare startups.
Trevor Baglin
Venture Partner of Medicxi Ventures
Trevor is a Venture Partner in the investment team with main focus on growth stage clinical opportunities. Prior to joining Medicxi, he was a Consultant Haematologist at Cambridge University Hospitals for 27 years. His main research interests were in personalised risk profiling and the molecular basis of blood coagulation, which ultimately led to his interest in drug discovery and development. He was a Founder and Director of Xo1, Apcintex and SuperX. Trevor served as President of the British Society for Haematology, President of the British Society for Haemostasis and Thrombosis and Chairman of the British Committee for Standards in Haematology. He was a Founder of the European Congress for Thrombosis and Haemostasis. Between 2001 and 2008 he led the introduction of Clinical Governance into Cambridge University Hospitals and latterly was a Divisional Director. Trevor led an internationally recognised clinical research team investigating the gene-environment interaction leading to thrombosis. He has published more than 200 scientific papers. He qualified in medicine from the University of Manchester and obtained his PhD from the University of Birmingham. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists.
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About ApcinteX, Medicxi Ventures, Medicxi Ventures, SuperX: Medicxi is a life sciences-focused investment firm.
Paul Maeder
Chair and Partner, Founder of Highland Capital Partners
Paul focuses on startups in robotics and online education. He is a Founding Partner of Highland Capital Partners and has 32 years of experience in venture capital. He has served as a director of many public and private technology companies and is currently the Board Chair of 2U (Nasdaq: TWOU), is on the board of Imprivata (NYSE: IMPR), and manages Highland’s investments in Avidyne, Carbon Black, BlueTarp Financial, Jaunt VR, and Rethink Robotics. Paul has been recognized by the Forbes Midas List as one of the top venture capitalists in the industry and was the 2011-2012 Chair of the National Venture Capital Association during the creation and passage of the JOBS Act. He is also the 2008 recipient of the Mass Technology Leadership Council Commonwealth Award. Paul serves on the Board of Trustees of Princeton University and is Co-Chair of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Campaign Committee. He is also a former Board Chair of Buckingham Browne & Nichols School and of the Massachusetts Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Paul earned BSE in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences at Princeton University, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
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About Highland Capital Partners, Highland Transcend Partners: Highland Capital Partners is a venture capital firm that offers seed, early, and growth-stage funding solutions.
Dan Nova
General Partner of Highland Capital Partners
Dan joined Highland in 1996 as a General Partner to establish and build the firma’s internet investment practice. He also co-founded the Highland Consumer Fund, where he is Chair of the Investment Committee, and he is leading the firm’s expansion efforts into China. He continues to be an active investor focusing on technology and consumer investments with specific experience and interest in internet, digital marketing and media technologies. Dan led the firm’s investments and has served on the boards of a number of successful companies including:Ask Jeeves – IPO,BeFree – IPO,eToys – IPO,Fastclick – IPO, acquired by ValueClick, Gamesville – acquired by Lycos, Lycos – IPO ,MapQuest – IPO, acquired by AOL. N2 Broadband – acquired by TANDBERG Television, Navic Networks – acquired by Microsoft. New York Times Digital – acquired by New York Times, Co, Quote.com – acquired by Lycos. Raindance – IPO,RoweCom – IPO. His current portfolio includes CMI Marketing, Coremetrics, Gotuit, Qihoo, StyleFeeder, TriStar Investors, UUSee and Yoga Works. Dan has been recognized by the prestigious Forbes Midas List as one of the top venture capitalists in the industry. Prior to joining Highland in 1996, Dan was a Partner at CMG Ventures where he co-led the partnership’s investment activities in early-stage internet companies. While at CMG Ventures, Dan co-founded Lycos, Inc. in June of 1995, and played an integral role from its inception to its IPO in April of 1996 and finally through its sale to Terra Networks in 2000. Prior to joining CMG Ventures Dan was a Senior Associate at Summit Partners focused on later-stage technology and environmental investments. He also worked at Wang Laboratories from 1983 through 1989 in a variety of sales management and sales positions.
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About Coremetrics, Gotuit, Highland Capital Partners, Highland Transcend Partners, Qihoo 360 Technology, StyleFeeder, TriStar Investors, VIVA: Highland Capital Partners is a venture capital firm that offers seed, early, and growth-stage funding solutions.
Bob Davis
Partner of Highland Capital Partners
Bob is a General Partner at Highland focusing primarily on digital media and the internet and has been with our team since 2001. He currently represents Highland on the boards of Bullhorn, Going, Hangout Industries, NameMedia, Paragon Lake, Quattro Wireless and Turbine and previously served on the board of Fastclick (Acquired by VCLK) until its successful merger with ValueClick (Nasdaq: VCLK), Quigo (acquired by AOL) and Navic (acquired by MSFT). Bob is the best-selling author of “Speed is Life: Street Smart Lessons from the Front Lines of Business (Currency).” Background Prior to joining Highland, Bob served as the Chief Executive Officer of Terra Lycos (TRLY) formed in October 2000 with the $5.5 billion acquisition of Lycos by Terra Networks of Spain. Previously, Bob was the Founder of Lycos, Inc (LCOS) and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer since its inception in 1995 where he led Lycos from a start-up with $2 million in venture capital funding to become the most visited online destination in the world with over 100 million unique visitors. Under his leadership, Lycos jumped from the fastest IPO in Nasdaq history, a mere nine months from inception to offering, to a global media entity and an esteemed member of the Nasdaq 100. Bob has served on the boards of several public and private sector companies including John Hancock (JHFS), Ticketmaster (TCMS), Terra Lycos (TRLY), Lycos (LCOS) and Lycos Europe (LCY). He also serves as a Trustee for Children Hospital Trust Board, The Rivers School and also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Boston College Carroll School of Management and the Northeastern University School of Technological Entrepreneurship. Bob has advised former President Clinton on matters relating to internet commerce and regulation and has addressed Congress, The United Nations, The National Press Corps and the U.S. Council of Foreign Relations on similar matters.
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About Highland Capital Partners: Highland Capital Partners is a venture capital firm that offers seed, early, and growth-stage funding solutions.
Stephen Knight
President & Managing Partner of F-Prime Capital
Stephen Knight joined F-Prime Capital in 2003 where he serves as President and Managing Partner. He has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for over 25 years and invests broadly across healthcare. Steve serves on the Board of Directors of Beam Therapeutics, Genomics plc, Iora Health, Pulmocide, Sana Biotechnology, and Semma Therapeutics. Steve previously served on the boards of several private and public health care companies including Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ: BPMC), Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), FoldRx Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Innovent Biologics (HKG:01801), Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD), NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Proteostasis Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTI), and Respivert, Ltd (acquired by J&J). Prior to joining F-Prime Capital, Steve held various senior management roles in private and public biotechnology and consulting companies. He also was a researcher at AT&T Bell Laboratories, the National Institutes of Health, and Yale University. He holds an M.D. from the Yale University School of Medicine, an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Organization and Management and received a B.S. in biology from Columbia University, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
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About F-Prime Capital: F-Prime Capital is a venture capital firm investing in healthcare and technology.
David Jegen
Partner of F-Prime Capital
David is Managing Partner of F-Prime Capital’s Tech Fund. He is focused on FinTech and data analytics and has led investments in Flywire, Kensho (acquired by S&P Global), FutureAdvisor (acquired by BlackRock), Toast, Quovo (acquired by Plaid), Cloudant (acquired by IBM), EVEN Financial, Unison and Axoni. David was a co-founder of Sensoria and VP of Product Strategy at Into Networks, a Fidelity Ventures and Venrock-backed company. David was also a senior executive at Cisco Systems and held early positions with J.P. Morgan & Co. and The Boston Consulting Group. David graduated Harvard Law School and earned degrees in economics and accounting from Indiana University. He is the father of two lovely, lego-crazed children who think he actually works for the Boston Museum of Science (in fact he only serves on the Board of Overseers). David is, however, insanely passionate about FinTech Sandbox, a nonprofit he co-founded to serve FinTech entrepreneurs by aggregating data and infrastructure for free during a startup’s development phase.
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About F-Prime Capital: F-Prime Capital is a venture capital firm investing in healthcare and technology.
Mary Bevelock Pendergast
CFO, Partner of F-Prime Capital
Mary Bevelock Pendergast joined F-Prime Capital in 2011 where she serves as Partner and Chief Financial Officer and manages the finance and administrative functions of the firm. Mary has over 25 years of industry-related experience. Prior to joining F-Prime Capital, Mary served in a similar role as the Chief Financial Officer of Globespan Capital Partners, a global venture capital fund investing in go-to-market rounds of information technology companies. Mary was the Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration at JAFCO Ventures before joining Globespan. She also served as Vice President of Finance and Administration for Pretzel Logic Software, a venture-backed software company, and as Managing Director of the Boston office of cyberCFO. Earlier, Mary was Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Entrepreneurial Services Center, where she advised venture-backed and newly public companies on navigating the financial and operational challenges of growth. She also managed the firm’s relationship with a number of venture capital firms. Mary earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College. She is a member of the Steering Committee of Boston’s Women in Alternative Assets and a member of the Council for Women of Boston College.
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About F-Prime Capital: F-Prime Capital is a venture capital firm investing in healthcare and technology.
Russ Wilcox
Partner of Pillar VC
Russ Wilcox is a partner at Pillar. Prior to VC, he has 20 years of start-up operating experience and has founded three companies. At Pillar, he is a general partner investing ~$500K to $2 million in seed-stage companies coming out of the Boston-area innovation ecosystem. Pillar typically leads and plays an active role in helping founders to create new companies and scale them to success. As Co-Founder and CEO at E Ink Corporation, he commercialized electronic paper invented at the MIT Media Lab. E Ink conducted materials research, filed patents, scaled a factory, and shipped tens of millions of displays for the Amazon Kindle and other devices. To date consumers have purchased more than $10 billion of E Ink-related devices and content. Following E Ink, Russ co-founded Transatomic Power, advancing a source of clean energy; and Piper Therapeutics, conducting pre-clinical studies for an immuno-oncology drug. Russ actively supports the Boston entrepreneurial community. Since 2012 he has volunteered as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the Harvard Business School Rock Center and counseled hundreds of students on achieving their start-up goals. He sits on the Harvard Physical Sciences Accelerator Review Board and was a Board Director for Harvest Automation, a venture-backed developer of agricultural robots. He has been an angel investor in several start-ups, including Disruptor Beam, PowerInbox, Calimmune, Gen9, DriveFactor, and Camino Financial. Russ began his startup career as a product manager at PureSpeech, a speech recognition company co-founded by Jamie Goldstein. Russ graduated with honors in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College and worked in Boston and Paris as a management consultant for Oliver Wyman. He was a Baker Scholar at the Harvard Business School. He is an Ernst & Young New England Entrepreneur of the Year and a Mass High Tech All-Star. He holds thirty-three issued U.S. patents. Russ enjoys foreign cultures and traveled around the world with his family during 2010-2011. He also supports enrichment education and has coached middle school teams for Destination Imagination, FIRST Lego League, and Model United Nations.
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About Harvard Business School, Pillar VC: Pillar VC invests in seed-stage companies in Boston, supporting unstoppable founders with capital, connections, coaching, and peer support.
Richard F. Dulude
Co-Founder & Partner of Underscore VC
Co-Founder & Partner at Underscore VC
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About Underscore VC: Underscore VC is a venture capital firm backing entrepreneurs from Seed to Series A.
Ian Clark
Operating Partner of The Blackstone Group Inc
Ian Clark serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Head of North American Commercial Operations at Genentech, Inc. Clark served as the Head of Global Product Strategy at Roche Holding AG since January 2010. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of South San Francisco biotech. He served as the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Global Product Strategy of Genentech Inc., and at Roche, Pharma Division. Clark served as Executive Vice President of Commercial at Genentech Inc. since December 2005. He joined Genentech in 2003. He was responsible for leading their commercial organization, including the Sales, Marketing, Managed Care, Market Development, and Commercial Operations functions. He served as General Manager of Genentech Inc. since January 2006. Clark served as Senior Vice President of Biooncology and Commercial Operations of Genentech Inc. from August 2005 to December 2005. Before joining Genentech in 2004, he served as President of Novartis Canada, overseeing all of its country operations. Before assuming his post in Canada, he served as Chief Operating Officer for Novartis in the UK. Prior to joining Novartis in 1999, Clark served in Vice Presidential roles in sales and marketing for Sanofi (Aventis) and Ivax in the UK and Eastern Europe. He has been a Director of Solazyme, Inc. since April 2011. He serves as a Director of Genentech Inc. He serves as a Director At Large of Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). He serves as a Member of Executive Council at TechNet. He serves as a Member of Economic Advisory Council at Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He served as a Director of Dendreon Corp. from October 12, 2009 to September 2010. He served as Non Executive Director of Vernalis plc from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2009. He is an Advisor to the Institute of Life Sciences at Southampton University in the UK. Clark received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from Southampton University.
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About Technet, The Blackstone Group Inc: Clarus Ventures is a Massachusetts-based venture capital firm focused on investments in the healthcare sector.
Maia Heymann
Founder & General Partner of Converge
Maia brings insight and deep experience to her role as Converge Founder & General Partner, leveraging her 25 years investing in and financing B2B enterprise tech companies. From her days launching BancBoston Venture’s west coast office in Palo Alto, Maia has spent 17 years in venture investing in software application, infrastructure, Internet, and data-enabling start-ups. She has developed industry leading expertise based on her involvement with over 50 M&A transactions, 17 IPOs, 22 board and observer roles. Maia’s investments and involvements include OnDisplay (IPO), Verstata (IPO), Docent (IPO), Iowa Telecom (IPO), InQuira (acquired by Oracle), Watchfire (acquired by IBM), and WebCT (acquired by Blackboard). Maia headed BancBoston Ventures’ $340M portfolio, served as an MD of Shott Capital’s $2.7B in LP commitments to venture capital funds, and underwrote over $2.5B in structured debt facilities to finance numerous acquisitions for her technology company clients. Maia mobilized Converge’s robust venture partner network to align these skilled executives with our entrepreneurs. This powerful network, when called-upon, helps our entrepreneurs achieve their goals faster and accelerate their companies’ growth. A trustee and alumna of Wellesley College, Maia currently serves as the Vice Chairman at the New England Venture Capital Association and is passionate about supporting initiatives that super-charge the entrepreneurial climate. Maia understands that the player on the field is the CEO, not the VC, and owes her success to the meaningful relationships she’s built with entrepreneurs over time.
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About Converge, Crayon, Smartvid io, Wellesley College: Converge is a venture capital firm that specializes in seed, startup, early Series A, and early-stage investments.
Kerry Baldwin
Managing Partner, co-founder of IQ Capital
Co-founder/Managing Partner of IQ Capital, a Cambridge based, deep tech focused, early stage venture capital investor, which invests in Machine Learning, AI, Data Science and Data-based propositions and IP based on disruptive algorithms. IQ Capital invests £1-5m in the first round and subsequently adds further capital through follow-on investments, IQ Capital is actively seeking Series A with rich deep tech IP at the core. Kerry has 20 years in early stage Venture Capital both in the UK and Europe starting with VTL in 1997 (the first investor in Autonomy), KVS amongst other deep tech investments and had numerous successful exits including to Yahoo, Sun Microsystems and other secondary sales. In 2006 she co-founded IQ Capital raising a £25m fund, followed by a £50m fund in 2015 with British Business Bank as a key investor. The fund has enjoyed exits to Google, Huwaei and Becton Dickinson. She specialises in Competitive Intelligence, Product, Strategic Marketing and team dynamics.
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About Cambridge Judge Business School, CybSafe, IQ Capital, The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association: IQ Capital is a Cambridge & London -based VC firm investing in early-stage deeptech companies.
Ed Stacey
Managing Partner of IQ Capital
Co-founder and Managing Partner of IQ Capital, a Cambridge based, deep tech focused, early stage venture capital investor, which invests in Machine Learning, AI, Data Science and Data-based propositions and IP based on disruptive algorithms. IQ Capital invests £1-5m in the first round and subsequently adds further capital through follow-on investments, IQ Capital is actively seeking Series A with rich deep tech IP at the core. In 1997 Ed co-founded Venture Technologies, a predecessor of IQ Capital. Having invested £31m in 22 investments, the fund achieved a number of highly successful exits and delivered over 30% net IRR to its investors. Successful exits included three flotations, (including Autonomy plc, the first technology company on EASDAQ), a secondary purchase, and a number of trade sales to companies including Sun Microsystems, Veritas and Yahoo. Post 2002, when Venture Technologies portfolio was fully realised, Ed advised a private UHNWI syndicate on the execution of over 15 investments and advising on sustainable growth strategies and maximising shareholder returns. During his time with IQ Capital, Ed has been responsible for the technology side of portfolio companies, investment strategy and, as a member of the Investment Committee, general investment activity. Ed is currently in on the board of Speechmatics and serves as board observer in Privitar, Biobeats, Oxford Space Systems, SenseEye and CPS. His IQCF1 exits include Imsense (Apple, 2010) and Rosslyn (AIM, 2014). He holds an MBA from Manchester Business School and a BSC in Physics.
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About IQ Capital, The ID Co.: IQ Capital is a Cambridge & London -based VC firm investing in early-stage deeptech companies.
Max Bautin
Managing Partner of IQ Capital
Max has worked in venture capital since 2001, first building seed stage investment business at NW Brown and then co-founding IQ Capital in 2007. He has led investments in over two dozen high-technology companies – including Phonetic Arts (Google), Sirigen (BD), Neul (Huawei), DanioLabs (Summit), Quotient (EKF), Reevoo, Novacta and Transversal – and currently represents IQCP on the boards of Grapeshot and Stillfront. Max started his career in Millicom, a corporate investor into mobile telecom companies in developing countries. He holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Maryland and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.
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About IQ Capital: IQ Capital is a Cambridge & London -based VC firm investing in early-stage deeptech companies.
Imran Eba
Partner of Action Potential Venture Capital
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About Action Potential Venture Capital: Action Potential Venture Capital is a strategic venture capital fund that invests in bioelectronic medicine and technology companies.
Scott McComb Johnson
Partner of Blitzscaling Ventures
Scott Johnson is a managing partner at [New Atlantic Ventures](http://www.navfund.com/). Scott was an early investor in EnerNOC (Nasdaq ENOC), Massive (acquired by Microsoft) and CIrculate (acquired by Acxiom). Prior to forming New Atlantic Ventures and its predecessor, DFJ New England, Scott was the East Coast partner of the Cambridge Technology Capital Fund, cited by Venture Economics as one of the top performing post-IPO funds of 1999, where he oversaw investments in E.piphany, Silknet, Digital Think, and WebLogic. Before that, he co-founded InterSense, Inc., a VR tracking company. Scott began his career as a software engineer and early employee of Cambridge Technology Partners, a global systems integration and consulting company. He received his BS in operations research from Cornell University and his MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
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About Blitzscaling Ventures, BrandYourself, DFJ New England Fund, EveryScape, NAV.VC, PROOF: Blitzscaling Ventures helps rapidly-growing companies in markets become global leaders by providing in-depth scaling advice and capital.
Jonathan Behr
Partner of Dementia Discovery Fund
Jonathan Behr is Managing Director at JDRF.
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About Dementia Discovery Fund: Dementia Discovery Fund is a specialist venture capital fund that invests in novel science to create meaningful new medicines.
