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 United Kingdom based CEO’ operating in the Venture Capital space. If you think a CEO’ 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.
Rajeev Misra
Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Vision Fund
Rajeev Misra serves as Chief Executive Officer and Head of Strategic Finance at SoftBank Vision Fund. Rajeev Misra serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Head at SoftBank Investment Advisers. He is a Director of Uber Technologies, Inc. Rajeev Misra served as Head of Strategic Finance at SoftBank Group Corp. and served as its Head of Softbank Vision Fund. Rajeev Misra joined SoftBank. In this role, he works with SoftBank Group and SoftBank Internet and Media Inc. to optimize long-term capital structure and financing strategy. Rajeev Misra is the Founder at Clarent Capital Partners LLP. Previously, he served as a Senior Managing Director and Partner at Fortress Investment Group LLC which he joined in May 2014. Prior to that, Rajeev Misra spent 5 years at UBS as the Global Head of Credit and Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities in Europe, Middle East and Africa. While at the firm, in January 2010 he was appointed as the Joint Global Head and Global Head of Emerging Markets. Rajeev Misra served as the Head of Credit Derivatives and Chief of Global Credit Trading at Deutsche Bank AG. Prior to that, he was at Merrill Lynch for 7 years working in derivative marketing and trading. Rajeev Misra has spent over 10 years at various executive positions. He serves as a Member of the Board of Advisors of Aten Holdings Pte. Ltd. He has been Director of SoftBank Group Corp. Rajeev Misra served as an Independent Director at Eros International Plc . He served as a Board of Directors of Capital First Ltd, Securitization and Commodities; and MGT Capital Investments, Inc. Rajeev Misra holds BS in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the Sloan School of Management. He holds B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
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About SoftBank, SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank Vision Fund specializes in growth capital and social impact investments.
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Yosuke Sasaki
Partner, Head of CEO Office of SoftBank Vision Fund
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About SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank Vision Fund specializes in growth capital and social impact investments.
Anne Glover
CEO of Amadeus Capital Partners
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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.
Marc Boyan
Founder & CEO of Miroma Ventures
Marc began his career in marketing with the Goldsmith family, creating and selling events such as World Wrestling Federation, Net Aid, Smash Hits & Route of Kings. His first business venture started in 2000, setting up tourist information channel, City Tour TV. The concept can now be found in various airlines, black taxis and hotels in the UK. In 2003, Marc spotted an opportunity to use barter in all areas of modern commerce and set up corporate barter company, Miroma International. He has grown the business into one of the leading corporate barter companies in Europe with Miroma International’s growth trajectory recognized in The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 report on UK businesses for four years in a row between 2008 and 2011. Outside of Miroma International, Marc has also focused on building out the Miroma Ventures portfolio, focusing on media, technology and consumer investments. Marc is a dedicated supporter of the Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity, sitting on its Executive Board.
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About Miroma Group, Miroma Ventures: Miroma Ventures is the investment arm of The Miroma Group, predominantly investing in growth stage consumer brands and media platforms.
Tim Levene
Partner and CEO of Augmentum Fintech
Tim graduated in Russian Studies from The University of Manchester and joined Bain & Company in Moscow, Boston, Sydney and London. Tim embarked on an entrepreneurial path and left Bain in early 1998 and created a new retail concept when he opened his first Juice bar (Fresh n Smooth) in 1999 in Canary Wharf. The business has since evolved into a 31-store business across London called Crussh. In the summer of 1999, Tim joined 3 former colleagues from Bain & Company and launched Flutter.com. Flutter became one of the highest profile internet businesses in the UK after it merged with Betfair.com in 2001. Tim became the Commercial Director of the newly merged business and launched Betfair globally. In 2010, Tim returned to London to start his next venture. He founded Augmentum Capital with the backing of RIT Capital and Lord Rothschild. The team focused on finding talented entrepreneurial teams in the Fintech industry that were bringing fundamentally disruptive products or platforms to the European market. In 2018, Tim and Richard successfully launched Augmentum Fintech on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, in the process becoming the first publicly listed Fintech fund in the UK. Tim was made a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012 and for several years advised The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry on digital strategy and innovation. Tim was elected in March 2017 to The Court of Common Council in the City of London to represent the Ward of Bridge (as an Independent). Tim is also a Governor of The City of London School. Outside of the office, Tim has a young family and has been a Chelsea FC season ticket holder since 1979. He remains a keen footballer, golfer and skier although operating at a more sedate pace than in recent years.
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About Augmentum Fintech, City of London, Innovate Finance, The World Economic Forum: Augmentum Fintech is a FinTech fund that invests in early and later-stage FinTech companies.
Briana van Strijp
Partner and CEO of Anthemis Group
Briana is a Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Anthemis. Prior to joining Anthemis, she worked at Suncorp in Australia where she served as a member of the business’ strategic innovation practice. Briana holds a bachelor’s in human resource management from Deakin University. An adventurer at heart, Briana travels extensively and enjoys cultural excursions across the globe. Outside the office, you can find her at the museum, watching new cult films or checking out the latest restaurants in the city.
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About Anthemis Group: Anthemis Group is a global platform that cultivates change in the financial system by investing in, growing, and sustaining businesses.
Andrew Sillitoe
co-CEO of Apax Partners
Andrew Sillitoe is a Partner and Co Head of the Tech & Telecom team. Andrew is also a member of the Executive, Investment, Approval, Portfolio Review and Exit Committees. He has been based in London since joining the firm in 1998 and has focused on the technology & telecommunications sectors in that time. Andrew has been involved in a number of deals, including Orange, TIVIT, Trizetto, TDC, Intelsat/Panamsat and Inmarsat. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Andrew was a consultant at LEK where he specialised in advising clients on acquisitions in a number of sectors. Andrew holds an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford and an MBA from INSEAD.
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About Apax Partners, LEK Consulting: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Ramez Sousou
Founder and Co-CEO of TowerBrook Capital Partners
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About TowerBrook Capital Partners: TowerBrook Capital Partners is a London-based investment management firm that funds European and North American companies.
David Thomas
CEO Europe, Capital Markets & Wealth Management of RBC Venture Partners
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About RBC Venture Partners: RBC Venture Partners invests venture capital and growth equity on behalf of the Royal Bank of Canada.
Emma Davies
Co-CEO of Octopus Ventures
Emma joined Octopus Ventures as joint CEO in 2021, bringing with her a wealth of experience, expertise, and networks from a range of world-class investment houses including J.P. Morgan, Perry Capital, Big Society Capital (where she was the Chief Investment Officer), and The Wellcome Trust. Most recently she has spent 5 years as a partner at Marylebone Partners, building and leading their direct investing capability. She has an acute understanding of growing and managing teams whilst solving for investment returns, and has a particular interest in ESG/Impact considerations. She has an MA from Oxford University and an MSc from LSE and lives in London with her husband and two daughters.
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About Octopus Ventures: Octopus is a multi stage European venture capital investor specializing in health, money, deep tech, and consumer.
Alex Frolov
CEO and General Partner of Target Global
Alex founded Target Global in 2012 and have been actively involved in building organisation ever since. He leads the firm late stage investment practice and have invested in many successful marketplace companies. Many of those are in FoodTech space, like Delivery Hero (FRA:DHER) and Blue Apron (NYSE:APRN), as well as LemonCat and FoodFox. Recently he is focusing more on transportation and travel investments: Juno (sold to Gett), Dreamlines, etc. Prior to joining Target Global, Alex worked at the VC firm DFJ Esprit in London. Before that, he led several private and corporate startups in the tech field, including the medical business unit of United Corporation for Innovations. He started his career in the Asset Management, running the public market tech & telco fund. Alex holds a bachelor’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences and an MBA from the London Business School. Alexander also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst ® designation.
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About Palta, Target Global: Target Global is a venture capital firm that invests in tech companies across all stages of their lifecycle.
Tim Jackson
Founder, CEO, General Partner & Partner of Walking Ventures
Tim Jackson is the Founder, CEO, General Partner & Partner of Walking Ventures & he attended University of Oxford in in 1983.
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About Walking Ventures: Walking Ventures is a seed fund which invests in early-stage Internet and other technology startups based in Europe.
Martijn De Wever
CEO of Force Over Mass Capital
Martijn De Wever is the Founder and CEO of Floww, democratising access for startups to venture capital. As a technologist, investor and Founder, De Wever understood the need for a transparent platform to champion merit based investing in the startup world. Floww gives Founders the opportunity to engage with investors and demonstrate key metrics, without the need for warm introductions and old school networks. Having already invested in over 160 startups through the venture capital firm he founded in 2013, Force Over Mass, De Wever is now redesigning the venture capital system through Floww. Learn more: https://www.floww.io/
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About Floww, Force Over Mass Capital: Force Over Mass Capital is a London based venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology investments.
Dave Bailey
CEO of The Founder Coach
Dave Bailey is CEO of The Founder Coach, an organisation that supports venture-backed founders around the world. Dave runs several programs for startup and scale-up CEOs, and works one-on-one with a limited number of CEOs as executive coach and mentor. Dave is editor-in-chief of The Founder Coach blog, and hosts The Founder Coach Podcast, mentors at Techstars in London, and angel invests in areas of his domain knowledge. Previously, Dave co-founded three VC-backed businesses including Delivery Hero, Ezlearn and Spotnight. Dave studied Mathematical Sciences at Oxford University, before going on to Stanford Graduate School of Business and Singularity University.
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About The Founder Coach, The Fund: CEO coaching for venture-backed founders
Matt Hagger
Founder & CEO of E-Man Venture Labs
English born entrepreneur and investor in the technology space. He is widely regarded as one of the country’s most influential product directors with a focus on customer behaviour, user experience and logic, winning many awards for his work, as a founder or consultant/advisor to major global consumer brands and high paced start ups. At only 21, Matt created Net Sorcerer; the first real-time desktop news alerts platform in the UK, winning a patent & innovation award from the UK’s DTI, raising investment in excess of $500,000. The platform was later adopted by Sky News/Sports to deliver breaking content in real-time. Matt creates and incubates technology out of his startup studio e-Man labs whom he Founded after graduating from business school aged 21. The company now boasts 7 figure turnovers with a small but dedicated team of 26. E-Man is incubating AR game Snatch and doctors on demand service, Zoomdoc. Both set to launch out of beta in Early 2017. Matt is in the Co-Founding team and was an initial shareholder, in both. Matt is an investor and Co-Founder of Bizk.it a business tools platform for start ups and small business owners. He also has an investment in Redeemia, which launched in September 2012 and followed this with investments in Pocket High Street, Juxtafeed, Burn This (acquired by BodyBoard), 123 Friday and Octane Inc in 2014. In 2016 Matt invested in ANA, Wise Amigo, Zoomdoc, 123 Friday and Snatch. Matt was the Founder and CEO of Samsung Ventures funded, Zkatter, in San Francisco until 2013 and now he spends his time based London with offices in Los Angeles as he works on the launch and scale of a start up called Doppels, based in Venice Beach. Matt remains the company’s Co-Founder and CEO.
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About E-Man Venture Labs, Snatch: e-Man is a start up studio and launches 3-5 companies per year
Corrado Agusta
Founder and CEO of Agusta Investments.
Corrado Agusta is a Founder and CEO of Agusta Investments.
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About Agusta Investments.: Agusta Investments is a single-family office with an investment focus in direct real estate and technology ventures
Scott Weavers-Wright
Founder, CEO & Partner of Haatch
Scott is best-known for founding one of Britain’s largest e-commerce businesses Kiddicare.com which was subsequently acquired in cash for £70m, by Morrisons, one of the UK’s largest supermarkets. Reaching 6th on the Retail-Week Power List, Scott is regarded by many as one of the UK’s most innovative business professionals in retail. After the Kiddicare acquisition, Scott became Managing Director and Chief Architect for Morrisons.com and has a wealth of experience in building and scaling large e-commerce businesses across the UK, most notably Kiddicare.com. Founding Haatch, Scott has invested in, and developed businesses in the areas of ad tech, B2B SaaS (software as a service) and retail tech within the FMCG market including Elevaate, founded in 2014, enabling supplier monetisation programs across retailer websites.
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About Haatch, Kiddicare: Award-Winning Investors from Pre-Seed to Exit. Investments via Haatch Angel and our SEIS, EIS & Follow On funds from Haatch Ventures.
Nenad Marovac
Managing Partner & CEO of DN Capital
Nenad Marovac has more than 25 years of venture capital and private equity investment experience in the technology and media sectors. Nenad is the Founder and Managing Partner of DN Capital. Prior to DN Capital, Nenad was a Partner at Advent International in London, where he focused on TMT investments. Nenad focuses on investments in marketplaces, software as a service (SAAS), fintech, consumer mobile applications and digital health companies. Amongst his select investments are Shazam Entertainment (sold to Apple), Auto1 (largest online marketplace for used cars), Apsmart (acquired by Thomson Reuters), Datanomic (acquired by Oracle), Endeca, (acquired by Oracle), Eve Sleep (IPO London), Happn, Hometogo, Hostmaker, Joblift, Mister Spex, Performance Horizon Group, Purplebricks (IPO London), Tbricks (acquired by Orc) and Quandoo (acquired by Recruit Holding). Nenad is also the Chair of Invest Europe and an active member of YPO in London and Berlin. Nenad received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School
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About DN Capital: DN Capital operates as an early-stage venture capital firm.
Vincent Lambert
Founder & CEO of Orbit Partners
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About Bigpoint, Orbit Partners: Orbit Partners facilitates personalized and private discussions between corporate leaders.
Mark Boggett
CEO & Managing Partner of Seraphim Capital
Mark is CEO and co-founder of Seraphim Capital a spacetech thematic investment firm. The group manages Seraphim Space LP, the world first VC fund focused on spacetech, manages Seraphim Space Investment Trust plc, a $300m London Stock Market Listed growth fund focused on spacetech and Seraphim Space Camp an accelerator for spacetechstartups. Mark has invested into a significant portfolio of spacetech businesses including 4 unicorns in the newspace sector. Seraphim group is the most prolific investo in the spacetech domain.
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About Seraphim Capital: Seraphim Capital is dedicated to financing the growth of companies operating in the space ecosystem.
George McDonaugh
Co-Founder, CEO and Managing Director of KR1 plc
I’ve been involved in blockchain technology since 2011. Before then I was an advertising copywriter for London based agencies. I have a masters degree in Anthropology and a further degree in Creative Advertising. I helped form one of London’s most popular blockchain meetups and co-founded kr1 in early 2016 and as such it become the first token focussed investment company in the world. We have the longest track record in the space and a global network of funds, developers and investors.
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About KR1 plc: KR1 plc (KR1:AQSE) is Europe’s leading digital asset investment company focused on decentralised and open-source blockchain networks.
Ajit Nedungadi
Managing Director & CEO of TA Associates
Ajit Heads TA’s Europe Group and focuses on investments in companies in Europe, India and other emerging markets. He is also the member of TA Associates’ Executive Committee.
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About AVG Technologies, Dr Lal PathLabs, TA Associates: TA Associates is one of the private equity firms in the world.
Olivier Garel
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Unilever Ventures
M&A professional, Olivier has led a large number of transformative acquisition and divestment transactions for Unilever in different parts of the world. Over the last 20 years in Unilever, he has held senior positions in finance, strategy and business development. Olivier leads Unilever Ventures Investment Committee and manages relationships with a number of Corporate and Venture Capital funds and Private Equity funds around the world. He is currently a Board Director of Iluminage Beauty, Yummly, REN and ioma.
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About Unilever Ventures: Unilever Ventures is the venture capital arm of Unilever and invests in fast growing companies across consumer and enterprise technology.
Nick Wright
CEO of Catapult Ventures
Nick became Chief Executive Officer of Catapult Ventures in September 2013 and oversees the day to day running of the business. Nick has over 10 years’ experience running investment funds and has managed more than 50 transactions. Most recently he managed an early stage venture capital fund investing in Midlands businesses and prior to that he was Commercial Director of a £6m proof of concept fund set up by Stanford University in California and the University of Edinburgh, where he also founded two MSc entrepreneurship courses.
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About Catapult Ventures, CereProc: Catapult Ventures specialises in providing Equity Capital for businesses requiring between £50k and £2m.
Stephen Welton
Founder,CEO of Business Growth Fund
Stephen Welton has over 20 years of experience in the development capital and private equity industry. He joined Business Growth Fund (BGF) after 10 years with CCMP Capital (formerly JP Morgan Partners) a global private equity firm. Stephen was a Founder Partner and member of the investment committee. He has extensive experience as an investor working with private companies, most recently as Chairman of Edwards, the global engineering group headquartered in the UK. Before this, he was Chairman and CEO of TV Travel Shop prior to its successful sale to a global media group. He also has 10 years of UK private equity and growth capital experience as Managing Director of Barclays Private Equity and at Henderson Ventures, which he co-founded. In January 2013, Stephen joined the advisory group formed specifically to guide the UK government on the direction and priorities of the proposed Business Bank, a Government funded institution looking to provide lending and support to small and mid-sized businesses. He started his career in banking, has a law degree from Durham University and is a qualified Barrister-at-Law. Stephen became Chief Executive of BGF in 2011 and is responsible for overall strategy and day to day management of BGF, as well as chairing the Investment Committee.
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About Business Growth Fund: Business Growth Fund is an influential investor in small and mid-sized businesses.
Martin Draper
Chief Executive Officer of LDC
Martin has worked for LDC since 2002 and has 20 years private equity experience. He also serves as Non Executive Director on a number of larger investments, including AIM Aviation, Angus Fire, Benson Group, Express Engineering, Forest Holidays, Kee Safety and Node4. Other recent significant transactions include American Golf, Evander and Paragon Print & Packaging, plus the successful exits of Matrix Energy Solutions to E.ON Connecting Energies in September 2013, Eveden to Wacoal Holdings Corporation for £148m in April 2012, CMG to Thomas Betts for US$110m in December 2010 and the sale of Electrium to Siemens for £96m. Prior to joining LDC, Martin was a Director at Bridgepoint, where he worked in the London, Manchester and Birmingham offices, completing deals across a broad range of sectors.
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About LDC: LDC is a private equity company which provides funds for buyouts and development capital transactions in UK unquoted companies.
Jeff Kelisky
Chief Executive Officer of Seedrs
Jeff Kelisky is an experienced executive with a track record in building, leading and scaling successful technology businesses. Before joining Seedrs, Jeff was CEO for Picsolve, a Fidelity-backed $75 million image capture business in the entertainment space where he delivered the company’s transformation from analogue to digital. Previously, he was CEO of Multimap, Europe’s first and ultimate leader in online mapping service which he led for five years through the first dotcom crash to a successful sale to Microsoft. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, skiing, cinema, and trying to play COD with his kids.
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About Seedrs: Seedrs is a UK-based investment and crowdfunding platform.
Ahmad Butt
CEO and Managing Partner of Jetstone Asset Management
Ahmad Butt is a CEO and Managing Partner of Jetstone Asset Management.
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About Jetstone Asset Management: Jetstone Asset Management is a boutique asset management firm.
Jon Moore
Head of BNEF / CEO of BloombergNEF
Jon has over 20 years’ experience of building professional service firms in the financial services industry, serving clients across the US, Europe and Asia. Prior to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Jon’s career started with a decade at J P Morgan, supporting their Commodities business and Accenture within their Financial Services practice, including two years helping build the Asian Financial Services practice. This was followed by a decade where Jon was co-founder then CEO of a business consulting firm, m.a.partners, which provided services to the global capital markets community. Jon has a B Eng (Hons) in Electronic Engineering from Nottingham University and has attended professional development classes at Harvard and NYU.
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About BloombergNEF: BloombergNEF provides industry information, analytics, and research services for the clean energy and carbon markets.
Michael Liebreich
Chairman & CEO of BloombergNEF
Michael Liebreich is Founder and Chair of the Advisory Board of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the world’s leading provider of research on clean energy, energy technology and advanced transportation. Michael founded New Energy Finance in 2004 and acted as Chair and Chief Executive before selling it to Bloomberg LP in 2009. Bloomberg New Energy Finance is headquartered in London and now has over 200 staff in 13 offices around the world.
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About BloombergNEF, Imperial College London: BloombergNEF provides industry information, analytics, and research services for the clean energy and carbon markets.
Stephen Page
CEO of SFC Capital
Stephen Page is the CEO at SFC Capital.
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About SFC Capital: Early-stage investor combining its own angel syndicate & seed funds to provide investors with diversified exposure to SEIS/EIS businesses.
Dirk Markus
CEO of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities
Dirk Markus studied business administration in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Copenhagen, Denmark, he was awarded a PhD by St. Gallen. During his PhD studies, he spent a term at Harvard University, Boston, United States. Dirk Markus has been involved with the restructuring and further development of companies for more than 15 years. During this time, he has been responsible for more than 80 corporate transactions. Dirk Markus is CEO of AURELIUS and responsible for the overall strategy of the AURELIUS Group.
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About AURELIUS Equity Opportunities: Aurelius Equity Opportunities is an investment firm that provides equity, growth, debt and real estate investments.
Matt Truman
CEO and Co-Founder of True.
Matt Truman has spent 15 years working in the retail and consumer sector. He began his career at Deloitte within the retail and consumer products division, where he qualified as a chartered accountant. After four years, Matt joined Lehman Brothers to be an equity analyst, where he was made Head of European Retail at the age of 28. Matt was headhunted to lead JP Morgan’s European retail franchise in Equities. During his time in the City, Matt has advised, established relationships with and analysed retailers such as Tesco, Wal-Mart, Net-A-Porter, Metro, Kingfisher, Carrefour, Casino, Ahold, ASOS, Marks & Spencer, Migros, Biedronka, Jeronimo Martins, Delhaize, CBD, Magnit, DIA, AlexandAlexa.com and Delticom. In 2007 Matt co-founded True Capital and TrueStart with a view to creating an investment management firm with a sector specialist investment approach, targeting businesses with business models fit for the future of the retail and consumer industries. Matt sits on the board of fast growing retailers such as Ribble Cycles, The Cotswold Company and Tyres on the Drive.com.
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About True.: True is a consumer-focused investment and innovation firm reimagining what good business looks like.
Judy Hsu
Regional CEO, ASEAN & South Asia of Standard Chartered Bank
Judy was appointed CEO Singapore in October 2015 and was appointed CEO Singapore and ASEAN Markets (Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Rep Offices) in October 2017. From June 1 2018 she will assume the role of Regional CEO, ASEAN & South Asia. Judy joined Standard Chartered in December 2009 as the Global Head of Wealth Management and led the strategic advancement of the Bank’s wealth management business. Prior to this, Judy spent 18 years at Citibank where she held various leadership roles in its Consumer Banking Business in Asia. Her last role in Citibank was Regional Head of Retail Bank for Asia Pacific and Country Business Manager for International Personal Banking in Singapore. Judy is a member of The Institute of Banking and Finance Council and sits on the Statutory Board of Workforce Singapore.
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About Standard Chartered Bank: Standard Chartered Bank is an international banking group.
Simon Cooper
CEO of Corporate and Institutional Banking of Standard Chartered Bank
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About Standard Chartered Bank: Standard Chartered Bank is an international banking group.
Bill Winters
Group Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank
Bill Winters was appointed to the Board of Standard Chartered PLC as Group Chief Executive on 10 June 2015, having joined the Group in May 2015. He is based in London. Bill has had a distinguished career in banking, having spent 26 years with JP Morgan in diverse leadership roles, becoming co-Chief Executive Officer of the investment bank in 2004 until he stepped down in 2009. Bill was the only career banker to be invited to be a committee member of the Independent Commission on Banking, established by the UK government in 2010 to recommend ways to improve competition and financial stability in banking. Subsequently, he served as advisor to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and was asked by the Court of the Bank of England to complete an independent review of the bank’s liquidity operations. Bill founded the hedge fund Renshaw Bay in 2011 where he was Chairman and CEO until he stepped down from the company on appointment to the Standard Chartered PLC Board. Bill was previously a non-executive director of Pension Insurance Corporation plc before stepping down in October 2015. He is an independent non-executive director of Novartis International AG. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Colgate University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Standard Chartered Bank: Standard Chartered Bank is an international banking group.
Tracy Clarke
CEO Private Banking of Standard Chartered Bank
An experienced banking and human resources professional. Group Head, People, Compliance, Communications and Culture at Standard Chartered Bank, Tracy has spent most of her career in banking roles both in the UK and in Hong Kong. A former Non-Executive Director of SC First Bank in Korea (2005-2007) and Non-Executive Director of eaga plc (2007-2011), where she chaired the Remuneration Committee. Tracy is a trustee of the charity, WORKing for YOUth. A member of the Institute of Financial Services and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
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About Standard Chartered Bank: Standard Chartered Bank is an international banking group.
Benjamin Hung
Regional CEO, Greater China & North Asia and CEO, Retail Banking, and Wealth Management of Standard Chartered Bank
Ben was appointed Regional CEO, Greater China & North Asia on 1 October 2015, and CEO, Retail Banking on 30 November 2017. He assumed his additional role of CEO, Wealth Management in March 2018. Ben was previously CEO for the Greater China Region. He joined Standard Chartered in 1992 and has held a number of senior management positions spanning corporate, commercial and retail banking in the UK and Hong Kong. During 2008 to 2014, he was the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd. Ben was previously a board member of the Hong Kong Airport Authority, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority and a Council Member of the Hong Kong University Ben is a member of the Hong Kong Chief Executive’s Council of Advisers on Innovation and Strategic Development and the Financial Services Development Council. He also sits on the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee and is a member of the General Committee of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and Hong Kong Trade Development Council Belt and Road Committee.
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About Standard Chartered Bank: Standard Chartered Bank is an international banking group.
Faisal Butt
Founder, CEO & Chairman of Pi Labs
Faisal is CEO, Founder and Chairman of Pi Labs Ltd. Faisal founded Pi Labs Ltd in 2015, after leading the first round of investments in PropTech start-ups Hubble and Trussle as an individual investor. Faisal and his team have built a portfolio of 50 PropTech companies across UK and Europe, making Pi Labs one of the most active investors in PropTech start-ups globally.
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About Pi Labs, Spire Ventures: Europe’s first and most active VC firm investing in early-stage proptech entrepreneurs.
Andrew Wolfson
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Pembroke VCT
Andrew Wolfson is Pembroke’s Managing Director and is responsible for executing the firm’s strategy, leading the investment team, deal origination and supporting portfolio companies. Andrew sits on the board of a number of Pembroke’s investments. Prior to becoming Managing Director of Pembroke, Andrew worked with a number Oakley’s small company portfolio companies including KX, Tom Aikens and James Perse. Before joining Oakley, Andrew ran a number of businesses working across a breadth of sectors from hospitality to manufacturing and telecoms. Andrew is also a director of Benesco Charity Limited, and a trustee of The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust.
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About Pembroke VCT: Pembroke is a venture capital trust focusing on growth stage companies in the health and fitness, apparel, media, and technology sectors.
Mark Aldridge
CEO of Better Capital
Mark is one of the three founding members of Better Capital LLC alongside Jon Moulton and Nick Sanders. Prior to establishing Better Capital Mark was a partner at BDO, responsible for the private equity advisory business. He also developed the property finance practice and led an integrated approach to providing corporate finance and business recovery advice. Before joining BDO, Mark was a partner at Clark Whitehill. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Coopers & Lybrand.
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About Better Capital: Better Capital provides consultancy services to the general partners of the Better Capital Funds.
Manuel Lopo de Carvalho
CEO of dmg ventures
Manuel Lopo de Carvalho is the CEO at dmg ventures.
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About dmg ventures: Dmg ventures is the venture capital arm of Daily Mail and General Trust plc.
Kingsley Duffy
Owner / CEO of Slovar
The founder and current CEO of HostelBookers is Mr. Kingsley Duffy. Mr. Duffy is a 44 year old British-national entrepreneur. He was also the reason why HostelBookers merged with Web Reservations International (WRI) in 2013 because Mr. Duffy is sitting on the Board of Directors of WRI.
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About Slovar: Slovar invests in exciting, high growth potential technology companies.
Shashi Fernando
CEO of Auctus Alternative
CEO, Yonder & Beyond. Chairman, Boppl. Chairman, Prism Digital. Chairman, Wondr. Former CEO of Saffron Digital. Former board member of HTC. Former CCO of HTC. Previously the founder and CEO of Saffron Digital which raised $3million in 2007 and was acquired by HTC in 2011 for the value of $50million. Built an exceptional team from scratch to 120 strong across the London and Los Angeles offices. Delivered technologies into the heart of the mobile and entertainment industry by securing clients such as Vodafone, T-Mobile, Samsung USA, Paramount, Disney. Fernando is cited in the Top 50 in the world for Mobile Entertainment consecutively for 2 years, as well as placing for Mobile Power 50, the 50 most powerful people in mobile industry.
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About Auctus Alternative, Boppl Limited, Saffron Digital: Invest. Manage. Succeed. Equipping startups with vital capabilities beyond capital.
Emmanuel Tahar
Co-Founder & CEO of Third Bridge Group
Emmanuel has led Third Bridge from its inception and overseen its growth into a leading provider of research to the financial services industry. He now concentrates on defining company strategy and making the development plan a reality. Emmanuel’s past career includes several roles at Bain & Company in Europe and North America, where he led consulting projects for major technology corporations and diverse financial investors. He has an MBA with Honours from the Wharton Business School, Pennsylvania and speaks French and English fluently. A self-confessed boffin, he’s never happier than when taking electronic components apart. His MSc in Engineering may help explain his success rate at re-assembly stage.
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About Cognolink, Third Bridge Group: Third Bridge Group is a provider of research services to private equity and hedge funds.
Daniel Korski
CEO and Co-Founder of Public
Daniel Korski is the Deputy Head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit and a special adviser to the Prime Minister. David Cameron. He previously worked as an adviser to Andrew Mitchell MP, the former Conservative Chief Whip, and for the British member of the European Commission, Catherine Ashton, as well as for Edward Llewellyn during his time as chief of staff to Lord Paddy Ashdown, the then-UN High Representative of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Daniel has also worked in a number of positions in London, Washington DC, Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan. He was deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2005 to advise President Hamid Karzai’s government, and in 2007 he ran the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Basra in Iraq, overseeing the post-conflict reconstruction of Basra province during the height of the conflict. He also undertook a secondment to the US State Department under then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In between these postings, Korski helped establish and was the deputy head of the cross-departmental Stabilisation Unit. Before working for the British government, Daniel worked in Parliament as a policy adviser to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. In 2008 he helped establish the bi-partisan think-tank the European Council on Foreign Relations. He has written for The Spectator, The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, New York Times and European Voice. He holds a first class BSc in International Relations and History from the London School of Economics and an MPhil in International Relations from Cambridge.
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About Public: Public is a venture capital firm that supports technology startups aiming to work more deeply with the UK’s public services.
Jason Gatenby
CEO of Montagu Private Equity
Jason Gatenby is the CEO of Montagu. He joined Montagu in 2000 and was appointed Chief Executive in 2010. He started his career with 3i in 1990 and became an Investment Director for 3i’s southern region in 1997. Jason holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Studies/Sociology from Leeds University.
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About Montagu Private Equity: Montagu Private Equity is a financial company investing in other businesses.
David Glick
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Edge VC
David Glick is an experienced venture capital investor in the creative industries sector who has been involved in investment in, mentoring of, and the sale and purchase of, multi-million pound entertainment and media assets, with a particular emphasis on music, television, film, sport, theatre and fashion, and enabling technologies. A former solicitor, he co-founded Eatons, a leading music and entertainment law firm, in 1990; in 2000, Eatons merged with law firm Mishcon de Reya where he became head of the entertainment and media group. In 2004, he formed the Edge group of companies as a specialist investment and advisory business for the entertainment and media sector, before selling the advisory business in 2011 in order to concentrate on venture capital investing. At Edge, he has brokered and advised clients on the sale and purchase of a range of entertainment and media related assets and businesses.
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About Edge VC: Passionate Investors in Creativity
Reece Chowdhry
Founder & CEO of RLC Ventures
Reece is the Founder & CEO of RLC Ventures – an early-stage SEIS/EIS VC fund investing in technology companies primarily focused on Fintech, Enterprise and Gaming. He was awarded “Top 5 Asian Tech Investors” 2018 (KPMG & Diversity UK) and is the youngest-ever investor to profiled by The Sunday Times. Reece is a frequent keynote and panel speaker at prominent industry events such as StartupGrind Europe and Fintech Live. Reece holds a BA in International Business from Durham University and is a Chartered Management Consultant (ACMA, CGMA) having started his career as a Management Consultant at EY. Reece invests personally in all of RLC Ventures’ investments.
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About RLC Ventures: RLC Ventures is an award-winning VC which continues to back founders building global tech companies, from idea to exit.
Mark Payton
CEO of Mercia Asset Management PLC
Fund principal for the Mercia Technology Seed Fund. Mark has a PhD from King’s College (University of London) and an MBA from Warwick Business School. Prior to joining the fund, Mark was a research fellow at the Department of Pharmacology (University of Oxford), played leading roles within Isis Innovation (the technology transfer arm of the University of Oxford, ranked as the premier technology transfer office in the UK) and was VP Corporate Development at Oxxon Therapeutics Inc (before its sale to Oxford BioMedica Plc). Mark benefits from in excess of 15 years experience from the commercialisation of life science opportunities in the biotech, niche pharma, medtech and diagnostics fields.
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About Mercia Asset Management, Mercia Asset Management PLC, Mercia Fund Managers, nanoTherics: Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional businesses to achieve their growth aspirations.
Michael Bickford
Founder & CEO of Round Hill Ventures
Michael is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Round Hill. He established Round Hill in 2002, a vertically integrated real estate investment and asset management firm, which creates targeted regional and sector focused platforms in real estate. Round Hill has a global management team with over 130 dedicated professionals in 11 offices. Since inception, Michael has been responsible for the firm’s investment activities, which have resulted in the acquisition and management of over $6.5 billion of real estate investments. Michael was previously an acquisition professional for Morgan Stanley, primarily working for the international division of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds.
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About Round Hill Ventures: Round Hill Ventures is a financial services company that specializes in the fields of venture capital and technology investment.
Nadeem Siam
CEO & Founder of Fund Ourselves
Nadeem Siam is the Founder & CEO of Fund Ourselves. The first fully automated short-term credit marketplace. Nadeem graduated from Canfield University in the UK and Lulea University in Sweden with two masters of science degrees in Astronautics and Space Engineering and Space Technology; respectively.
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About Fund Ourselves, PTP Funding: Short-term credit from the people to the people.
Sarah Turner
Co-founder & CEO of Angel Academe
Founder at Angel Academe.
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About Angel Academe: Angel Academe helps engage female founders and co-founders with their tech startup to a unique pool of, mainly female angel investors.
Philip Newborough
Chief Executive Officer of Bridges Fund Management
Philip is the Chief Executive Officer of Bridges, which he co-founded in 2002 alongside Michele Giddens and Sir Ronald Cohen. Philip oversees Bridges’ investment activity across all its strategies and geographies. He chairs the Investment Committee and has overall responsibility for Bridges’ portfolio and exit strategy. He has personally led Bridges’ successful investments in The Gym Group, The Office Group, The Hoxton, Simply Switch and Viva Gym, among others. As CEO, Philip also focuses on leading and developing Bridges’ internal team, and directing the firm’s strategic growth. He is also a regular speaker about investing for impact and the value of purpose in business. Prior to Bridges, Philip managed two venture capital-backed businesses and a substantial pan-European business. He previously worked at Aiwa as Director and General Manager and was then appointed Managing Director of MWB Business Exchange Ltd, a serviced office provider. Philip has a BA Honours in Economics from York University and is a qualified chartered accountant.
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About Bridges Fund Management, Qbic, The Gym: Bridges Fund Management is a specialist fund manager dedicated to sustainable and impact investment.
Christopher Masek
CEO of IK Investment Partners
Christopher Masek is IK’s Chief Executive Officer. Before joining IK in 2000, Christopher was a founding partner at KPMG Corporate Finance in Paris. Christopher has been involved in over 20 direct investments across all of IK’s core territories. He continues to serve on the board of several of IK’s Small and Mid Cap investments. Christopher holds degrees from Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), Yale University and in French law. He is the Chairman of IKARE Ltd, the venture philanthropy arm of IK.
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About IK Investment Partners: IK Partners is a European private equity advisory group with Nordic roots, operating across Northern Continental Europe.
Dane Douetil
CEO of Minova Insurance
Dane joined the Group as Group Chief Executive Officer in September 2013. Dane, previously Chief Executive Officer of Brit Insurance Holdings NV, has more than 30 years of industry experience, covering broking and underwriting in insurance and reinsurance in both retail and wholesale environments. Prior to restructuring Benfield Re, which became Brit Insurance, he was a founding shareholder and director of specialist insurance broker Special Risk Services Limited, a business which was successfully built to become a highly profitable enterprise and was sold to Minets (now AON). Dane, who began his career at Willis, has deep roots in Lloyd’s and the London markets, having previously been Chairman of the Lloyd’s Market Association and of the London Market Reform Group. In 2007, Mr Douetil was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of the reform work undertaken in the UK insurance market.
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About Minova Insurance: Minova Insurance (formerly known as BMS Associates), a holding company that invests in the insurance sector.
Giles Thorley
Chief Executive Officer of Development Bank of Wales
Giles Thorley joined the Finance Wales Group as Chief Executive in April 2016. With significant senior management and private-equity investment experience gained from a successful twenty-year career, he is also a business angel. Before joining Finance Wales, Giles was a Partner at private equity firm TDR Capital LLP focusing on deal origination activities. Prior to this he spent 9 years with Punch Taverns plc – the first year as Chairman, when a consortium of private equity investors owned the business, and then as Chief Executive following the execution of an IPO. Previously he served as the Chief Executive of Unique Pub Company plc – created out of Inntrepreneur Pub Company, a joint venture between Grand Metropolitan and Foster’s Brewing Group. Giles was also a founding member of the Principal Finance Group at Nomura International plc and was involved in a number of acquisitions including Unilease, Phoenix Inns, Angel Trains, Annington Homes and Inntrepreneur Pub Company. He has held Non-Executive Director roles with Esporta, Ducati SpA, Tragus Holdings, TUI Travel plc and Matthew Clark Wholesale Ltd; is currently acting as consultant/angel investor on a number of business start-ups; and is a long-serving Trustee with the Rona Sailing Project. Giles holds a law degree from the University of London and qualified as a Barrister in 1990. He is a member of the Bar Council of England & Wales.
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About Development Bank of Wales: Development Bank of Wales provides flexible finance for businesses based in Wales.
Paul Tselentis
Chief Executive Officer of 24 Haymarket
Paul is the CEO of 24Haymarket. He previously worked in private equity at The Carlyle Group and CCMP Capital.
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About 24 Haymarket: 24 Haymarket is an investment network of highly experienced investors and senior operators.
Shelley Kuipers
Co-CEO and Chief Growth Officer of The 51 Ventures
Shelley is an accomplished and highly successful entrepreneur. After years of pioneering work in the emerging field of crowdsourcing, she founded Chaordix in 2009, helping clients such as P&G, University of Oxford, American Airlines, and Orange Telecom to gain a new level of market intelligence through crowdsourcing. Her first startup experience was with Merak Projects, who provided valuation and management software for the petroleum industry and was acquired by the world’s largest energy services and technology firm, Schlumberger, in 1999. In 2000, she co-founded Stormworks – a software development and digital marketing firm, which was acquired by Solium Capital, a publicly-traded financial services company ranked among the Deloitte Technology Fast 50, and recognized as the world’s largest independent provider of stock plan administration software and services. She also co-founded Adventure Capital, an early stage venture capital firm, and Material Insight, a consultancy of growth agents that help to grow tech startups. Shelley travels extensively to grow and serve the global Chaordix clientele, dividing her time between Calgary, Canada and London, UK.
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About Adventure Capital, Cambrian House, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), The 51 Ventures: The51 is a financial feminist platform that aims to build mutual wealth and social impact.
Graham Schwikkard
Chief Executive Officer of SyndicateRoom
Graham joined SyndicateRoom as head of operations in January 2017. His drive for delivery and knowledge of best practices is expected to play an integral part in scaling the platform. Before joining SyndicateRoom, Graham spent seven years in management consulting, where he helped companies develop market strategies and optimise their business models. During this time, he developed a strong sense of business operations, with a particular interest in using technology to shift markets but also enable functions and automate routine tasks. Graham first came to the UK in 2013 for his MBA, where he won multiple awards and focused his studies on startups. It was during this time that he met Tom and Gonçalo, and worked on the early version of SyndicateRoom. Soon after, he was obligated to return to South Africa due to contractual commitments but stayed in touch. After ongoing conversations across continents, Graham made the decision to return and join the adventure with SyndicateRoom at the start of 2017. Outside of work, Graham likes to work and make redundant jokes. He is an avid reader and quite happy to spend a Saturday finishing a classic, a popular business book or a science fiction epic with a whiskey in hand. If he can squeeze in a run or cricket game, then he’s content for weeks.
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About SyndicateRoom: VC fund that builds diversified portfolios of 50+ startups by co‑investing with some of the UK’s best-performing angel investors.
Paddy Willis
Co-Founder, CEO of Mission Ventures
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About Mission Ventures: Mission Ventures is a California-based venture capital firm providing investment and guidance to early-stage companies in emerging markets.
Johnny Hewett
CEO of Smedvig Capital
Johnny has been Chief Executive since founding Smedvig Capital with Peter Smedvig in 1996. He has been instrumental in the financing and development of more than 40 companies at all stages from start-up through to flotation. Prior to Smedvig Capital, Johnny spent 3 years at Bain & Company, working on a range of strategic and operational issues in a variety of sectors. He began his career in investment banking spending six years in equity capital markets for Hill Samuel and later NatWest Markets where he was involved in all elements of equity and equity related financings. He has an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Johnny is a board member of The Smart Cube (Chairman), Exchange Group and LoveSpace and recent other board roles include Streetcar, Selstor, Ocean Outdoor and ITIS Holdings.
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About Smedvig Capital: 25 years of supporting ambitious founders from Series A to exit.
Martin Murphy
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Syncona Partners LLP
Martin is Chief Executive Officer of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. He co-founded Syncona in 2012 with The Wellcome Trust. Since then, Martin has been closely involved in the foundation and development of four Syncona companies: Achilles, Autolus, Blue Earth and OMass Therapeutics and continues to hold Board positions at these companies. Previously, he was a partner at MVM Life Science Partners LLP, a venture capital company focused on life science and healthcare, where he led their European operations. Martin has also held roles with 3i Group plc and McKinsey & Company. He has a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge.
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About Syncona Partners LLP: Syncona Partners LLP is a healthcare company focused on investing in and building global leaders in life science.
David Luck
Founder and CEO of Capital on Tap
David Luck is the Founder and CEO of Capital on Tap. He is a business executive with experience in start-ups, private equity, and management consulting with a focus on financial services and SMEs.
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About Capital on Tap: Capital on Tap is a fintech company that provides small and medium-sized businesses with credit cards.
Antonio Mugica
CEO of SGO Corporation
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About Airlabs, SGO Corporation: a social impact-focused technology venture fund
Paul Jourdan
Chief Executive Officer of Amati Global Investors
Dr Paul Jourdan is an award winning fund manager, with a strong track record in small cap investment. He co-founded Amati Global Investors following the management buyout of Noble Fund Managers from Noble Group in 2010, having joined Noble in 2007 as Head of Equities. His fund management career began in 1998 with Stewart Ivory, which was taken over by First State in 2000 at which time Paul became manager of what is now TB Amati UK Smaller Companies Fund. In early 2005 he launched what is now Amati VCT and he also manages Amati VCT 2 after the investment management contract moved to Amati Global Investors in 2010. In September 2014 Amati launched the Amati AIM IHT Portfolio Service, which Paul co-manages with Douglas Lawson and David Stevenson. Prior to 1998 Paul worked as a professional violinist, including a four year period with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He is CEO of Amati and a Director of Sistema Scotland.
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About Amati Global Investors: Amati Global Investors is a specialist fund management business based in Edinburgh.
Andrew Wordsworth
Managing Partner, CEO of Sustainable Ventures
Andrew is our executive chairman and responsible for fundraising, partnership negotiation and long term strategic management. He firmly believes that the electric transport revolution is well underway, and that car clubs like E-Car can not only reduce emissions but make transport more affordable and more convenient for communities across the country. With over ten years’ experience in the sustainability and renewables sector, he knows that organisations like this can’t survive on their carbon credentials alone. They need to provide a new solution which is both more cost effective and better suited to people’s needs. He’s very much a “hands on” Chairman and you’re more likely to see him on the street checking out the cars or talking to customers in the call centre than in the board room. Andrew holds a first-class MEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, where he was awarded the University Fox Prize.
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About E-Car Club, Sustainable Ventures: Sustainable Ventures offers entrepreneurs with workspaces, accelerator programs, and support to develop their businesses.
Mark Randall
Chief Executive Officer of Renaissance Capital Partners
Mark Randall is the Chief Executive Officer at Renaissance Capital Partners.
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About Renaissance Capital Partners: Renaissance Capital Partners invests funds in high-growth, innovative, and entrepreneurial businesses and also built environment projects.
Barbara Spurrier
Founder and CEO of CFPro Ltd
Barbara is a qualified certified accountant (FCCA) with over 30 years finance experience in numerous sectors including Healthcare, Technology, Oil & Gas and FMCG. Recently Barbara has successfully concluded 2 IPO’s, 2 RTOs and multiple fundraising on LSE/AIM. She has also secured VC funding for growth businesses and completed several M&A transactions.
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About CFPro Ltd: Providing scale-up support to high-growth businesses, CFPro delivers financial & operational support to help you grow faster & further.
Bal Johal
Co-CEO of MML Capital Partners
Bal is co-CEO of MML Capital Partners. He has led a number of investments for MML including investments into CSI Ltd, PIE/PSG Group, Blue Max Group, Arena Group, Clean Linen & Workwear, Instant Offices, Optionis Group, ParkingEye and The Regard Partnership and worked on others including Vanguard, EiC and Redmill Snack Foods. Bal is a director on the board of all of these companies. Prior to joining MML, Bal was Investment Director at 3i leading a range of high profile investments such as SmartStream, Jungle.com, Workplace Systems plc, Telecity, Complete Care and Recognition. Bal started his career as a Management Consultant with Accenture later working as a Financial Analyst at HSBC. Bal holds a BA Honours degree in Business Studies from Nottingham Trent University and is non-executive chairman of Knights plc.
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About MML Capital Partners: MML Capital Partners is an independent investment firm.
Ian Wallis
Co-CEO of MML Capital Partners
Ian is co-CEO of MML Capital Partners. He has led a number of transactions for MML including investments into Baxter Storey, Lomond Capital, Frontier MEDEX and ATA Group. Ian represents MML on the boards of Learning Curve and CH&Co. Prior to joining MML, Ian spent 7 years with 3i, latterly with a focus on minority investing. Ian started his career as a commodity trader with Cargill Plc. Ian studied at the University of London gaining a BA Honours degree in History.
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About MML Capital Partners: MML Capital Partners is an independent investment firm.
Jason Mellad
CEO of Start Codon
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About Start Codon: Translating disruptive research into successful start-ups, the Cambridge way
Hemal Mehta
Founder & CEO of Atominvest
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About Atominvest: Cutting-edge tech for Private Equity, VC, Real Estate and Hedge Funds
Mark Lusted
Chief Executive Officer, UK of MagiClick Digital
Mark founded Dock9 in 2008 and grew it into one of the most respected digital agencies serving the financial services sector. Dock9 was acquired by MagiClick in 2021 and Mark moved to the role of CEO of MagiClick UK. Having previously been included in the BIMA list of the top 100 most influential people in UK digital (the BIMA Hot 100) he is also a regular speaker at Fintech events on the subjects of financial technology, user experience (UX) and emerging technology trends. About MagiClick: MagiClick is a leading provider of multi-platform UX/UI design, development & marketing capabilities helping businesses create great digital services. Our team of over 160 digital specialists are based in our 4 offices in London, Istanbul and Dubai. Since our inception in 1996 we have served numerous multinational companies & brands within financial services, e-commerce, telecoms, travel, food & beverages, automotive and healthcare. We have over 30 financial institutions as clients including HSBC, Bank Audi, QNB, BNP Paribas, BBVA, First ING, Abu Dhabi Bank, Metlife, Masthaven Bank, Castle Trust Bank, Akbank, Denizbank, Vakifbank and Ziraat Bank. Our clients in other sectors include IKEA, Turkish Airlines, Vodafone, Domino’s, Turk Telekom, Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft.
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About MagiClick Digital: Digital technology & design agency with a strong focus on the financial industry and presence across the UK, Turkey and the MENA region.
Catherine Lewis La Torre
Chief Executive Officer of British Business Bank
Catherine joined British Business Bank Investments as CEO in September 2016. Catherine was previously Head of Private Equity at Cardano Risk Management where she was responsible for a global portfolio of private capital investments with in excess of £1 billion of committed capital. Prior to this, she was a Partner with Fondinvest Capital and was one of the Founding Partners of Proventure Private Equity, where in both cases she was an investor in mid-market funds and companies across Western Europe. Catherine holds a B.Sc. (Econ.) from the London School of Economics where she graduated with First Class Honours.
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About British Business Bank: The British Business Bank aims to make finance markets for smaller businesses work better.
Kaan Akın
Founder, CEO of Hackquarters
Tech investor, startup mentor and founder of Hackquarters Startup Accelerator. He is involved with corporate accelerator programs.
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About Hackquarters: Hackquarters accelerated 150+ startups and helped 40+ corporates to innovate with startup collaboration
Robert King
Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Acuity Knowledge Partners
Robert King is the executive director of Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services.
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About Acuity Knowledge Partners: Acuity Knowledge Partners is a provider of research, analytics and business intelligence to the financial services sector.
Oliver Woolley
CEO & Co-founder of Envestors
Oliver is CEO and Co-Founder of ENVESTORS Private Investor Network. Oliver sits on the Board of the UK Crowdfunding Association (UKCFA) and sat on the Board of the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) from 2006 to 2014. He is also a Member of Court at Imperial College (London). After completing a degree in Finance, Oliver decided not to become an accountant but instead raised equity and bank debt to start Woolleys Healthfoods. The business comprised three retail catering outlets in central London, three organic sausage shops and a factory in the south-east of England, which wholesaled to 200 establishments including Harrods. In 1997 he sold the business to Northern Foods and moved into early-stage investing. Oliver is a keen Chelsea supporter, an enthusiastic cyclist and enjoys cooking for his family (with varying levels of success).
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About Braveheart Investment Group, Envestors: Envestors digital platform connects entrepreneurs and investors
Olga Kubassova
Chief Executive Officer of IAG, Image Analysis Group
Olga Kubassova is the Founder and CEO at IAG, mage Analysis Group. Mathematician with 10+ years expertise in actively managing innovation in life science companies, asset positioning, strategy and capital rising. Extensive expertise and domain knowledge in identifying innovative approaches to clinical research, disruptive technology platforms and novel therapeutics. Olga is a renowned healthcare innovator and biotech investor, with passion for improving people’s health.
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About Analytics Ventures, Bio Capital Impact Fund, European Commission, IAG, Image Analysis Group: IAG, imaging expert company helps to accelerate novel drug development by using the right analytical tools and modern trial infrastructure.
Simon Gifford
CEO & co-founder of Mashauri Limited
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About Genesis Management Consulting, IE Business School, Mashauri Limited: Providing online acceleration programmes to universities to offer entrepreneurial education and training to their students.
David Foskett
CEO of DSSC Digital Software Solutions Ltd.
David is CEO at DSSC, a B2B fintech software company specialising in platforms for financial services companies, banks, and government agencies working on financial ecosystem aggregation and improvement programmes. The platform provides aggregation and switching functions with powerful compliance and reporting features. It is easily customised to handle the smallest movement of funds for remittance, all the way through to the aggregation of country-wide financial switch infrastructure. The technology is developed and matured by a team that has more than 40 years of experience between them. They possess deep knowledge across mobile financial services, remittance, payments, compliance and regulatory sectors. Previously, David was COO/CFO at Moni. He has worked as Chief Financial Officer in several private equity backed firms as well as holding senior leadership roles at Western Union where he served as Chief Financial Officer Western Union Payments Services (EMEA), Finance Director Retail Network Europe-CIS and Finance Director Western Europe.
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About DSSC Digital Software Solutions Ltd.: DSSC is a B2B fintech software company specialising in platforms for financial ecosystem aggregation and improvement programmes.
John Glencross
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder of Calculus Capital
John co-founded Calculus Capital with Susan McDonald in 1999, creating one of the UK’s most successful, independent private equity firms focused on investing in smaller, proven companies. John graduated from Oxford University with an MA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
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About Calculus Capital: Calculus Capital creates and manages tax efficient private equity funds for individuals.
Robert Davis
Deputy CEO and Head of Portfolio Management of Calculus Capital
Robert joined Calculus Capital in 2014 with responsibility for working with the portfolio companies in helping to build value and, importantly, guiding them towards a successful exit. Robert has over 25 years’ advisory experience with a particular expertise in M&A. Most recently he was Head of the European business of Avendus Capital, an Indian investment bank, and previously was the Head of European M&A at Nomura International for eight years. He has also held positions at JP Morgan and Robert / Jardine Fleming. Robert qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse and holds an MA from the University of Cambridge.
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About Calculus Capital: Calculus Capital creates and manages tax efficient private equity funds for individuals.
David Genn
Chief Executive Officer of Goji Investments
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About Goji Investments: Investment platform providing access to regulated investment products from across the direct lending sector
Antoine Baschiera
CEO and Co-Founder of Early Metrics
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About Early Metrics: Early Metrics is the first startup rating agency.
Marc Buchner
CEO of Envercapital
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About Envercapital: Envercapital is a global investment firm focused on growing sustainable and impactful businesses.
Franck Zeitoun
Co-Founder & CEO of Lendery
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About Lendery: Lendery is offers a set of technology tools to institutional investors in alternative lending
Norman Peterson
Chief Executive Officer of Growth Capital Ventures
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About Carlton & Co, Growth Capital Ventures: Growth Capital Ventures is a technology led financial services business.
Chris Manson
Chief Executive Officer of Newable
Having started out his career as a Chartered Accountant with PwC, Chris has over 20 years’ experience in the start-up and sale of SMEs. With the creation, development and sale of three businesses under his belt, Chris was awarded an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award for London in 2005.
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About Newable: Newable provides finance, consulting, and property services for start-ups, and small and medium-sized businesses in the UK.
Kenneth Winther
Founder and CEO of Moonwalk Innovation
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About Moonwalk Innovation: Moonwalk Innovation is a crowd-sourced, crowd-funded, and crowd-owned innovation program to reinvent learning fit for modern huma.
Steve Sillam
CEO of Leaseum
Steve is the Co-Founder and CEO of Leaseum. He is bringing the best practices from the investment management fundraising industry to the SaaS space. Steve served as Head of business development at the Monaco resources Group, a private investment group with offices in 30+ countries where he was in charge of fundraising. Prior to that Steve was acting as a placement agent for PE funds and has started his career in consulting with Kurt Salmon Associates. Steve holds a Master’s degree in management consulting from La Sorbonne Paris University and an MSc in Finance from Paris Dauphine
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About Leaseum: Leaseum provides revolutionary investor portals to investment management professionals and makes investors lives easier.
Werner von Guionneau
Chief Executive Officer of InfraRed Capital Partners
Werner is the Chief Executive Officer of InfraRed, a leading global investment manager focused on infrastructure and real estate. InfraRed operates worldwide from offices in London, Hong Kong, New York, Seoul and Sydney. With over 120 professionals it manages in excess of USD 9bn of equity capital in multiple private and listed funds, primarily for institutional investors across the globe.
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About InfraRed Capital Partners, The Renewables Infrastructure Group: InfraRed is a leading global investment manager focused on infrastructure and real estate.
Nicholas Barton
Founder & CEO of The Barton Partnership
Nicholas founded The Barton Partnership in late 2007 and has succeeded in building a niche executive recruitment firm with an enviable reputation within the Strategy, Transformation and M&A arena. From a standing start, he has built a team of professionals renowned not only for their talent acquisition skills but also their subject matter expertise with offices in London, Europe, New York and Asia. Throughout his career he has specialised in, and successfully executed, on over 250 senior retained and contingent assignments across Commerce, Financial Services and Professional Services both in the UK and Internationally.
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About The Barton Partnership: The Barton Partnership is a niche Executive Recruitment firm providing permanent and interim solutions in strategy, transformation, and M&A.
Craig Hooper
Co-Founder and CEO of DWCC
Craig Hooper is the founder and CEO of DWCC. He has over 20 years’ experience in global solution selling and has also worked in senior IT buying positions across a number of successful global technology start-ups. His other experience includes stints at Airbus and JP Morgan, where he served as SVP of EU Supply Chain Product Management.
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About : One Partner for Immediate In Country, Dedicated White Label Presence with offices in US, UK, Spain, Germany and Australia
Cliff Prior
CEO of Big Society Capital
Cliff Prior is CEO of Big Society Capital – the wholesale investor and market champion for UK social impact investment. In our first 5 years, we have made over £1.25bn available with our coinvestors, with £800m already taken up by over 800 social enterprises. Previously Cliff was CEO of UnLtd for social entrepreneurs, which has supported 13,000 new startups, and built a 50-country Global Social Entrepreneurship Network. Cliff has worked across the social sector as CEO and on boards, with government on policy and regulation, mentors emerging social leaders, and has co-created a number of social startups. He is currently a board member of the International Venture Philanthropy Centre Cliff is involved in the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing, and is leading an international working group to help more countries develop impact investment wholesalers and market development agencies.
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About Big Society Capital: Big Society Capital is developing a strong, diverse and sustainable social investment market in the UK.
Simon Calton
Founder and CEO of The Carlton James Group
Simon Calton possesses over 12 years experience in financing and company structuring, He utilizes his extensive experience to find investment opportunities in different sectors that present both stability and upside. His core model is to carry out extensive due diligence, identify a specific security or asset, structure multiple exit strategies, and find the niche within that opportunity to move it from undesirable to investible. Since 2008, Simon has structured a number of Alternative Investment Products focused primarily around Construction and Development in the US and UK. These projects include work on behalf of Carlton James’ Borrower – SW Land & Development, which was one of the first organizations in North Dakota dedicated to building more hotels across the US. In addition to acting as a Private & Commercial Investment Strategist, Simon has a track record as a successful property consultant with 10 years’ experience. His speciality area in the property industry has led to substantial gains on behalf of many investors who have engaged him and the groups he associates with.
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About Rycal Investment Group, The Carlton James Group: Carlton James Group is a private Investment group specializing in diversified portfolios across varying global asset classes
James van den Bergh
CEO of TruFin Plc
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About TruFin Plc: TruFin is a London based a FinTech and banking group.
George Johnston
CEO of Tech City Ventures
George Johnston is passionate about using technology to shape cities of the future, with a belief that this can be achieved through building a self-sustaining innovation ecosystem through data, knowledge, and connections. He founded Tech City Ventures to bring great ideas to market faster, regardless of their stage in the startup lifecycle. Through his network of businesses, he works with national and international corporations and government bodies from across the world. He has provided counsel to the then Department of Business, Innovation and Skills around EU digital policy, and more recently, to the Greater London Authority and Mayor’s Office around London’s digital strategy.
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About IncuBus Ventures, swiftscale, Tech City Ventures: Tech City Ventures is a network of companies with a shared vision to accelerate sustainable innovation.
Simon Glass
CEO of Qodeo
Simon has worked in venture capital for Amadeus Capital Partners, advisory at EY, in academia and banking. Simon holds BA, MA and MBA degrees from Cambridge University and trained in corporate finance at London Business School. Simon founded qodeo to save transaction costs and time in his work as a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. Simon leads the team and strategy.
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About Qodeo: Qodeo creates smart matches between entrepreneurs and investors for faster market and reduced risk.
