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 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.
Frederic Court
Founder and Managing Partner of Felix Capital
Frederic is the Founder and Managing Partner of Felix Capital. He has worked in the technology industry for the past 20 years, prior to Felix as General Partner with Advent Ventures in London, and previously as an entrepreneur. At Felix, Frederic works closely with Farfetch (NYSE:FTCH), goop, Mejuri, Yoobic, The Business of Fashion, Highsnobiety and Mirakl. He led the growth investments in Deliveroo and Peloton. While at Advent, Frederic led investments in Farfetch, Zong (sold to eBay), Vitrue (Oracle), Dailymotion (Orange), Qype (Yelp), Fizzback (Nice Systems) and Ubiquisys (Cisco). Frederic was named “Investor of the Year” in Europe by his peers at the 2012 Investor All Stars event. He was on the Midas List Europe 2017 and 2018. Previously he was an entrepreneur in France, building a VC-backed online marketplace for the textile industry, and before that a technology banker in London and New York with Lazard. A graduate of ESSEC in Paris and Bocconi University in Milan, Frederic is fluent in English, French, Italian and Spanish.
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About Adverity, Deliveroo, Felix Capital, Forter, La Ruche qui dit Oui, Moonbug, Oatly, Peloton: Felix Capital is a venture fund that focuses on digital commerce, digital media, and information technology companies.
Les Gabb
Finance Partner of Felix Capital
Les Gabb is the Founder & Finance Partner of Advent Venture Partners.He attend to the University of Oxford.
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About Advent Venture Partners, Felix Capital: Felix Capital is a venture fund that focuses on digital commerce, digital media, and information technology companies.
Oliver Jung
Managing Partner of LAO Holdings
Oliver is a global investor and entrepreneur based in Tel Aviv. Oliver is investing in US and China based companies and helps them to go international. Previous projects include airbnb, houzz and hoteltonight.
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About HotelTonight, Houzz, LAO Holdings: LAO Ventures invests in disruptive, fast-growing US companies.
Ian Ellis
Head of Strategic Vendor Partnerships of Deutsche Bank
Ian Ellis (Co-Organizer) is a Vice President in the Technology Business Development at a major US bulge bracket bank. In this role, he is responsible for leveraging the insights & expertise of their world class Technology division to assist with client business development. In addition, Ian focuses on growing strategic partnerships with key technology partners, venture capital firms and innovative emerging technology companies. He is based in London, but works globally with the team, having previously worked in New York from mid 2010 to mid 2012 and also run the Firm’s Technology Business Development practice in Europe. He holds a BA in Economics & Information Studies from University College Dublin and an MSc in Analysis, Design & Management of Information Systems (with distinction) from the London School of Economics, where he now serves as an Associate of the Department of Management.
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About Deutsche Bank, NY Enterprise Technology Meetup: Deutsche Bank, a Frankfurt-based global investment bank, offers financial products and services to corporate and institutional clients.
Luca Bocchio
Partner of Accel
Luca Bocchio joined Accel in 2018 and focuses on consumer internet, fintech, and software businesses. Luca led Accel’s investment in Luko, Bryter, Brumbrum and Trade Republic. Luca also helped lead Accel’s investment and ongoing work in Sennder, among others. He is also on the board of Vinted. Prior to Accel, Luca was with H14, where he invested in global early and growth stage opportunities, such as Deliveroo, GetYourGuide, Flixbus, SumUp, and SecretEscapes. Luca previously advised technology, industrial, and consumer companies on strategy with Bain & Co. in Europe and Asia. Luca is from Italy and graduated from LIUC University.
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About Accel: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Seth Pierrepont
Partner of Accel
Seth Pierrepont joined Accel in 2013 and focuses on enterprise software, cybersecurity, and data infrastructure. Seth helped lead Accel’s investments and ongoing work in Kry, PillPack (acquired by Amazon), Deliveroo, WorldRemit, Soldo, Anyfin, Privitar, Snyk, Tines, Shift Technology, CallSign, Chainalysis, Carwow, and FRVR. Prior to Accel, Seth invested in European companies with Vision Capital. He previously advised technology and media companies on strategy with Oliver Wyman in San Francisco. Seth is from Chicago, IL and attended Dartmouth.
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About Accel: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Bruce Golden
Partner of Accel
Bruce Golden is the Partner at Accel.
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About Accel: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Philippe Botteri
Partner of Accel
Philippe Botteri joined Accel in 2011 and focuses on Cloud applications and Security. He led Accel’s investments in DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU), Algolia, Doctolib, Blablacar, PeopleDoc (acquired by Ultimate Software), UiPath and more recently Snyk and Chainalysis. He is also on the board of Fiverr (NASDAQ: FVRR) and worked closely with the team at Crowdstrike. Prior to Accel, Philippe was with Bessemer, based in Menlo Park, where he helped build the firm’s cloud practice, working on investments including Cornerstone OnDemand (NASDAQ: CSOD), Eloqua (NASDAQ: ELOQ) and Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO). He started his career with McKinsey&Co. Philippe is from Paris and graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, where he is a member of the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board, and Ecole des Mines.
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About Accel, CrowdStrike, FREE NOW: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Sonali De Rycker
Partner of Accel
Sonali De Rycker joined Accel in 2008. Sonali led Accel’s investments in Avito (acquired by Naspers), Lyst, Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), Wallapop, Calastone, Monzo, Shift Technology, Letgo (acquired by Naspers), Kry/Livi, Soldo, Hopin, and Sennder. Prior to Accel, Sonali was with Atlas Venture (now Accomplice). She also previously served on the board of Match.com (NASDAQ: MTCH).
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About Accel, Lyst, Spotify: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Andrei Brasoveanu
Partner of Accel
Andrei Brasoveanu joined Accel in 2014 and works with teams in the areas of enterprise software, developer-oriented products, cloud infrastructure, security, and financial services. Andrei helped lead Accel’s investments and ongoing work in Rasa, Humio, dashdash, Tessian, Checkly, Celonis, Personio, UiPath, Instana, Monzo, Carto, JobToday, and Ermetic among others. Prior to Accel, Andrei spent a decade in the US and worked with Foundation Capital and KCG/Virtu, the largest equities high-frequency trading firm in the US. Previously, he helped build an algorithmic trading startup on Wall Street focused on commodity futures. Andrei hails from Romania. He holds an AB summa cum laude in Mathematics from Princeton and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.
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About Accel: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Harry Nelis
Partner of Accel
Harry Nelis joined Accel in 2004 and focuses on software, fintech and consumer internet companies. Harry led Accel’s investments in KAYAK (NASDAQ: KYAK; acquired by Priceline), Showroomprive (EPA: SRP), Funding Circle (LON: FCH), Callsign, Celonis, CHECK24, Instana, Miro, and WorldRemit. Harry started his career in Silicon Valley as an engineer at Hewlett-Packard before founding a venture-backed software company. Harry is from the Netherlands and graduated from Harvard Business School and Delft University of Technology.
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About Accel, Faregames: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Martin Gibson
Venture Partner of Accel
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About Accel, Accel: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Kevin Comolli
Managing General Partner of Accel
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About Accel: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Adrian Colyer
Venture Partner of Accel
Advisor at Weaveworks & ClusterHQ. Board Member at Skipjaq.
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About Accel, Accel: Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that helps a global community of entrepreneurs.
Emmet Keeffe
Operating Partner, Founder Insight Ignite of Insight Partners
Emmet B. Keeffe III is the Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of Irise. In the early 1990’s Emmet set two goals – to start a software company that would achieve $1 billion in revenue and to start a Formula One team. In the late 1990’s, Emmet and Maurice Martin co-founded iRise with a vision to transform how business and IT stakeholders would communicate about requirements for custom and packaged business software. In 2000, Emmet and Maurice invented the market for “Software Visualization” and have built iRise into the world’s leading provider of enterprise visualization for business software. Over the last 20 years Emmet has applied his philosophy of “the network is the business” to become one of the most well-connected CEOs in the software industry. As CEO & Co-Founder of iRise, Emmet has leveraged his network to close over $60 million in investment funding and drives leadership of sales, marketing and business development at iRise. Prior to co-founding iRise, he built a top-selling region at NetDynamics, a pioneer of the Web application server market that was later acquired by Sun Microsystems. Earlier in his sales career, Emmet earned over 15 national sales awards, including being named “National Top Performer” by NetDynamics, Auspex Systems, Diasonics and Minolta. In 2005, Emmet founded the “iRise Executive Roundtable Series” with a vision to deliver world-class content and networking with no selling which has been attended by hundreds of CIOs from the world’s largest global companies. Since the program’s inception, he has delivered roundtable partnerships to iRise with TRG Motorsports in the Grand Am Series, PKV Racing in the Champ Car Series, KV Racing Technology in the Indy Car Series and most recently with the Lotus F1 Team in Formula One. Emmet is a Strategic Partner at Lotus F1 Team and supports the sales organization in their efforts to bring new sponsors into Formula 1. In addition, Emmet is a Founding Board Member of the Corporate Coalition at Peace One Day, an organization focused on institutionalizing an international day of cease fire and non-violence on September 21st of each year. Outside of his role at iRise, Emmet is passionate about his family, driving Radical SR3 race cars, running, skiing, music, travel and entrepreneurship. Emmet earned a B.A. in Political Economies of Industrial Societies from the University of California at Berkeley and lives in London, England.
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About Insight Partners, iRise: Insight Partners is a private equity firm that invests in growth-stage technology and software companies.
David Thevenon
Partner of SoftBank Vision Fund
Before joining SoftBank in 2014, David had a 10-year tenure at Google, where he last led global partnerships for the Android platform and was in charge of product related partnerships and business development activities across Asia, Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Latin America. Prior to Google, David was leading strategic partnerships at T-Mobile International, and worked as a finance executive at Dell, ICL-Fujitsu and Elf-Atochem. David received a Master in Management from ESCEM.
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About Balderton, SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank Vision Fund specializes in growth capital and social impact investments.
Munish Varma
Partner, EMEA, Asia of SoftBank Vision Fund
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About SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank Vision Fund specializes in growth capital and social impact investments.
Saleh Romeih
Managing Partner, Investment Committee Member, SBIA, EMEA of SoftBank Vision Fund
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About SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank Vision Fund specializes in growth capital and social impact investments.
Catherine Lenson
Partner, Global Head of HR of SoftBank Vision Fund
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About SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank Vision Fund specializes in growth capital and social impact investments.
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.
Ruwan Weerasekera
Managing Partner, COO of SoftBank Vision Fund
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About SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank Vision Fund specializes in growth capital and social impact investments.
Shivani Lala
Partner, Head of Tax of SoftBank Vision Fund
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About SoftBank Vision Fund: SoftBank Vision Fund specializes in growth capital and social impact investments.
Lucian Schönefelder
Partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Daniel Pietrzak
Partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Jurcell Virginia
Director, Client and Partner Group of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Jurcell Virginia (London) joined KKR in 2012 and is a Director in the Client and Partner Group. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Virginia was responsible for the business development activities for EIM SA in the Netherlands and Southern Africa. Previously, he was engaged with a number of entrepreneurial companies. Mr. Virginia started his career with ABN AMRO where he worked for 7 years in the corporate finance department in Amsterdam and Sao Paulo. His most recent position was as VP Corporate Finance. Mr. Virginia holds a Masters in Econometrics from Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Juan de Ochoa
Partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Clayton Perry
Managing Director, Client and Partner Group of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Clayton Perry (London) joined KKR in 2014 as part of Avoca Capital and is responsible for the strategic development of KKR’s collateralized loan obligation business. Before joining Avoca in 2010, he worked for Credit Suisse for sixteen years in a variety of roles, most recently running the collateralized loan obligation arranging business. Mr. Perry has a B.A. from Otago University and an M.Sc from the London School of Economics.
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
James Marsh
Director, Principal, Client and Partner Group of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
James Marsh (London) joined KKR in 2012 as a member of the Client and Partner Group. Prior to joining KKR, he worked at Barclays Capital in its power, utilities & infrastructure group, where he was involved in a variety of merger, acquisition and financing transactions. He also worked for three years at the quantitative investment strategies division of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He holds an M.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from the University of Cambridge.
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Daan Knottenbelt
Partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Douglas Watt
Director, Client and Partner Group of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
Douglas Watt (London) joined KKR in 2011 and is part of the Client and Partner Group. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Watt was with Goldman, Sachs & Co., most recently as part of the U.K. Institutional team at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Previously, he worked at BNP Paribas in their equity derivatives team, and with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Cayman Islands. He started his career with Arthur Andersen in Glasgow where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Mr. Watt holds a BAcc (Hons) in Accountancy and Marketing from Stirling University, and is a CFA Charterholder.
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About Kohlberg Kravis Roberts: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a global alternative asset manager focusing on private equity, fixed income, and capital markets.
Jan Hammer
Investor & Partner of Index Ventures
Jan joined Index in 2010, and is a London-based partner, focusing on fintech and information/data services across all stages of growth. He is one of Index Ventures’ leading fintech investors, working with the founders of Adyen, Credit Benchmark, Robinhood and TransferWise. In all, Index has backed more than two dozen fintech companies, with more than $400 million. Jan has also led Index investments and is on the boards of Beamery, Collibra, SafetyCulture and Silverfin. Before he joined Index, Jan was at General Atlantic in London, where he worked on investments in Kaspersky Lab, Northgate Information Solutions and Torex Retail. He also worked in the M&A, TMT and Capital Markets divisions at Morgan Stanley. Jan is a graduate of Oxford University, and holds an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD.
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About Index Ventures, Productboard, Sofía, The Prince’s Trust, Wise: Index Ventures is a venture capital firm that helps the entrepreneurs turn bold ideas into global businesses.
Carlos Gonzalez- Cadenas
Partner of Index Ventures
Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas is Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPO/CTO) at GoCardless.
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About GoCardless, Index Ventures: Index Ventures is a venture capital firm that helps the entrepreneurs turn bold ideas into global businesses.
Danny Rimer
Partner of Index Ventures
Danny joined Index in 2002 and established the firm’s London office. He later opened the San Francisco office with Mike Volpi. His current investments include 1stdibs, Discord, Farfetch, Figma, Glossier, GOAT, Good Eggs, Grailed, Humu, Patreon and Scoop. Prior to Index, Danny was a General Partner at The Barksdale Group, where he invested in over a dozen companies. Earlier in his career, he was at Hambrecht & Quist (now owned by JP Morgan), where he began the Internet sector equity research group. He was managing director and underwriting analyst and took Amazon, Netscape and Verisign public among others. Previously, Danny was a director of Betfair, Dropbox, Etsy, Sky, Last.fm, Lovefilm, MySQL, and Skype; and formerly on the Board of Trustees at SFMOMA and MAGGIE’S Centres. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to business and charity.
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About Index Ventures: Index Ventures is a venture capital firm that helps the entrepreneurs turn bold ideas into global businesses.
Martin Mignot
Partner of Index Ventures
Martin Mignot is the Partner at Index Ventures.
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About Algolia, Bird, Bulb, Index Ventures, La Ruche qui dit Oui, Maven Clinic, Revolut, Seedcamp, The Family: Index Ventures is a venture capital firm that helps the entrepreneurs turn bold ideas into global businesses.
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.
Nick Kingsbury
Partner of Amadeus Capital Partners
Nick Kingsbury has 30 years experience in business, of which 12 was in the role of CEO for two software companies, and 7 was as Sector Partner for the international venture capital company 3i. Nick is an experienced international software entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He started his career with one of the leading UK software houses before founding his own company, Software Support Limited, in the mid 1980s which grew to become a leading systems integration company for Workflow applications. In 1996 this business merged with Staffware plc which then IPO’d on the London market. With Staffware Nick was Senior VP for International Business Development and Marketing. In 1999 Nick joined the international venture capitalist, 3i plc, for which he was Sector Partner for the software and internet sector. 3i invested over $500m in 150 software companies across Europe, the US and Asia, of which Nick was personally involved in many. His role was to develop 3i’s investment strategy and to advise on new investments. He also worked with existing investee companies with their strategic development, notably through partnership with the leading IT players worldwide. He served on the board of three 3i companies, Propero, the virtualisation company, sold to VMWare, Metastorm, the leading Business Process Management company (as observer) and the security software company Chronicle Solutions where he was also interim CEO. Nick left 3i in 2007 and now advises a number of companies on their corporate and funding strategies. He currently serves on the boards of several private and public companies. See engagements for more information. Kingsbury Ventures has access to a network of specialist associates covering media, electronics and other industries.
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About Amadeus Capital Partners, GrowthPoint Technology Partners, Objective Corporation: Amadeus Capital Partners caters to the technology sector with seed, early, and later stage venture, and private equity investments.
Volker Hirsch
Partner of Amadeus Capital Partners
Volker Hirsch joined Amadeus Capital Partners as Partner in 2018.
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About Amadeus Capital Partners, Curioso Games, Digital Hive, Tech North Advocates: 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.
Rytis Vitkauskas
Partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners
Rytis joined Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2019 and is responsible for Europe. Prior to joining Lightspeed, Rytis was a Venture Partner with Target Global and co-founder and CEO of YPlan, the world’s first mobile-only event booking app that evolved into a comprehensive event discovery and booking platform. Backed by General Catalyst, Octopus Ventures, Wellington Partners, Amex, Ashton Kutcher and others, YPlan was acquired by the Time Out Group in October 2016. Before YPlan, Rytis was Vice President at a growth equity fund Summit Partners, responsible for software and consumer internet investments in Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the UK. Rytis helped source and co-led investments in AVAST Software (a multi-billion $ business and the world’s largest freemium consumer anti-virus company with 400m active users) and Acturis Software (Europe’s largest insurance Software as a Service). As angel investor and advisor, Rytis has backed and supported founders of innovative startups including City Pantry (acquired by Just Eat), Trafi, Roli, Student.com and others. His previous experience includes positions at BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, and SEB VB Asset Management. Rytis holds a bachelor’s degree with distinction from Jacobs University Bremen (Bremen, Germany) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (Boston, MA). Rytis is also a co-author of two educational books, and founder of several youth mentorship projects.
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About Lightspeed Venture Partners: Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that engages in consumer, enterprise, technology, and cleantech markets.
Paul Murphy
Partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners
Paul joined Northzone in 2018 and is based in the London office. His areas of interest are consumer applications and entertainment, and enterprise. He has invested in Klang, Thirty Madison and TIER. Prior to Northzone, Paul worked at mobile games company Dots, behind successes Dots and TwoDots, where he was Co-Founder & CEO. He’s also not new to the investment scene, having been an active seed and angel investor in the New York and West Coast ecosystems, with a dozen investments across consumer and B2B SaaS. Paul has a BS in Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, and an MBA from the IE Business School in Spain, where he is an adjunct Professor.
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About Activate, Blend.io, katch, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Rushmore.fm, Telecast: Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that engages in consumer, enterprise, technology, and cleantech markets.
Shelley Chu
Partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners
Shelley joined Abingworth in 2015 and invests across a broad range of therapeutic areas and stages of development from start-ups to late-stage. She serves on the Board of Directors for Tizona Therapeutics, SFJ Pharmaceuticals and VenatoRx, and co-led Abingworth’s investments in IFM Therapeutics, Inc (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb), IFM Therapeutics LLC and IFM Tre. Shelley has over 15 years of operating and investment experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including most recently Gilead where she led R&D Strategy and Business Development in Oncology, Immunotherapy and Hepatitis B. Previously Shelley invested and co-founded biotechnology companies at Frazier Healthcare Ventures. Earlier in her career she was an investment professional at Flagship Ventures and a management consultant to healthcare and biotech companies at McKinsey. Shelley holds an MD and PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics from UCSF, and received her BA in Molecular Biology from Princeton University. She is a first author of publications in Science and other prominent journals, a Co-Chair of the Princeton Alumni School Committee and a member of the Advisory Committee for BIO’s Investor Forum.
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About Abingworth, Lightspeed Venture Partners: Lightspeed Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that engages in consumer, enterprise, technology, and cleantech markets.
Hiro Tamura
Partner of Atomico
Hiro Tamura is a Partner at Atomico and part of the firm’s leadership team. He focuses on consumer, FinTech, and software as well as leading Atomico’s investments in late stage venture. He led Atomico’s investment into Compass, Clutter, and Masterclass in the U.S., and MessageBird, Framer, and OneTwoTrip in Europe and sits on the boards of Clutter, MessageBird, Gympass, SmartNews, OneTwoTrip, Framer, and Quid. Hiro has over 20 years experience in founding companies, investing into, and helping fast growth technology companies expand internationally as both an investor and an entrepreneur. Prior to joining Atomico, he worked with the Skype founders to help them grow their business in Asia. He also co-founded and was the chief investment officer at SP&W Co for over 5 years. Hiro is a Japanese national with a BA in Economic and International Studies from Northwestern University. He is the only member of the Atomico team to have made investments in every continent, and finds the lifelong relationships he has built with a diverse group of game changing entrepreneurs from around the world to be his greatest reward.
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About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Irina Elena Haivas
Partner of Atomico
Irina Haivas is a Principal. Based in London, she works on sourcing and due diligence of global investment opportunities. Irina focuses on businesses that use advanced technologies such as machine intelligence or robotics and automation, to transform large industries. She also focuses on the intersection of science and technology, including next generation biology, as well as on companies in healthcare. Before joining Atomico, Irina was a growth and PE investor at GHO Capital Partners, where she invested, among others, in enterprise software and AI/ML businesses and focused on the intersection of science, healthcare and technology. Before that, Irina was part of the leadership team of Bain & Co. in Europe and the U.S., where she worked directly both with private equity firms on investment diligence, as well as with corporates on Innovation and Product, Go-to-Market, BD and acquisitions, and organisation scale-up. While at Bain she seconded in an operational role at Medtronic, one of the world’s largest medical engineering companies. Irina is a former surgeon, having studied medicine at Freiburg University in Germany and Iasi Medical University in Romania. She was a surgical fellow at Harvard Medical School before completing an MSc (Dist) in International Health Policy at London School of Economics. Irina speaks Romanian, English, advanced German, and conversational French.
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About Atomico, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL): Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Niall Wass
Partner of Atomico
Niall Wass is a Partner at Atomico focusing on investment opportunities in the consumer space and marketplaces. He is point person for or has worked closely with the teams at Jobandtalent, OnTruck, Lendinvest, Habito, Fat Llama and Lime. He is also Chairman of two other consumer businesses, Glovo and Trouva. Previously, Niall spent over 15 years as an executive in early-stage tech-enabled consumer businesses. He was part of the Executive Team at Uber, COO and CEO at Wonga – the consumer finance business – and for many years, he was at Betfair – the sports betting marketplace
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About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Camilla Richards
Partner & Head of Investor Relations of Atomico
Camilla is Partner and Head of Investor Relations at Atomico based in London. She oversees fundraising and the firm’s relationships with its investors globally. Before joining Atomico, Camilla spent six years at Apollo Management where she was most recently responsible for investor relations and fundraising for European Principal Finance Funds. She has also held several roles at Citigroup as part of the Private Equity Placements and Technology, Media and Telecoms Corporate Finance groups. Camilla graduated from Imperial College London with an MSci in Physics.
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About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Chris Barnes
Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Atomico
Chris is Partner & Chief Operating Officer at Atomico. Based in London, he works across all aspects of Atomico’s operations. He oversees portfolio management, fund management, investor relations, resource allocation, finance, legal and HR. Chris joined the company after thirteen years at private equity company Terra Firma, where he was CFO and a member of the Investment and Management Committees. While at Terra Firma, Chris was involved in the structuring, funding and execution of all of the portfolio investments, as well as the management of the firm’s operations. Prior to Terra Firma, Chris worked in the Private Equity group at Arthur Andersen for 10 years. Chris is a Chartered Accountant and has a Double First in Economics and History from Cambridge University. He ran his first (and last) marathon at age 12, which may explain why he now has a titanium hip and the knees of a ninety year old. A talented footballer in his youth, Chris gave up the chance of a playing career in the top flight to follow his dream of becoming an accountant.
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About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Tom Wehmeier
Partner | Head of Research of Atomico
Tom is a Partner and Head of Insights at Atomico. Tom’s mission at Atomico is to share data and insights with the team to help us to make better, data-driven decisions and to have more insightful conversations with their key stakeholders. Tom is also the author of Atomico’s annual State of European Tech report. Prior to joining Atomico, Tom was a telecoms analyst for eight years during a period of huge change in the industry. Tom assures us that telecoms is fascinating, despite the reputation, and often reminds their team that without connectivity and smartphones so much of what is happening in today’s tech industry simply wouldn’t be possible. One summer, Tom decided to try his hand at teaching English and, after qualifying with distinction, went on to teach English in Oxford to students from all around the world. Fortunately, his English is much better than his French, German and Spanish, although he claims to get by in all of them.
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About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Bryce Keane
Head of Communications & Partner of Atomico
Bryce is a Partner and Head of Communications at Atomico, where he has worked with the leadership of companies such as Klarna, Lilium, Truecaller, MessageBird, Peakon, Varjo, Bossa Studios and Memphis Meats to help them tell their stories to a global audience. Prior to joining Atomico, Bryce founded his own communications agency, Albion Drive, where he worked with entrepreneurs and fast growth companies to build their brands and reputations. The company was acquired by New York ad agency KBS just two years after it was founded, and Bryce remained Managing Partner until October 2016. An active, long-term supporter of technology start-ups, Bryce has also been embedded in the international startup community for many years as Co-founder of 3Beards – which he helped scale into 51 cities and counting via their popular Friday night tech community meet-up event Silicon Drinkabout – and as a mentor at 500 Startups and Seedcamp. Bryce also once played a US Marine as an extra on the Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced WWII mini-series The Pacific. His performance convinced him that a career in Communications was probably a better idea.
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About Albion Drive, Atomico, Cohn & Wolfe: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Caroline Chayot
Partner of Atomico
Caroline Chayot is a Partner at Atomico, where she helps portfolio companies hire, develop and retain the best talent in Europe – a key factor in the success of any fast-growing business. Prior to joining Atomico Caroline led the EMEA HR team at Twitter, where she supported the leadership team in scaling the business from two to six markets and grew the team from 80 based in London to 500 across the region. She partnered with Twitter EMEA’s leaders on strategic people issues, from expansion strategy to change management. Prior to that she worked at Google in HR for 9 years. Caroline holds a double Masters degree in Business and Management from ISC Paris and Kansai Gaidai University in Japan. Outside of work, you’ll find Caroline feeding her fitness obsession at high-intensity workouts or sharing the latest fashion with her followers as a secret Instagram influencer. She won’t share her alias, though, so good luck finding her.
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About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Dan Hynes
Partner of Atomico
Dan is a Partner and Head of Talent at Atomico, based in London. Passionate about people and building teams, he brings his extensive global experience in technology talent and staffing to help portfolio companies find, grow and keep the best employees in their respective fields – a key factor in the success of any fast-growing business. He is currently on the board of OnTruck, the Madrid-based logistics and transport company. Dan has helped gamechanging companies including 6Wunderkinder, Omio, Gympass, Klarna, Lilium, MessageBird, Supercell, Truecaller and Varjo strengthen their leadership teams, build recruitment processes, build manager effectiveness programmes, design compensation programmes and create internal communications plans. Prior to joining Atomico, Dan was responsible for talent and staffing at some of the world’s best-known technology companies including Google, Cisco and Skype. At Google, he grew the EMEA team from 60 based in London to 8500 across Europe by 2010, and at Skype he led the Talent team that scaled from 600 to 2300 in three years. Dan is a modest guy so you would never know that he is a Guinness World Record holder for the world’s largest syrtaki dance in Rhodes 2008.
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About Atomico: Atomico is an international investment firm that focuses on helping disruptive technology companies scale globally.
Javier Etxebeste
Limited Partner (Founders Group) of The Fund
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About The Fund: A community-driven venture fund comprised of leading global founders & operators
Simon Murdoch
Managing Partner of Episode 1
Simon set up online bookstore Bookpages in 1996 and sold it to Amazon in 1998. As VP Europe for Amazon, he managed huge growth from start-up through to multimillion turnover and hundreds of staff. As an Angel investor, he has invested in Shazam, been chairman of VideoIsland (now merged with and renamed LoveFilm, and purchased in Feb 2011 by Amazon.com), Zoopla! and Shutl (currently chairman). Simon founded and funded FriendsAbroad.com, a social network for developing language skills and contacts abroad which was successfully sold to Lesson Nine GmbH, operators of language learning site Babbel.com. Simon is currently CEO of StormForward, an e-commerce conversion consultancy which helpsonline retailers to increase their online sales and profits.
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About Episode 1, StormForward: Episode1 Ventures is a venture capital fund set up to invest in early-stage technology companies based in London, UK.
Paul McNabb
Venture Partner of Episode 1
Paul has had a highly successful career in high tech as both a senior executive and an entrepreneur. Most recently, he served as the Chief Strategy Officer for Cisco Services, a $12bn division of Cisco, where he led the global strategy and acquisitions team. Previously he had run a series of global businesses for Cisco. As an entrepreneur he founded and exited two businesses in the US, one an innovative consulting firm sold to Cambridge Technology Partners, and the second a B2B Social Network for CIOs sold to Earthweb. His early background was in consulting, working for Accenture and other major international consulting firms, including his own. He has worked in venture capital in the US, and has broad experience in many B2B technologies. He has also worked globally, living in Shanghai, New York, San Francisco and multiple European Countries. With a passion for strategy and marketing, and an extensive network of contacts and experience to draw on, Paul enjoys nothing better than working with entrepreneurs to tease out the goals and priorities they need to operationalize their vision.
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About Episode 1, Opteran: Episode1 Ventures is a venture capital fund set up to invest in early-stage technology companies based in London, UK.
Adrian Lloyd
Partner of Episode 1
Adrian Lloyd is a Partner at Episode 1, an early stage Venture Capital fund focusing on software enabled businesses with the beginnings of customer traction. Adrian has had a career as a management consultant and entrepreneur, with a gap at Stanford Business School in 2008-10 where he earned his MBA. He focuses on customer-centric product and business design as an investor and you can read more of his thoughts at http://www.episode1.com/news-and-blog/blog Adrian has been investing in software businesses since 2008.
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About Episode 1: Episode1 Ventures is a venture capital fund set up to invest in early-stage technology companies based in London, UK.
Damien Lane
Co-Founder & Partner of Episode 1
Damien Lane has spent the last 20 years investing in private companies, both in Private Equity where he was a partner with Electra Partners, then at Octopus Ventures where he was a senior member of the investment team. Having made a number of angel investments, Damien co-founded Episode 1 with Simon and Adrian in 2012. While at Episode 1, Damien has led investments in Carwow, Scurri, Touch Surgery, Attest and Zipcube and loves working with early stage teams of entrepreneurs; helping them develop their early stage startup into a fast growth enterprises capable of raising more funding from later stage investors. When he is not trying to help businesses to implement an optimal approach to growth, Damien can mostly be found running around Hampstead Heath or the Coastal paths of Great Britain. Having trained obsessively to run a 2:52 Marathon in 2015, he is now trying to dip below 2:50, in the spirit of continuous improvement. Damien has an MBA from Cambridge University and a Masters degree in PE from Oxford University.
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About Adludio, Episode 1, Scurri: Episode1 Ventures is a venture capital fund set up to invest in early-stage technology companies based in London, UK.
Matt Blanks
VP MasterCard Enterprise Partnerships of Mastercard
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About Mastercard: Mastercard provides payment processing products and solutions, and related consulting services.
Carlos Menendez
President, Enterprise Partnerships of Mastercard
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About Mastercard: Mastercard provides payment processing products and solutions, and related consulting services.
Pamir Gelenbe
Venture Partner of Hummingbird Ventures
Pamir is a Managing Partner at Libertus Capital and invests on decentralised systems, entreprise blockchain, and digital assets. He is an investor in Kraken, Ledger, Crypto Facilities and Shapeshift. Previously, he served as a Partner at Hummingbird Ventures, and also worked at Morgan Stanley and D.E. Shaw. Pamir graduated from Duke University and Columbia University with a BSc. in Electrical Engineering and MSc. in Operations Research.
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About CryptoFacilities, Gram Games, Hummingbird Ventures, Libertus Capital, On Device Research, ShapeShift: Hummingbird Ventures is a venture capital fund for high-growth digital media and software companies.
Firat Ileri
Partner of Hummingbird Ventures
Firat is a Partner at Hummingbird Ventures. His current portfolio includes Armut, Argent, Aspire, Billiontoone, Brigit, Ciceksepeti, Instacarro, Kernal Biologics and Layer. He previously worked with Frontier Car Group, Gram Games, Peak Games and Merlin prior to their acquisition. He is interested in marketplaces, frontier tech, fintech and gaming. Previously, he worked at J.P. Morgan at the Emerging Markets Structuring and Solutions group. He received B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Management Science and a Master of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.
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About Hummingbird Ventures, Layer: Hummingbird Ventures is a venture capital fund for high-growth digital media and software companies.
Tom Hulme
General Partner of GV
Tom is a general partner at Google Ventures. Previously, Tom was a design director at IDEO Europe, where he founded OpenIDEO, an open innovation platform that has over 150,000 users from more than 170 countries. Tom also launched OIEngine, an online platform for IDEO clients, including Harvard Business School and the Knight Foundation. Before IDEO, Tom was managing director of Marcos, a British sports car manufacturer. As a serial entrepreneur, Tom also founded Magnom, a magnetic filter startup. Tom’s filter designs have been widely used in Formula One, Superbikes, JCB loaders, and central heating systems. Tom has been recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and has been featured in WIRED UK’s Top 100 Digital Power Brokers list every year since the list has been published. He has also been included in the Evening Standard list of London’s 1000 Most Influential People. Tom earned a first class bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Bristol, and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he received the Baker Scholar Award of high distinction. Tom has also received an honorary doctorate from University Arts London.
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About GV: GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies.
Lauren Powell
Administrative Business Partner of GV
Prior to joining GV in 2016, Lauren was an executive assistant at Barclays Investment Bank in London. Previously, she lived in Sydney, where she worked as an executive assistant at Gallup Consulting, a behavioral-economics consultancy, and Lidis Group, a boutique private-equity firm specializing in real estate.
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About GV: GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies.
Vidu Shanmugarajah
Partner of GV
Vidu Shanmugarajah is a Partner at GV.
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About GV: GV provides venture capital funding to bold new companies.
Ophelia Brown
Founder & Partner of Blossom Capital
Ophelia is the founder of Blossom Capital, an early stage venture fund that brings a wholly differentiated approach to investing. Blossom makes a small number of high conviction investments each year, which allows the team to work closely with their companies, helping them achieve their ambitious goals. Fascinated by user behaviour and design, Ophelia loves worked with founders with strong product DNA and design-oriented teams. Previously Ophelia was a GP at LocalGlobe and a principal at Index Ventures where her investments included Typeform and Robinhood. Ophelia is also the founder of ALT “Ambitious Ladies in Tech” – a mentor programme that matches junior women in technology start-ups with senior functional leaders to provide them with valuable coaching, skills development and networking. The network includes executives from some of the world’s leading tech companies like Amazon, Airbnb, Facebook, Google, Uber and many more.
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About Big Health, Blossom Capital: Blossom Capital is a venture capital and private equity firm that invests in consumer, enterprise, internet, and startup sectors.
Imran Ghory
Partner of Blossom Capital
Imran Ghory is a Partner at Blossom Capital focusing on Series A investments in Europe. Before joining Blossom Capital, Imran built his career focused on the data driven analysis of companies, both private and public. This included starting one of the first data-driven deal sourcing practices in venture capital at Index Ventures and leading engineering and data science teams at fintech companies including Bloomberg and MarketInvoice.
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About Blossom Capital: Blossom Capital is a venture capital and private equity firm that invests in consumer, enterprise, internet, and startup sectors.
Aviad Eyal
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Entrée Capital
Aviad Eyal is the co-founder and Managing Partner at Entree Capital.
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About Empathy, Entrée Capital, SeatGeek, Stash Financial: Entrée Capital is a venture capital firm that funds multi-stage startups and companies all over the world.
David Abrams
Partner of Cerberus Capital Management
David Abrams joined Cerberus in 2016 after eight years as the founder and Managing Partner of the Apollo European Principal Finance Funds franchise which acquired distressed debt, real estate and non-performing loans. Previously, David Abrams spent 15 years in Credit Suisse’s Leveraged Finance Group analyzing and investing in corporate credit, distressed assets and European Non-Performing Loan portfolios. David Abrams graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
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About Cerberus Capital Management: Cerberus Capital Management is a private investment firm that focuses on operational private equity investments.
Saul Klein
Partner & Co-Founder of LocalGlobe
Saul is a Founding Partner at Localglobe, a new seed fund focussed on helping London’s great most ambitious founders build game changing businesses. Previously, Saul was a Partner at Index Ventures from 2007 until May 2015. In 2012 David Cameron appointed Saul to be the UK’s first tech envoy to Israel and a Technology Business Ambassador. Saul is serial entrepreneur with two decades of experience building and exiting companies in the US, Israel and Europe. He has a passion for working with seed and early stage businesses. Most recently Saul co-founded Kano and Seedcamp, as well as a co-founder and original CEO of Lovefilm International (acquired by Amazon). He was also part of the original executive team at Skype (acquired by eBay).
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About Kano, Latitude, LocalGlobe, OpenCoffee Club, Platoon, Seedcamp, The Accelerator Group, Zinc.VC: LocalGlobe is a venture capital firm that focuses on seed and impact investments.
Remus Brett
Partner of LocalGlobe
Remus Brett is an Investment Partner at LocalGlobe.
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About LocalGlobe: LocalGlobe is a venture capital firm that focuses on seed and impact investments.
George Henry
General Partner of LocalGlobe
George Henry is Early-stage investor and Partner at Localglobe.
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About Latitude, LocalGlobe, Sandbox Network: LocalGlobe is a venture capital firm that focuses on seed and impact investments.
Suzanne Ashman Blair
General Partner of LocalGlobe
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About LocalGlobe: LocalGlobe is a venture capital firm that focuses on seed and impact investments.
Emma Phillips
Investment Partner of LocalGlobe
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About Latitude, LocalGlobe, Meals For The NHS, SVB Financial Group: LocalGlobe is a venture capital firm that focuses on seed and impact investments.
Michael Mashkautsan
Partner of LocalGlobe
Mish Mashkautsan is the General Partner at LocalGlobe and Latitude. He also serves as a mentor at Creative Destruction Labs.
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Latitude, LocalGlobe: LocalGlobe is a venture capital firm that focuses on seed and impact investments.
Julia Hawkins
Partner of LocalGlobe
Julia Hawkins is a Partner at LocalGlobe. Previously, Julia worked at Goldman Sachs, Last.fm, BBC Worldwide and most recently Universal Music where she set up their Corporate Venture arm and led investments in ROLI and Sofar Sounds among others. Julia enjoys working with mission driven founders and has a keen interest in consumer, entertainment, media and health tech from wellness to genomics. She holds a 1st from LSE, is a Kauffman Fellow and Board Trustee of Shwachman Diamond Syndrome UK, a charity dedicated to finding a cure for SDS, a rare genetic disease. https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliahawkins01/
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), LocalGlobe: LocalGlobe is a venture capital firm that focuses on seed and impact investments.
Arnaud van der Wyck
Partner, Strategic Capital and Market Development of Sway Ventures
Arnaud van der Wyck is a specialist in identifying, creating and developing cross-border relationships, investment opportunities and solutions for investors and entrepreneurs across the alternative asset class spectrum. Arnaud has been a Partner of Sway Ventures since its inception, based in London and focusses on: building strategic ecosystems between the US and EMEA, on hands on engagement and commercialisation, revenue and exit pathway efforts and on IT software investing in EMEA. Arnaud gained his first experience as an investment banker within the technology team at UBS and subsequently as an entrepreneur and founder of several businesses and start-ups including Capital Alliance Partners, Voxxcom and Riva Asset Management.
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About Concrete Venture Capital, Sway Ventures: Sway Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in early to mid-stage technology companies.
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.
Perry Blacher
Partner of Augmentum Fintech
Perry Blacher is a Partner at Augmentum Fintech.
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About Augmentum Fintech, Freetrade: Augmentum Fintech is a FinTech fund that invests in early and later-stage FinTech companies.
Richard Matthews
COO and Partner of Augmentum Fintech
Richard has 17 years venture capital and private equity experience in the technology, retail and leisure sectors on both sides of the fence. Having studied economics at the University of Manchester, Richard started his career as a Chartered Accountant at Coopers & Lybrand before leaving in 1999 to join Tim at Flutter.com (now Betfair) as CFO. In 2002 following the merger with Betfair he left to join Benchmark Capital Europe (now Balderton Capital), one of the early investors in Betfair. At Benchmark he worked on early stage technology investments both in the investment phase and assisting the investee companies post funding. He then joined Manzanita Capital in 2005, where he spent 5 years investing in the retail and leisure sectors globally before leaving to form Augmentum Capital. In 2018 Richard and Tim successfully launched Augmentum Fintech on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, in the process becoming the first Fintech focused public VC in Europe. Away from the office Richard enjoys spending time with his family, watching Arsenal and playing golf, though in the case of the latter 2 the word “enjoys” is used in its loosest sense.
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About Augmentum Fintech: Augmentum Fintech is a FinTech fund that invests in early and later-stage FinTech companies.
Martyn Holman
Partner of Augmentum Fintech
Martyn Holman is an experienced investor and influential business leader with a proven track record in serial business development, strategy and finance.
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About Augmentum Fintech, Flutter Entertainment, Linkdex: Augmentum Fintech is a FinTech fund that invests in early and later-stage FinTech companies.
Samir Abhyankar
Partner of TPG Growth
Prior to joining TPG Growth in 2015, Mr. Abhyankar was a Partner with Satya Capital where he focused on IT, consumer, financial services and retail investments. Previously Mr. Abhyankar spent 6 years at Citi Venture Capital International where he was responsible for its African investment activities and CDC Group where he was the Director of Strategy. He was formerly a management consultant with Marakon Associates.
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About TPG Growth: TPG Growth specializes in growth equity and middle-market buyout opportunities.
Jide Olanrewaju
Partner of TPG Growth
Prior to joining TPG Growth in 2015, Mr. Olanrewaju was a Partner with Satya Capital, an Africa investment fund, where he worked for 6 years focused on transactions in the Healthcare, Consumer and Financial Services sectors. Previously, Mr. Olanrewaju was at Morgan Stanley for over 6 years where he worked in both the Merchant Banking and Investment Banking Divisions. Before joining Morgan Stanley, he also worked briefly at Goldman Sachs and Shell International in Investment Banking and Gas & Power respectively.
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About Evercare, TPG Growth: TPG Growth specializes in growth equity and middle-market buyout opportunities.
Toby Coppel
Co-Founder & Partner of Mosaic
Toby Coppel is a Co-Founder and Partner at Mosaic Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm based in London. Toby has been in investing and operating roles in the internet sector since 1996. Prior to Mosaic, as a Partner at Virgin and an active angel investor over the past 4 years, Toby has made investments in companies such as Criteo, CreativeLive, Hailo, Pinterest and Transferwise and served on boards including Criteo, Virgin Care, Virgin Galactic, and Virgin Mobile (France). Toby was previously Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Strategy Officer at Yahoo! from 2001-2007 where he led the team that invested $1 billion into Alibaba for a 40% ownership stake in 2005 and acquired over 30 startups including Flickr, Inktomi, and Overture, for an aggregate of over $4 billion. Toby also ran Yahoo!’s European operations from 2007-2009, a $1 billion division of Yahoo! with over 2,000 employees. Prior to this, Toby was an Internet Investor at Windsor Media and Allen & Company and was a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs. Toby earned his MBA in Entrepreneurship from Harvard Business School and his M.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from University of Oxford.
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About Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Mosaic: We back founders who are reimagining the world. We invest $1-10m early, in those building daring adventures across Europe.
Simon Levene
Partner & Co-Founder of Mosaic
Simon Levene is a co-founder and partner of London’s Mosaic Ventures, the Series A focused venture capital firm with over $300M under management. He has spent 20+ years in tech on both sides of the Atlantic, in operations and VC. Notable investments include early bets on Etsy and Squarespace, each now worth several billion. Simon founded Mosaic alongside partner Toby Coppel in 2014, in order to bring their strong Silicon Valley networks and top-level experience to help Europe-based entrepreneurs that have global ambition. Simon began his career on the west coast, co-founding the international business of @Home Network (later Excite@Home). From 2001, Simon spent four years as VP Corp Dev for Yahoo!, moving back to Europe as the continent’s tech ecosystem was gaining momentum. As a VC, Simon joined Accel London as a partner in 2006. During his time at Accel, and later as an angel and venture partner at Index, Simon invested at Series A in Squarespace, Myheritage, ResearchGate, Shapeways, Appcard, Knewton, and Enfore; as well as Etsy and Fotolia at Series B. At Mosaic, Simon focuses on platforms, marketplaces, consumer services, consumerized SaaS and crypto/blockchain. He has led investments in Convoy, Nexar, Blockstream, Veriff, Lyvly and Clue.
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About CHECK24, Clue, Convoy, Docker, Etsy, Gameforge, Mosaic, MultiChain, ShipServ: We back founders who are reimagining the world. We invest $1-10m early, in those building daring adventures across Europe.
Reza Halse
Partner, RA Ventures of RA Capital Management
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About MRL Ventures Fund, RA Capital Management: RA Capital Management is an investment advisor specializing in the life-sciences and drug development sectors.
Ruth Foxe Blader
Partner of Anthemis Group
Ruth Foxe Blader is a Partner at Anthemis. Prior to joining, she led venture investing in Insurtech and Asset Management at Allianz, where she spent more than 5 years bridging the gap between Allianz and the emerging technology ecosystem. Ruth has spent her entire career guiding digital transformation at Fortune 500 companies, previously leading PepsiCo’s global digital and social strategies, and running the European subsidiary of a New York digital agency. Ruth obtained a Masters in Criminology at CUNY-John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and joint Bachelors in English and German literature at the University of Iowa.wa.
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About Anthemis Group, UniCredit EVO: Anthemis Group is a global platform that cultivates change in the financial system by investing in, growing, and sustaining businesses.
Vica Epifantseva-Manos
Partner of Anthemis Group
One of the original members of the Group, Vica brings a profound understanding of the financial services and fintech space, particularly payments, retail and investment banking. Passionate about catalysing change in the financial services landscape of the Digital Age, she works with large corporates and start-ups alike to formulate strategies that drive growth through innovation. Before joining Anthemis, Vica was an Investment Banker at Credit Suisse, where she focused on leveraged finance. In the Portfolio Management Group, she ran a $1.5bn debt portfolio with a main focus on the media and infrastructure sectors. Prior to that, during her time in the Financial Sponsors Group, Vica executed leveraged buy-out transactions across a variety of industries. Born in St. Petersburg, raised in Athens, educated in Milan and now living in London, Vica has a diverse, international background. She graduated summa cum laude from Bocconi University and is fluent in four languages (and can manage in French too). She has a wicked sense of humour and also serves as our resident fashion advisor!
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About Anthemis Group, Anthemis Group: Anthemis Group is a global platform that cultivates change in the financial system by investing in, growing, and sustaining businesses.
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.
Naoshir Vachha
Partner, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer of Anthemis Group
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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.
Catherine Macdonald
HR Business Partner of Anthemis Group
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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.
Salim Nathoo
Partner – Tech & Telco Team of Apax Partners
Salim Nathoo is a Partner in the Tech & Telco team and is based in London. Salim joined Apax Partners in 1999 specialising in the Tech & Telecom space. Salim has both led and participated in a number of key deals including Zensar Technologies, EVRY, GlobalLogic, iGATE, Orange Switzerland, Sophos, SMART Technologies, Weather Investments, Tim Hellas, Inmarsat, Promethean and Mobifon. Salim has served as an Advisor and Member of the Board of Directors to a number of Apax portfolio companies including EVRY, GlobalLogic, iGATE, Orange Switzerland, Sophos, SMART Technologies, Weather Investments, Tim Hellas and Promethean. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Salim was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company where he specialised in advising clients in the telecom sector. Salim holds an MBA from INSEAD and an MA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Giancarlo Aliberti
Partner of Apax Partners
Giancarlo Aliberti is a Partner in the Tech & Telecom team and joined the firm in 2000, based in London. He currently leads Apax activities in Italy, Turkey and Greece and is Head of Human Capital for the firm overseeing HR Policy. He has both led and participated in a number of key deals including Weather Investments, Farmafactoring, Tim Hellas and Sisal. He is a director on the boards of Farmafactoring and Sisal and previously served on the boards of Azimut and Tim Hellas. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Giancarlo was a Senior Vice President at Monitor Company, where he specialised in telecommunications and consulting support to private equity firms. He also worked at Montedison in a staff function supporting the President of the company. Giancarlo holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a summa cum laude degree in Economics from University of Rome
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Rohan Haldea
Partner of Apax Partners
Rohan Haldea is a Principal in the Tech & Telecom team. Rohan joined Apax in 2007 and is based in the London office. He has both led and participated in a number of key deals including iGATE, Tivit S.A. and Orange Switzerland. Rohan has also been actively involved in portfolio work at NXP Semiconductors. Rohan serves as a Director on the Board of Orange Switzerland. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Rohan was an Associate at Bain Capital in their North American private equity division in New York, where he specialised in evaluating and executing transactions in the Industrial, Distribution and Retail sectors. Prior to that, Rohan was a consultant at McKinsey and Co. in India. Rohan holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Technology in Manufacturing Sciences and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Mark Beith
Partner of Apax Partners
Mark Beith is Managing Director of Apax Digital and leads the team in Europe. He focuses on minority and buyout investments in high-growth software, internet and tech-enabled services businesses. He joined Apax in 2017 and has over 13 years of experience. He is based in London. Prior to joining Apax, Mark was at Silver Lake, where he executed the acquisition of several software businesses. He has also invested in early stage technology businesses across Europe, Asia and Africa. Previously, Mark was at Apollo Global Management, where he executed private equity and credit investments across a range of sectors, and before that he was a member of the European and UK M&A teams at Morgan Stanley. Mark holds an M.A. in History from the University of Cambridge.
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About Apax Partners, Silver Lake: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Emilio Voli
Partner and Co Head of the Investor Relations team. of Apax Partners
Emilio Voli is a Partner and Co Head of the Investor Relations team. He joined Apax Partners in 2001 as a Partner in the Milan office and was involved in the investments in Azimut and PVH/Calvin Klein. In 2006, Emilio moved to London to lead Investor Relations. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Emilio was a consultant at McKinsey and Value Partners, where he managed the Latin American operations from Sao Paulo. Previously, he worked at Goldman Sachs in London and New York. Emilio holds a first class honours degree in History from Peterhouse, Cambridge and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Arthur Brothag
Partner of Apax Partners
Arthur Brothag is a Principal and joined Apax Partners in 2009. He is a member of the Healthcare team and is based in the Munich office. Arthur has participated in a number of key deals, including KCI and Unilabs. He is serving as an Observer on the KCI board and as a board member of Unilabs. Prior to joining Apax, Arthur worked at the private equity firm Warburg Pincus in London, where he focused on European healthcare. Before that, he was a member of Morgan Stanley’s healthcare M&A team in London. Arthur trained as a medical doctor with a state diploma and a doctorate from the Technical University of Munich; he held resident positions at University hospitals in Germany and Switzerland in internal medicine (cardiology and oncology). In addition to his medical and research training, he also completed his MBA studies with distinction at INSEAD Business School.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Frank Ehmer
Partner of Apax Partners
Frank Ehmer is a Partner in the Financial and Business Services Team. He is based in London and is focusing on global Business Services opportunities. Frank originally joined Apax Partners in 2000 in Munich and has been part of the Media Team previously. He has been involved in a number of key deals including Garda, Tommy Hilfiger, TIM Hellas, Top Right Group, CME, Tropolys and authentos. He has served as board member to a number of Apax portfolio companies including Garda, Tommy Hilfiger, TIM Hellas, Top Right Group, CME and authentos. Frank holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Diploma in business administration from the University of Mannheim.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Tom Hall
Partner of Apax Partners
Tom Hall is a Partner and Co Head of the Media team. Since joining the firm in 1998, Tom has been based in the London office and has focused primarily on media investments. Tom has both led and participated in a number of key deals including The Stationery Office, Zeneus Pharma and Thomson Directories. He has served as advisor and board member to a number of Apax portfolio companies including Truvo, Trader Media Group and SouFun. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Tom was a Media Analyst at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and he began his career with S.G. Warburg, also as a Media Analyst. Tom holds an MA in English Literature from Trinity College, Cambridge.
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About Apax Partners, Baltic Classifieds Group, Next: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Gabriele Cipparrone
Partner of Apax Partners
Gabriele Cipparrone is a Partner in the Tech & Telecom team. Gabriele joined Apax Partners in 2003 and is based in London after having worked in the Milan office for four years. He has participated in a number of key deals including Orange Switzerland, Weather Investments, TDC, Sisal and Farmafactoring. He serves as a board member of Orange Switzerland, Sisal and Farmafactoring. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Gabriele was a consultant with McKinsey & Company where he specialised in advising clients in the telecom and utility sectors, and he also spent a brief period at Soros. Gabriele holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino and an MS in Industrial Engineering from École Centrale de Paris.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Mark Zubko
Partner of Apax Partners
Mark Zubko joined Apax Partners in 2010 and is a principal leading the Capital Markets Team. His Apax investing experience includes iGATE, Epicor, autotrader.ca, Kinetic Concepts, Orange Switzerland, Paradigm, Cole Haan, Takko and Unilabs. Prior to joining Apax, Mark was at Terra Firma Capital Partners and prior to that worked at Goldman, Sachs and Co. and MidOcean Capital Partners. Mark holds an MBA from Stanford University and has a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Francisco Menjibar
Partner of Apax Partners
Francisco Menjibar is a Senior Associate in the Tech & Telecom group. He joined the company in 2010 and is based in the London office. He has participated in a number of key deals including Orange Switzerland. Francisco has also been actively involved in portfolio work at King. He is currently an observer on the boards of King and Orange Switzerland. Prior experience includes Magnum Industrial Partners and Oliver Wyman, where he specialised in advising clients in the telecom sector. Francisco holds an MSc in Computer Science from Centro Politecnico Superior de Zaragoza (Spain) and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Fundacion Caja Madrid scholar, Honors).
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Ralf Gruss
Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Apax Partners
Ralf Gruss is Chief Operating Officer. He is a former member of the Financial & Business Services team and is based in London. Ralf’s deal experience includes: Kabel Deutschland, LR Health and Beauty Systems, IFCO Systems, and Netrada Holding where he also served as advisor and board member. Prior to joining Apax Partners Ralf was a consultant with Arthur D. Little International Inc, where he specialised in advising clients in the Financial Services sector. Ralf holds a diploma in industrial engineering and business administration from the Technical University in Karlsruhe. He also studied at the University of Massachusetts and the London School of Economics.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
Simon Cresswell
Partner of Apax Partners
Simon Cresswell is a Partner and the General Counsel of Apax Partners. He is based in the London office and joined the firm in February 2011. Prior to joining Apax Partners, Simon worked for Goldman Sachs. Prior to that, Simon worked for the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York and London and for Mallesons in Melbourne, Australia. Simon holds an LLB (Hons) from The University of Melbourne and a BBus in Finance and Accounting from Edith Cowan University.
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About Apax Partners: Apax Partners is an independent global partnership focused solely on long-term investment in growth companies.
