Accelerate: The UK Venture Conference

Alex Leigh

Managing Director (National), Future Planet Capital

Alex Leigh is a Managing Director (National) at Future Planet Capital, where he leads investments into high-impact deep tech companies supporting national security and defence. With over two decades of experience across venture capital, private equity, and startups, he has worked closely with founders on fundraising, scaling, and exits.

Alex serves on multiple investment committees, has transacted numerous successful exits, and is passionate about backing mission-driven technologies addressing critical global challenges.

Andreas Schmidt

Principal, Multiple Capital

Andreas Schmidt is a Principal at Multiple Capital, where he invests in early-stage micro-VC funds, emerging managers and solo-GPs across Europe and the US. He has backed about 40 VC funds since joining Multiple Capital 5 years ago.

Angela Chou

Investor, Felix Capital

Angela Chou is an Investor at Felix Capital. She works with many of Felix's consumer portfolio companies, including HOLY, Lanch, PerfectTed, Lassie, and a few unannounced AI investments. Angela joined Felix Capital in 2020 from Meta, where she was a Product Marketing Manager for Facebook’s first SaaS product, Workplace. Prior to Meta, she was a part of the eBay UK team. Angela started her career at McKinsey in Taipei and London.  

Ashish Aggarwal

Partner, Paypal Ventures

Ashish Aggarwal is a Partner at PayPal Ventures (“PPV”), and one of the founding members of the platform. Based in London, he leads the coverage for EMEA + APAC. Key portfolio companies include Tabby (Consumer BNPL), Pliant (B2B Payments), Stitch (Enterprise PSP), Modulr (Payments as a Service), PPRO (Alternative Payment Methods), Mintoak (Payments Software) among others.

Prior to PayPal, he covered Fintech advisory (M&A and IPOs) at Deutsche Bank London for five years with focus on merchant acquiring, foreign exchange platforms and market infrastructure sectors. 

Barry Downes

Managing Partner, SVV (Sure Valley Ventures)

Barry Downes is a founder-operator turned investor and Managing Partner of SVV (Sure Valley Ventures), which he founded in 2017. Before venture capital, he was the CEO of the Walton Institute, a leading academic AI research lab, and a serial founder who built and exited technology companies, including FeedHenry, which was acquired by Red Hat. 

Ben Blume

Partner, Atomico

Ben Blume is a Partner on the Investment Team at Atomico, where he leads early-stage investments in AI-driven enterprise automation across functions, and vertical solutions for complex, real-world industries, including platforms that combine software and hardware.

Ben has a strong interest in sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare, where impact is tangible and measurable. Atomico partners with ambitious tech founders at the earliest stages through to IPO. 

Callum Stewart

Principal, Bullhound Capital

Callum Stewart is a Principal at Bullhound Capital. He joined the firm after finishing his PhD at the University of Cambridge, where he worked on developing semiconductor materials that could one-day underpin the quantum internet. Topics covered in his academic career were varied and broad, ranging from quantum and battery materials to data science and photonics.

He’s published high impact papers, receiving >150 citations and spoken at a host of the leading academic conferences in his field. Callum covers deep tech more broadly in the team, he has led the firms investments in Q-CTRL, d-Matrix, Multiverse, and Quantum Systems. 

Carmine Circelli

Senior Director, Life Sciences, British Business Bank

Carmine Circelli joined British Business Bank in January 2021 from the Northern VCTs, a generalist scaleup investor, where he focused on life sciences investments. Prior to this Carmine was an Investment Executive in the technology ventures team at the Development Bank of Wales.

He also has university intellectual property commercialisation experience from his time with Cambridge Enterprise. Carmine holds a PhD in Cardiovascular Medicine from the University of Manchester. Within his current role as Investment Director, Life Sciences in the Bank’s Direct and Co-investment team, he has led the development of direct life sciences investment at the Bank, building a portfolio of 18 companies. 

Charlotte Barttelot

Partner, MMC Ventures

Charlotte Barttelot is a Partner at MMC Ventures, a leading European VC backing early-stage technology companies. MMC is a research-led fund with one of Europe’s largest AI portfolios, investing across enterprise software, cloud and data infrastructure, fintech and digital health. MMC has backed companies including Synthesia, Blackwall, Copper and Signal AI.

Charlotte has over 10 years’ experience investing in enterprise software and leads Health & Bio at MMC. She focuses on companies applying AI, advanced data science and medical innovation to improve patient outcomes, healthcare efficiency, and deepen scientific understanding. Example investments include Wawa Fertility, Sano Genetics, XUND and Synteny. 

Chloe Dagnell

Principal, Isomer Capital

Chloe Dagnell runs Isomer’s new fund manager pipeline, as well as co-managing a separate fund vehicle for a sole LP. She also as leads Isomer’s research into climate & ESG. Previously, Chloe worked in consulting, helping the World Bank to set up an accelerator and running a tech for good fund with the UK government.

This included an accelerator whereby she was responsible for entrepreneur experience and leveraging investor and mentor engagement, and a programme whereby Chloe supported the management of a fund for technology-for-development startups.

Chloe holds a degree in International Politics from Queen’s University Belfast.

Chris Elphick

Head of Venture Capital, UK Private Capital

Chris Elphick is Head of Venture Capital at UK Private Capital. He leads on all policy areas related to venture capital and works closely with UK Private Capital members to promote the role the industry plays in the UK economy by supporting entrepreneurs and businesses.

Chris is a member of the Independent Advisory Board for the Government’s Digital Growth Grant (delivered by Barclays Eagle Labs) and is an adviser to the APPG for Entrepreneurship.

Claudia Rowe

Principal, Balderton Capital

Claudia Rowe leads growth stage investments at Balderton Capital. She moved to London in 2022 to join Balderton's investment team. Prior to Balderton, Claudia worked in NYC at Goldman Sachs, Pine Brook Growth Equity, and Activant Capital. 

Daniel Mallon

Principal, Claret Capital Partners

Daniel Mallon is a Principal in the Investment Team of Claret Capital Partners. He’s been investing into technology and life sciences companies for seven years. Claret Capital is a London-based HQ’d private credit fund that has backed over 200 companies since 2014 and is investing out of its Fund IV currently.

Dave Neumann

Investment Manager, Schroders Capital

Dave Neumann is a growth and venture investor across directs, funds and secondaries. Currently deploying from Schroders Capital's +£500m fund into best of UK-focused opportunities, including ElevenLabs, Tem.Energy, Wayve, Synthesia, and top tier seed-stage funds. 

Devin Kohli

Co-Founder & General Partner, Outward VC

Devin Kohli co-founded Outward VC, a leading UK fintech venture fund established in 2019 with the backing from the BBB, Investec, Blackstone and other key cornerstone investors. Outward invest in category defining companies at pre-seed and seed across fintech and adjacent sectors. They launched their Fund II last year.

Dr. Manjari Chandran-Ramesh

Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners

Dr. Manjari Chandran-Ramesh is a highly experienced venture investor and operator shaping the future of deep technology, with over 15 years of experience building, backing, and scaling companies across AI, Robotics, and Quantum. At Amadeus Capital and previously IP Group plc, Manjari has worked across multiple fund models and investment strategies, leading and supporting investments that have resulted in five successful exits and portfolio companies raising hundreds of millions in capital.  She also advises the UK Government on its National Quantum Technologies Programme and works closely with the Royal Academy of Engineering, contributing to the broader innovation ecosystem.

She has served on around 20 boards as a Non-Executive Director and Chair, and has held executive roles including CEO and Executive Chair, demonstrating strong strategic and operational leadership.

A Kauffman Fellow and Rhodes Scholar, Manjari completed her PhD at the University of Oxford, focusing on machine learning and robotics. Combining deep technical expertise with a rigorous, thesis-driven investment approach, she specialises in translating complex scientific breakthroughs into commercially successful businesses. She brings full lifecycle expertise—from sourcing and diligence to exit—alongside a strong track record in fundraising and ecosystem building through a global network.
 

Edmund Phillips

Senior Investment Partner, NSSIF

Edmund Phillips worked for fifteen years in investment and advisory roles in clean energy, financing novel energy businesses across Europe and advising corporates and governments on decarbonisation and technology strategy.  After a technology and venture focussed MBA, in 2021 he joined the National Security Strategic Investment Fund, the corporate venture capital fund of UK national security and defence.  At NSSIF he leads investments across deep tech sectors including space and quantum.

Post investment, he works with founders to position their companies to solve challenges for national security customers.  Alongside direct investments, Edmund also leads NSSIF investments into other VC funds.

Elizabeth Young

Investment Manager, PXN Group

Elizabeth Young is currently an Investment Manager at PXN Group, where she is responsible for sourcing, transaction execution and portfolio management. Her specialist investment focus spans health and deep technologies. Prior to her current role, she previously worked at ACF Investors, a sector-agnostic UK-wide co-investment Fund.

Elizabeth holds a PhD in Medical Engineering from the University of Leeds, where she researched spinal cord injury via physics-based computational simulation. During her PhD, she undertook a secondment to a pre-seed digital health startup and also contributed to the Creator Fund, supporting the Northern pre-seed ecosystem for students and spinouts.

Eric Arnould

General Partner & Chief IR Officer, Jolt Capital

Eric Arnould invests in European Deeptech companies and leads the development of global LP relationships to support the firm’s growth funds. He has over 20 years of experience in Private Equity and Investment Banking including roles as Global Head of ECM and Senior Banker at Natixis, focusing on growth technology and renewable energy companies. Eric is a graduate of HEC Paris, University of St-Gallen, and holds an Executive Master’s degree from Ecole Polytechnique.

Hannah Bernard OBE

Co-Chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce, Group Director of Business Banking, Nationwide

Hannah Bernard OBE became Group Director of Business Banking at Nationwide in January 2026. Nationwide became the first large-scale mutual to offer business banking following its acquisition of Virgin Money in 2024 and Hannah leads the Group’s business banking strategy to bring the benefits of its mutual model to businesses across the UK.

Prior to joining Nationwide, Hannah was Head of Business Banking at Barclays UK providing support to one million small and medium enterprise founders to grow and scale their businesses. She previously held a range of leadership roles at Sainsbury’s and Sainsbury’s Bank, spanning Finance, Buying, Marketing, Product and Customer Experience, and spent seven years on the Board of Sainsbury’s Bank as CFO and interim CEO.

Hannah is committed to supporting women entrepreneurs. In 2024, she was appointed by the UK Government as Co-Chair of the ‘government-backed Industry-led’ Invest in Women Taskforce, which addresses the investment funding gap for women founders.
 

Inga Deakin

Partner, Molten Ventures

Inga Deakin is passionate about supporting companies transforming how we access, develop, and deliver care, especially those using data to redefine possibilities in Life Sciences and Health. She brings hands-on investment experience in life sciences and digital health, working with ventures spun out of leading UK universities.

Her career includes roles in the US as Chief of Staff at a commercial-stage molecular diagnostics company and Entrepreneur in Residence at Duke University. Inga holds a DPhil and MSc in Neuroscience from Oxford and a BA from Cambridge, combining scientific depth with global industry perspective. 

Ioto Iotov

Founder & Managing Partner, Main Set

Ioto Iotov is Founder and Managing Partner of Main Set, a specialist private markets fund investing in high-growth financial infrastructure companies globally. The fund focuses on the underlying rails and new delivery models reshaping financial services, including banking infrastructure, market data, embedded finance, and digital asset architecture.

Previously, Ioto was an Investment Partner at Capricorn Capital Partners, where he helped build and deploy capital into leading technology businesses. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant, CFA and CAIA charterholder and has an MBA from Columbia Business School. 

Isobel Clarke

Director of Policy, UK Private Capital

Isobel Clarke is Director of Policy at UK Private Capital, with Sarah Adams. Isobel and Sarah have worked as a jobshare partnership since early 2020. They lead the Policy team and their work across tax, legal, regulatory, accounting and sustainability matters, working closely with members and UK Private Capital's committees to progress key technical and strategic policy issues.

Isobel has over 13 years’ experience of working on government policy, mainly at HM Treasury but also at the Ministry of Justice. She has led policy work on business rates, tax devolution and the scrutiny of tax reliefs. She was, with Sarah, Deputy Director for Business Tax Strategy and then Deputy Director for Open Justice and Dispute Resolution.

Isobel lives in London with her family. She read French and German at the University of Cambridge, spending a year in Berlin. Before joining HM Treasury she was a research and evaluation consultant.

Itxaso del Palacio

General Partner, Notion Capital

Itxaso del Palacio is a General Partner at Notion Capital, a leading European B2B SaaS VC that has backed companies such as GoCardless, CurrencyCloud, and Paddle.

Previously, she was Investment Partner at M12 in Europe. Her investments include Naboo, Yulife, Orus, Onfido, and Beamery. She is also an Assistant Professor at University College London, teaching entrepreneurship for over a decade, and serves on the board of Kauffman Fellows.

An engineer by training, she holds a PhD in entrepreneurship and venture capital. 

James Codling

Managing Partner, Volution

James Codling is Managing Partner of Volution, a UK and European venture capital firm backing high-growth fintech, AI and enterprise software businesses. With over 25 years of experience investing in technology companies, from early-stage through to international scale, he leads Volution's investment strategy, focusing on businesses with £5m–£20m in revenue that apply transformative technologies to drive productivity across capital markets and enterprise. 

Jenny Tooth OBE

Executive Chair, UKBAA

Jenny Tooth OBE is Executive Chair of UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA), the trade body for angel and early-stage investment in the UK that she established in 2012. UKBAA supports and builds the angel and early-stage ecosystem across the UK with over 86 angel groups, representing 18,000 Angels, together with VC Funds, online platforms, accelerators and a range of wider organisations.

Jenny is an Angel investor herself and brings over 30 years’ experience of supporting businesses to access investment. Before setting up UKBAA, Jenny set up and ran her own strategic innovation consultancy operating in London and Brussels and co-founded Angel Capital Group which was sold to Newable in 2017.

Joanne Bugg

Head of Manager Selection, Future Growth Capital

Joanne Bugg is Head of Manager Selection at Future Growth Capital, responsible for external manager investments and leading the Manager Selection Team.

Joanne’s background is in principal investing, with experience across public and private markets gained at the Wellcome Trust, a leading global endowment.

Joanne has previously served in a range of non-executive roles, including Trustee Director of the Wellcome Trust Pension Plan and Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee of the Varrier-Jones Foundation. Joanne chairs the Investment Advisory Committee at Hertford College, University of Oxford and is a member of the City Guild of Investment Managers. Joanne holds a PhD in life sciences from University College London and a Masters of Biochemistry from the University of Oxford. She is a CFA charter holder and holds the Private Markets and Alternative Investments Certificate from the CFA Institute. 

Joanne Hosker

Head of NG Innovation Services, Northern Gritstone

Joanne Hosker leads NG Innovation Services, Northern Gritstone’s high-performance business unit that shapes and accelerates the growth of IP-rich early-stage science and technology companies.

Working at the intersection of research, capital and people, Joanne advises and connects academic founders, universities, investment colleagues and partners.  Joanne is passionate about building a wide, inter-connected acceleration ecosystem across the UK’s Northern Arc and is committed to supporting those rooted in the North with global ambitions to reach significant scale worldwide.   

Jonathan Pollock (JP)

CEO & Managing Partner, Elbow Beach

Jonathan Pollock (JP) is Chief Executive and Managing Partner at Elbow Beach, a climate tech fund backing technologies that enhance industrial productivity, efficiency, and performance at scale. With more than 20 years of commercial leadership experience in the technology and telecommunications sectors, including senior roles at BT Group, the FTSE 100 media and telecoms company, JP brings a disciplined focus on customer value, scalability, and measurable economic impact to cleantech investing.

Inspired by COP26 and driven by the conviction that the sector needed a more commercially rigorous approach, JP co-founded Elbow Beach to invest in technologies that deliver both superior customer outcomes and meaningful climate impact. Under his leadership, the firm targets transformative innovations across advanced manufacturing, green computing, automation, electrification, and low-carbon materials.

JP believes the future of cleantech sits at the intersection of commercial viability and climate benefit. He encourages founders to prioritise real customer value: solutions that lower costs, improve performance, and scale rapidly will define the next generation of climate technologies. 

Julia Lopez MP

Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Conservative Party

Julia Lopez MP is the Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. She has been active in Parliament on issues including digital markets regulation, AI, emerging technologies, media and broadcasting.

She was a Minister within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology under the last Government, and led for the Government on telecoms and digital infrastructure including data and cybersecurity. She has been an MP since 2017.

Juliette Gerstein

Head of Public Affairs, UK Private Capital

Juliette Gerstein leads the Public Affairs Team at UK Private Capital, spearheading UK Private Capital’s political and parliamentary engagement and working alongside the Policy and Communications teams.

Juliette has spent over 10 years working in financial services public affairs, including a number of years at the FCA. Having started her career working in Parliament, she also previously supported clients with their external communications at agencies Portland and Lexington.

Karim Palant

Director of External Affairs, UK Private Capital

Karim Palant is Director of External Affairs at UK Private Capital, where he leads the Public Affairs, Communications and Research functions.

Karim and his colleagues tell the story of private capital through high-impact engagement with policymakers, stakeholders and the media.

Karim also oversees UK Private Capital’s agenda-setting research programme, which includes the Performance Measurement Survey - the largest primary research survey of its kind in the UK, and the annual Report on Investment Activity. 

He has two decades of experience in tech and economic policy. From 2015, he led public policy and economic impact work at major tech firms -  at LinkedIn and previously Facebook. Earlier in his career, he served as Head of Policy to the Shadow Chancellor. 

Karim studied PPE at the University of Oxford, following his education at Calderstones Comprehensive School in Liverpool.

Katie Ramsey

Head of the Global Venture Capital Unit, Office for Investment

Katie Ramsey is Head of the Global Venture Capital Unit in His Majesty’s Government’s Office for Investment, and previously served as the Head of Fintech at the Department for Business & Trade, Co-Founder of The Power Collective and angel investor.

Ex-BlackRock, she was Shortlisted for Angel of the Year 2024, invests across sectors including fintech and is a former fund manager and algorithmic trader, and previously twice winner of Financial News’ Top 40 Under 40, UN Women UK Delegate, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader nominee and Fintech Power List Power 45 winner.
 

Kaushalya Somasundaram

Non-Executive Director & Senior Advisor, Endurance Ventures

Kaushalya Somasundaram is a Senior Advisor for Endurance Ventures and a Board Member at Beazley Furlonge, Singer Capital Markets and Hampden Bank. She was previously a Partner at Fintech Growth Fund, Venture Partner at Tomorrow Capital, Executive Director at Block (formerly, Square) and Global Head of Fintech Partnerships, Ventures & Strategy at HSBC.

Kirsten Connell

Partner & Investor, Octopus Ventures

Kirsten Connell is a Partner at Octopus Ventures having joined the company in 2021 to launch First Cheque Fund. First Cheque Fund has backed over 60 exceptional founders building transformational companies over the last couple of years. Prior to this, Kirsten was Managing Director of CyLon, Europe’s first cybersecurity and deep tech accelerator, where she invested in and supported more than 60 startups.

Kirsten has held various other senior positions focused on early-stage investing. She was part of the original team and General Manager at Seedcamp Investment Management, which backed trailblazing companies such as Revolut and Wise. Kirsten was also a board member of Capital for Enterprise, a UK government-owned company that invested £1.8 billion in British SMEs.
 

Leon de Bono

Managing Director, Industry Development, UK Private Capital

Leon de Bono is UK Private Capital's Managing Director. Before joining the UK Private Capital in 2010 he was the Publishing Director and a member of the team that launched Private Equity News, part of eFinancialNews, which was acquired by Dow Jones in 2007. He began working in the private equity industry with Caspian Media in 2001. He has a BA from University College London and an MA from The Courtauld Institute.

Llewellyn John

Partner & Co-Founder, FPE Capital

Llewellyn John is a Partner and Co-Founder at FPE. He started his private equity life over a decade ago at Nova Capital Management, which involved both investment decisions and day-to-day involvement in the operations of portfolio companies. He joined the FPE team in 2012 and is involved in all aspects of the investment cycle, from deal origination and execution through ongoing board representation and exit management. He has invested in a variety of B2B sectors, with a focus on media, software and telecoms sectors.

Mads Jenson

Managing Partner & Co-Founder, SuperSeed

Mads Jensen is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of SuperSeed, the London-based venture capital firm investing in Physical AI: artificial intelligence applied to the physical world, from factory floors to construction sites to autonomous systems.

Before SuperSeed, Mads spent fifteen years building technology businesses. At IBM, he ran the UK business unit that delivered one of the company's earliest cloud computing offerings. In 2009 he then founded Sefaira, a building performance simulation platform that brought real-time energy and daylight analysis into architectural design, and led the company from inception to acquisition by Trimble in 2016.

At SuperSeed, he brings that operator's perspective to early-stage investing, backing more than 35 technical teams since 2018 across three funds. Both mature funds rank in the top quartile on the Cambridge Associates benchmark. Portfolio companies work alongside Boeing, BMW, ABB, and BAE Systems.

Mads is the named inventor on multiple US technology patents. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a degree in International Business from Copenhagen Business School. He lives in London with his wife and four daughters. 

Mahir Sahin

Founder & General Partner, Cloudberry Ventures

Mahir Sahin is Founder and General Partner of Cloudberry Ventures, investing in AI/Compute, Industrial, and Financial infrastructure in Seed to Series A stages. With +20 years in Big Tech, including 16 years as a former executive at Google and Alphabet’s X, the Moonshot Factory, he brings deep-tech intuition and operator experience to early-stage venture. He also serves as Advisor to the Airbus Executive Committee and Senior Advisor for Frontier Tech at Antares Ventures.

Educated at the Technical University of Berlin (MSc) and University of Bonn (BSc), Mahir operates across European and global markets with a focus on scaling transformative businesses. 

Malcolm MacDougall

Partner, Stephenson Harwood

Malcolm MacDougall is a Corporate Lawyer specialising in private equity transactions ranging from acting for private equity houses in the mid-market and lower mid-market, to acting for management teams on large cap PE deals. Malcolm’s experience covers all aspects of private equity deals, including MBOs, MBIs, bolt-on acquisitions, investments and exits.

Malcolm specialises in private equity transactions acting for PE houses such as Elysian Capital and FPE Capital, as well as growth capital providers such as BGF, investee companies such as Civica (an investee company of Partners Group) and management teams. 

Malin Posern

Partner, Managing Director UK, Project A

Malin Posern is a Partner at European early-stage VC firm Project A, where she co-heads the London office and oversees the firm’s Fintech investments. Before Project A, Malin was a General Partner at Passion Capital, where she shaped the firm’s investment strategy and backed high-growth Fintechs such as Lassie. Previously, she played a pivotal role at Browns, building the company into a key pillar for the group’s supply and platform strategies.

Earlier, Malin was an investor at Index Ventures, focusing on growth-stage consumer and enterprise investments in Europe and the US. She began her career as a Management Consultant at Bain & Company in the Nordics. Malin holds a Master of Engineering and a Master of Science in Biotechnology from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
 

Matthew Connor

Investor, BGF

Matthew Connor joined BGF in October 2022, as part of the Investment Team in London. His main role is in sourcing and executing investments, with a particular focus on TMT and business services. Prior to BGF, Matthew worked as an Assistant Director at Calculus Capital, where he spent five years investing in early-stage UK companies, across the TMT and healthcare sectors.

He began his career at Aberdeen Asset Management, rotating around various areas of the group, latterly working within the Pan-European Equities Team. 

Michael Brennan

Director, Infra One

Michael Brennan is the Head of UK for Infra One where his role is principally focused on leading and growing the UK and supporting emerging fund managers to get their funds up and running. With a career spanning senior regulatory, freelancing & advisory roles, Michael brings a deep expertise in financial regulation, governance and operations strategy.

He is known for bridging regulatory rigour with entrepreneurial innovation.  

Michael Moore

Chief Executive, UK Private Capital

Michael Moore is Chief Executive of UK Private Capital (formerly BVCA) .

Michael and his colleagues are focused on supporting the development of the private capital industry, as it invests in thousands of businesses and supports millions of jobs across the UK. As policymakers work on the competitiveness of the UK’s investment climate, Michael is confident that private equity and venture capital will continue to create significant public value through investment in growth, innovation and people.

Over the past 30 years Michael has operated at senior levels in both politics and business. In his political career he served in the Cabinet at the time of the Coalition Government, as Secretary of State for Scotland. He was a Member of Parliament for 18 years.

After the 2015 General Election, Michael became a Senior Advisor at PwC. Prior to entering politics, he qualified as a chartered accountant with the firm.

Neil Shah

Head of Tech Sector, Primary Market, London Stock Exchange

Neil Shah is Head of Tech Sector, Primary Markets at London Stock Exchange and helps founders and shareholders of tech companies globally, to assess and execute listings on the London Stock Exchange’s Private Securities Market and public markets (AIM and the Main Market). Neil has supported 50+ companies in going public including PensionBee, Raspberry Pi and Pathos Communications.

Previously, he spent 15 years in investment banking at Dresdner Kleinwort and Thomas Weisel Partners / Stifel, advising on M&A, IPOs and private capital. Neil holds an Economics degree from the other LSE and is a Freeman of the City of London.
 

Niall Moroney

Lead Solution Engineer, Q-CTR

Niall Moroney leads Q-CTRL’s Solutions team across the UK and Europe, where he supports all stages of customer engagement with our products. After studying Aerospace Engineering, Niall started his career as a commissioned officer in the Royal Air Force, before attaining a PhD in Physics.

Niall has since worked in several roles to accelerate the deployment of emerging technology into the defence sectors of the UK and its allies. At Q-CTRL he is able to focus this on his specialties: quantum computing and quantum sensing for Alt-PNT.

Nick Nelson

Founder & General Partner, Archangel

Nicholas Nelson is the Founder and General Partner of Archangel, Europe’s first defence-first venture capital fund, where he backs breakthrough deep tech startups across Europe. He previously founded Offset Ventures, Europe's first defence-focused VC syndicate. Prior to this he held senior roles in early-stage venture capital, strategy consulting, and government, including deploying to Afghanistan.

Nicholas is also a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, where his research bridges national security, emerging tech, and private capital. He’s an elected Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and his writing and insights have appeared in the Financial Times, BBC, Politico, and Sifted. 

Nicola Sinclair

General Partner, Twin Track Ventures

Nicola Sinclair is the General Partner of Twin Track Ventures, a London-based fund backing early-stage deep tech companies serving commercial and defence customers. Before moving into venture capital, she spent two decades in the UK’s Royal Air Force, working in front-line operational roles before advancing into capability development roles.

Nicola is a member of the UK Defence Joint Industrial Council and the author of the annual Working with Defence & Security Report. 

Rebekah Kasumu 

Founder & Managing Director, Plug Capital

Rebekah Kasumu is Founder and Managing Director of Plug Capital, an FCA-regulated platform built for emerging venture fund managers. Plug Capital provides solo GPs, lean teams and early funds with a regulated AIFM umbrella and embedded CFO, operations and compliance support.

Prior to founding Plug Capital, Rebekah was Partner and Head of Finance at LocalGlobe (Phoenix Court Group), one of EMEA's leading venture platforms with over $2bn AUM, where she built the group's finance and reporting functions and held the FCA's SMF17 designation. Earlier in her career she served as Head of Finance for FTSE 250 ICG Enterprise Trust and as Associate Director at FTSE 100 ICG, leading on technical accounting. Rebekah spent six years as a Senior Manager at KPMG and is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (ICAEW). 

Rob Desborough

General Partner & Chair of the Seraphim Space Accelerator, Seraphim Space

Rob Desborough is a General Partner at Seraphim Space Manager LLP and Chair of the Seraphim Space Accelerator, the world’s first and leading SpaceTech accelerator program. Previously, he was an Investment Director at YFM Equity Partners. Rob holds a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Glasgow and a Postgraduate Diploma in Information Technology Systems from the University of Strathclyde.

Under his leadership, the Seraphim Space Accelerator has graduated over 115 SpaceTech start-ups, which have collectively raised over $1 billion in co-investment. He serves as a fund representative on the boards of Xona Space Systems and other early-stage category leaders, helping guide the next generation of transformative SpaceTech companies. 

Roderick Beer

Managing Director, UKBAA

Roderick Beer’s career spans over 17 years of managing, founding and growing angel groups and investment platforms, collectively deploying over £100m of equity investment in more than 500 startup and scaleup businesses. 

He started at Beer & Partners, the first and largest angel group in the UK which later sold to Risk Capital Partners, he later helped form and grow a successful corporate finance firm, as their COO.

He is now the Managing Director of the UK Business Angels Association, the trade body for angel and early-stage investing, representing 220 organisations including over 100 Angel Groups that collectively deploy over £2bn p.a. in innovative, high-growth businesses.

Russ Tucker

Co-Founder & CEO, twig

Russ Tucker is the Co-Founder and CEO at twig. Trained on their own in-house data, twig is building a foundation model to revolutionise industrial biotechnology and bring a pipeline of bio-fermented specialty chemicals to market, starting with their novel suncare active, Mycolux.

Before twig, Russ co-founded cultivated meat pioneer Ivy Farm, and worked as a management consultant at BCG.

He holds a D.Phil. in Biomedical Engineering from Oxford and is a Fellow Chartered Accountant, having trained with PwC.

Simon Thorpe

Chair, Cambridge Angels

Simon Thorpe is Chair of Cambridge Angels, Managing Partner of Delta2020, NED and Chair of the Investment Committee of the University of Manchester Innovation Factory, NED of Albion Tech,  General VCT, and UBIO, and Director of Rockspring Nominees. He is a member of Angel Academe (a predominately female angel network) and Manchester Angels. Simon is also Chair of Salica Investments Venture Debt Investment Committee, Cambridge Judge Business School Entrepreneurship Fellow, Member Murray Edwards College Cambridge Enterprising Women Advisory Board, Sponsor Cambridge Female Founders program, and UKBAA Angel Investor of the Year 2016/17.

Simon is a qualified Chartered Accountant. His specialities include angel investing, mentoring, consulting, non-executive directorships, research focused on technology and tech enabled healthcare sectors, and volunteering.

Simon Witney

Senior Consultant, Travers Smith

Simon Witney is a senior consultant at Travers Smith and chairs the firm’s ESG and Impact Group. Simon has particular expertise in sustainable finance and corporate governance, especially in the private markets. He has advised private equity and venture capital firms, as well as the UK Government, on a wide range of fund and transactional matters over the past 25 years.

Simon is a Senior Fellow in the Law School at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he also teaches on the LLM programme. Simon’s book, Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment in Private Equity, was published in 2021.

Sion Evans

Managing Director, VenCap

Sion Evans is a Managing Director and leads VenCap’s primary strategy. Sion joined VenCap in 2015 and manages relationships with many of VenCap’s Core Managers across the US, Europe, China and India. He is a CFA Charterholder and holds the Investment Management Certificate. Sion received a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics from The University of Bath. He is a fluent Welsh speaker and is now taking up tennis, having previously played Defensive End for the Oxford Saints American Football team. 

Stéphanie Heller

Managing Partner, Bootstrap

Stéphanie Heller brings a wealth of experience in technology and finance. Bootstrap, a leading venture lender, is renowned for its acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank’s portfolio in continental Europe, particularly in Germany. As Bootstrap’s Managing Partner, she leverages her background in technology lending to support innovative founders pragmatically. Stephanie previously managed $350M in private equity investments at The Real Economy Effect (TREE) and oversaw private equity assets investments at Cape Capital AG in Zurich.

Prior to Bootstrap, she founded, scaled, and served on the boards of multiple successful companies, including the award-winning fintech start-up Fractal Labs (sold). A graduate of HEC Paris with fluency in French, English, and German, she also honed her expertise at Deutsche Bank in London and Calyon in Paris.

Stephanie Orde

CFO, Episode 1 Ventures

Stephanie Orde has extensive work experience in various roles and industries. Stephanie currently holds the position of Chief Financial Officer at Episode 1 Ventures since July 2022. Prior to this, they worked at PwC for several years. Their roles at PwC included Senior Manager, Firmwide Transformation, Senior Manager, Technology Transformation, and Financial Services Data Lead in the Audit department.

Stephanie Orde completed their education at three institutions. From 1994 to 2001, they attended Guildford High School, followed by the University of Oxford from 2002 to 2005 where they obtained a degree in Economics and Management.
 

Steve Gibson

Partner, 13books Capital

Steve Gibson is a partner at 13books Capital, backing Europe’s most ambitious fintech founders as they scale globally. With 16 years at the cutting edge of financial services investment, he brings the sector depth and networks to back the founders using AI to fundamentally transform the fabric of global financial services.

Suzi Gillespie

Head of Research, UK Private Capital

Suzi Gillespie leads the Research Team at UK Private Capital ensuring the organisation is at the forefront of crucial analysis of trends and issues surrounding venture capital and private equity and the impact of the industry on the economy.

Suzi previously spent over 15 years at PwC in a variety of roles including Valuations, Pensions and Consulting. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a degree in Economics from the University of Warwick.

The Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Labour Party, Labour Party

The Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP was appointed Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology in September 2025. She leads the Government department responsible for accelerating innovation, investment and productivity through world-leading science, research and development.

She has championed science, technology and innovation as key to economic prosperity and was a key part of driving forward measures that support entrepreneurship in the last Budget.

Tim Mills

Managing Partner, ACF Investors

Tim Mills is Managing Partner of ACF Investors, an early-stage venture manager which works in close partnership with sector focussed angel investors to back some of the UK’s best high growth companies. Launched in 2011 ACF’s current £100mn fund targets capital efficient operating models and crowds-in sector specific hands-on expertise to help teams short cut the path to growth. ACF generally invests at late seed and is a multi-round investor and has backed more than 125 companies a range of sectors.

Tim is a technologist by background and started his career in the technology group at Merrill Lynch. Moving to early stage investing in 2008 he went on to help establish the British Business Bank, where he was an Investment Director until 2018, leading investments into some of the Europe’s most successful VC funds. He launched ACF in 2011 and has been building the portfolio since.

Usman Ali

Partner - Venture Debt, Salica Investments

Usman Ali is a Partner in Salica Investments’ (formerly Hambro Perks) Venture Debt Fund Team, where he is part of the founding team providing non-dilutive capital to high-growth, IP-rich technology companies across the UK and Europe. He is an Award-winning venture debt investor, having completed 38 venture and growth debt transactions totalling c.£140m. 

Prior to Salica, Usman spent nearly a decade leading venture debt origination and execution at Virgin Money Plc. He is a Chartered Banker and Scottish Insider Emerging Dealmaker of the Year. 

Videesha Böeckle

General Partner, āltitude

Videesha Böeckle is a General Partner at āltitude, Europe’s SME Tech Fund. She invests first institutional cheques into pre-seed/seed verticalised and embedded software solutions targeting SMEs. She has over a decade of early-stage investing and operating experience across product, business development, sales, and corporate development.

She previously co-founded and led Signals VC in Berlin and was an early employee at GetYourGuide, Redstone, and PROfounders Capital. She began her career as a credit analyst at Lehman Brothers and worked for the COO’s office and HNW team at Barclays Wealth and is now based in London.

Yasha Estraikh

Associate Partner - Brand, Piper

Yasha Estraikh has been an investor and Associate Partner at Piper for the last 15 years, including leading the food and drink, travel and hospitality teams. Starting with commercial due diligence and flowing through to post-investment, Yasha works with management teams to ensure Piper’s brands are built the right way to future-proof them for decades to come, intertwining a differentiated product and customer experience with a profitable business model.

He currently sits on the boards of Yard Sale Pizza and Borough Broth.