Accelerate: The UK Venture Conference

Alexander Leigh

Managing Director of National Strategy, Future Planet Capital

Alex Leigh is Managing Director of National Strategy at Future Planet Capital, where he leads venture investments through the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) in defence, security, space, and deep tech innovation. He also serves on the Investment Committees for Future Planet Capital Regional and the upcoming British Co-Investment Fund.

With over 15 years’ experience spanning venture capital, private equity, and startups, Alex has reviewed thousands of pitch decks, made around 40 investments, and supported multiple successful exits. His portfolio includes companies pioneering dual-use, quantum, and AI-enabled technologies.
An advocate for founder success, Alex combines board-level experience with hands-on mentoring to help entrepreneurs scale efficiently and achieve strategic exits—bridging innovation with national impact.

Angela Chou

Investor, Felix Capital

Awaiting speaker biography.

Ben Blume

Partner, Atomico

Awaiting speaker biography.

Callum Stewart

Principal, Bullhound Capital

Awaiting speaker biography.

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.

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

Claudia Rowe is a Principal at Balderton Capital, where she leads investments in Series B to pre-IPO companies. She is a career growth investor and previously worked in NYC at Activant Capital, Pine Brook, and Goldman Sachs.

Dave Neumann

Investment Manager, Schroders Capital

Awaiting speaker biography.

Devin Kohli

Co-Founder and General Partner, Outward VC

Awaiting speaker biography.

Dr. Manjari Chandran-Ramesh

Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners

Manjari joined Amadeus in 2021 as a Partner in the Early Stage Fund. Her investment focus is on AI, Robotics and Quantum Technologies. She is the Amadeus representative on several boards including Ravelin, NuQuantum, Seldon, and Tenzo.

Manjari started her career in academia as a researcher and college lecturer at Oxford University, later moving to technology transfer at the University where she was responsible for commercialising intellectual property. Manjari then worked at IP Group plc, managing technology investments from deal origination to exit.

She was responsible for the trade sale of TheySayLtd (emotional AI acquired by Aptean), secondary share sale exit in ConcirrusLtd (AI in InsureTech), and sourcing and working with the founding team to build Quantum Motion Ltd (Quantum Computing in Silicon). Manjari created and led IP Group’s Quantum Technologies investment strategy, setting up an initial £12m accelerator fund in partnership with Innovate UK.

Edmund Phillips

Senior Investment Partner, NSSIF

Edmund Phillips worked for fifteen years in investment and advisory roles in the energy sector, financing and diligencing renewable assets across Europe in power generation, transmission and storage and a number of other clean technologies. After a technology and venture focussed MBA he joined the National Security Strategic Investment Fund in 2021.

At NSSIF he leads on investments in a number of deeptech sectors, and works simultaneously to promote novel technology driven solutions to national security challenges.

Elizabeth Young

Investment Manager, PXN Group

Awaiting speaker biography.

Eric Arnould

General Partner, Jolt Capital

As General Partner and Chief Investor Relations Officer at Jolt Capital, Eric 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.

Inga Deakin

Partner, Molten

Awaiting speaker biography.

Ioto Iotov

Founder & Managing Partner, Main Set

Awaiting speaker biography.

Isobel Clarke

Director of Policy, UK Private Capital

Isobel 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

Itxaso Del Palacio is a General Partner at Notion, a leading European B2B SaaS focused VC which has invested in companies such as GoCardless, CurrencyCloud and Paddle among others.

Some of the most recent investments led by Itxaso include Yulife (new life insurance provider), Cobee (benefit management platform), ForestAdmin (admin panel framework), Onfido (identity verification platform) and Beamery (CRM of recruitment).

On the academic side, Itxaso is an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship at UCL (University College London). For more than a decade, Itxaso has taught entrepreneurship at UCL, Imperial College and the Royal College of Arts in London.

James Codling

Managing Partner, Volution

James grew up in an entrepreneurial family who founded a well-known UK business in the 1950s. There’s an engineering and business theme that runs through their DNA and he well remembers the fascination in his family about the emergence of new technologies, particularly computing and cellular, which were groundbreaking in the early 80s. In 2000, straight out of university, James joined the TMT team at JPMorgan where he focused on financing 3G and cable rollouts across Europe After moving to a team that supported private equity companies to structure large scale leveraged buyouts, he made the transition into private equity, joining an upper mid-market buyout house called Montagu in 2006. In 2013, after following the UK’s nascent SaaS and FinTech scene with interest and making some early-stage investments of his own, James listened to his desire to return to his roots and take the plunge, setting up his own venture to support the financing of those companies on their scaling journey. 

At Volution, they deliver on their promises and come with solutions rather than adopting a cookie cutter approach. Every company, management team and route is different, so he loves working with their founders to understand what it is they want to achieve and how to support them along that journey.

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

Awaiting speaker biography.

Joanne Hosker

Head of NG Innovation Services, Northern Gritstone

Awaiting speaker biography.

Julia Lopez MP

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

Julia Lopez 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 cyber security. She has been an MP since 2017.

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.

Llewellyn John

Partner, FPE Capital

Awaiting speaker biography.

Mads Jenson

Managing Partner, SuperSeed

Awaiting speaker biography.

Mahir Sahin

Founder & GP, Cloudberry Ventures

Awaiting speaker biography.

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 such as the management team of Nomentia on the sale to Inflexion.

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.

Nick Nelson

General Partner, Archangel

Awaiting speaker biography.

Nicola Sinclair

General Partner, Twin Track

Awaiting speaker biography.

Ravneet Mann

Partner, Stride Ventures

Ravneet Mann is a Partner at Stride Ventures. A senior investment leader with over 18 years of experience in investments, growth credit, strategic partnerships, policy and international market expansion. In her role as Partner at Stride Ventures, she leads the firm’s efforts to identify and develop high-quality investment opportunities, foster partnerships that enhance market access, and design strategies for entry into new geographies.

With expertise spanning technology, energy and consumer sectors, her work has been at the intersection of capital, innovation, and market development.

Stride Ventures is a global growth credit fund with presence in Asia, GCC and the UK. Starting her career at Merrill Lynch, Ravneet has also worked on FDI investments and policy advocacy at Invest India.
 

Rod Beer

Managing Director, UKBAA

Rod 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.

Sarah Adams

Director of Policy, UK Private Capital

Sarah Adams is Director of Policy at UK Private Capital, with Isobel Clarke. 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.

Sarah has over a decade of experience making policy in the centre of government, mainly at HM Treasury. She has led on policy areas across tax, spending and financial services, including pensions tax, venture capital and insurance markets. With Isobel, she has been deputy director for business tax strategy at HM Treasury, and deputy director for open justice and dispute resolution at the Ministry of Justice.

Sarah lives in London with her family. She studied economics at the University of Cambridge and worked on global health economics before joining the civil service.

Sion Evans

Managing Director, Vencap

Awaiting speaker biography.

Suzi Gillespie

Head of Research, UK Private Capital

Suzi Gillespie leads the Research team at UK Private Capital ensuring that 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 hold 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

Liz Kendall was appointed Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology on 5 September 2025.

She was previously Secretary of State for Work and Pensions between 5 July 2024 and 5 September 2025.

She was elected as the MP for Leicester West in May 2010.

Tim Mills

Managing Partner, ACF Investors

Tim 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.