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Andrew C. Romans
General Partner
Silicon Valley
André Jaeggi
Chairman
Zurich
Dr. Michael Sheffery
Venture Advisor
New York
Dr. Stephen Reeders
Venture Advisor
Boston
Dr. Anja König
Venture Advisor
Switzerland
Dr. Karl Naegler
Venture Advisor
Paris / Munich
Dr. Nissim Darvish
Venture Advisor
Israel
Dr. Hans A. Küpper
Venture Advisor
Munich
Dr. Berthold Hackl
Venture Advisor
Frankfurt/New York
Dr. Roel Bulthuis
Venture Advisor
Geneva / Amsterdam
Tim Guleri
Venture Advisor
Silicon Valley
Evangelos Simoudis
Venture Advisor
Silicon Valley
Yossi Sela
Venture Advisor
Israel
Dr. Christian Nagel
Venture Advisor
Hamburg
Blake Modersitzki
Venture Advisor
Salt Lake City, UT
Chris Burke
Venture Partner
London
Guillaume Lautour
Venture Advisor
Paris
Ryan Pollock
Venture Advisor
Denver, CO
Jörg Überla
Venture Advisor
Munich
Jörg "George" Sperling
Venture Advisor
London/Munich
Jonas Risberg
Venture Advisor
Stockholm
Sophie McGrath
Corporate Securities Law
Trevor James
Tax Law Partner
Chris Coulter
Corporate Securities Law
Additional VC advisors and Venture Partners
- Eileen Tanghal, Technology, Investment Director, Applied Ventures. Applied Materials, Silicon Valley
- Isaac Applbaum, Technology, Opus Capital, ex-Lightspeed Venture Partners, Silicon Valley
- Alex Mashinsky, Technology, GP at early stage venture fund Governing Dynamics and serial entrepreneur, New York
- Kelly Perdew, Technology, Serial Entrepreneur, Angel, Advisor TroopSwap, The DuMont Project, Social Rewards, LinkedIn (past), Pandora (past), Los Angels
- Oded Hermoni, All sectors, Headed HTIA - High Tech Industry Association, Silicon Valley & Israel
- Brian Zisk, Technology, Music & Technology, founder SF MusicTech Summit, San Francisco
- Mark Cameron White, Technology & Cleantech, WhiteSummer VC transactional law firm, founder of preeminent startup hub Whiteboard Accelerator, Silicon Valley
- Daniel Recanati, Technology, Rhodium, VC, super angel, New York & Israel
- PJ Anand, Healthcare & Life Science, Founder, CEO & President, Alcyone Lifesciences, Boston
- Max Bleyleben, Technology, Former VC now entrepreneur ex-Kennet Capital, London
- Jakob Algreen-ussing, Technology, Founder Akasha Ventures, investor & entrepreneur guru, London / Copenhagen / Ibiza
- Ed Bullard, Healthcare & Life Science, Sold Dexela, London
- Gordon Waldron, Healthcare & Life Science, Sold Novexel, Paris
- CloseAndrew C. Romans
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General Partner
Managing Partner Georgetown Venture Partners
MD Sentito Networks
President & cofounder
The Global TeleExchange (GTX) -
- General Partner & founder of The Founders Club
- Venture Capital valuation expert experienced on VC deal terms, conditions, negotiations
- Preeminent network of VCs focused on the US, Europe & Israel
- Unique network of serial entrepreneurs & angel investors
- Angel investor, former non-exec on 15+ tech boards
- Founder & President of The Global TeleExchange (The GTX), a $100M telecom VoIP venture
- Technical, co-founded UNIX systems administration outsourcing business in Silicon Valley and NYC
- Managing Director EMEA VC backed VoIP software and equipment vendor – Sentito Networks (acquired by Verso Technologies)
- Negotiated complex agreements for fiber optic network build for Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina during I-FOR stage of conflict during 1990's
- Fluent in English, French and German, conversant in Czech and Slovak
- BA in Politics, French and German literature from the University of Vermont, Duke University, Freie Universität Berlin & Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, MBA in Finance from Georgetown University completed on scholarship
- International, born in Japan, grew up in New Jersey and Paris, studied and worked outside of the US for over 15 years: London, Paris, Berlin, Geneva, Bratislava, NYC, DC and now Silicon Valley
- Dual national holding American and British passports. Lived in London for 10 years
- Charity, cofounder and Trustee Founders Foundation, Children's Charity Venture Capital Fund
- CloseAndré Jaeggi
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Founder Ji Portfolio Services
Managing Director Adveq
$5.5 billion fund of funds
Completed 270 investments in VC & PE funds
Chairman of the board of trustees of Swiss pension funds ASCOOP and ALVOSO LLB -
- As one of the largest investors in the venture capital asset class over a period of decades André brings The Founders Club a unique global perspective on the successes and failures of the asset class coupled with developed direct relationships with the leading GPs and fund managers in the industry
- Founded asset management advisory firm in Switzerland in 2009 - Ji Portfolio Services LLC
- Managing Director of Adveq, (1998 - 2009) a leading private equity fund of funds management company that he helped develop from a two partners entity into a group with 4.5bn+ USD under management from institutional investors worldwide with 70 employees and offices in Europe, the USA and China
- André is still a major shareholder of Adveq, a member of its Board of Directors and chairs the Audit Committee
- Completed 270 investments, c. 130 VC, 110 buy-outs and 30 special situation funds
- Executive Director at Prevista, a leading Swiss investment foundation for pension funds providing pooled investments in all traditional asset classes, as well as real estate, and private equity
- Financial journalist for the Swiss economic paper "Finanz und Wirtschaft" for whom he was resident editor in New York and subsequently deputy editor in chief
- PhD (Dr. phil.) from the University of Zurich and studied in Zurich, Switzerland and England at the University of Essex
- Fluent in English, German, and French (mother tongue) and masters Italian
- Serves as non-executive Chairman of the board of trustees of Swiss pension funds ASCOOP and ALVOSO LLB
- CloseDr. Michael B. Sheffery
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Venture Advisor Healthcare (New York)
Founder & General Partner
OrbiMed ($5B) -
- Founding General Partner of OrbiMed and Co-Head of Private Equity
- OrbiMed is the world's largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm, with approximately $5 billion in assets under management
- Formerly Head of the Laboratory of Gene Structure and Expression at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and B.A. in Biology from Princeton University
- Joined Mehta and Isaly in 1996 as a Senior Analyst covering the biotechnology industry.
- OrbiMed's investment advisory business was founded in 1989 with a vision to invest across the spectrum of healthcare companies: from private start-ups to large multinational companies. OrbiMed manages the Caduceus Private Investments series of venture capital funds and a family of public equity investment funds
- CloseDr. Stephen Reeders
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Venture Advisor Healthcare (Boston)
Founder & General Partner
MVM Life Science Partners ($500M) -
- Founder & General Partner, MVM Life Science Partners since 1997
- Previously responsible for early-stage healthcare investments at Saunders, Karp & Megrue in New York City
- Investigator & Associate Professor of Medicine and Genetics at Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Boyer Center for Molecular Medicine at Yale
- Published 50+ papers on the molecular genetics of human disease
- Involved in starting several US biotechnology companies and was acting CEO at UpToDate In Medicine in Wellesley, Mass.
- Practised medicine at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital, Guys Hospital, St Thomas's Hospital, Hammersmith Hospital and the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square
- Conducted research into molecular genetics at Oxford University
- Degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and a Doctorate in medicine from Oxford
- Member of the Royal College of Physicians of England
- Board member of Biomedix, Inc., BioVex Group, Inc., Cara Therapeutics, Inc. and Cortria Corporation
- Previously a director of Clavis Pharma ASA, Domantis Ltd, Gendaq Ltd, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., New Chemical Entities, Inc., Nova Science Ltd., Sangamo Biosciences, Inc., Spherics, Inc., UpToDate, Inc., and Xention Ltd.
- Close Dr. Christian Nagel
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Venture Advisor Technology
Co-founder and managing partner of Earlybird ($600M) -
- More than 17 years experience as investor and entrepreneur; focus on web-enabled services and e-commerce.
- Most successful exits: Tipp24 (IPO Prime Standard FSE: TIM); Interhyp (IPO Prime Standard FSE: IYP)
- Board member of Crowdpark, BridgeCo, Lumics, madvertise, Smava, and Yoom
- Co-founder and managing partner of SMB Industrieholding Wildau and DH Industrieholding Hohenthurm; consultant for McKinsey & Company.
- Dipl.Wi-Ing. (Msc equivalent), Technical University of Hamburg, PhD, University of St. Gallen.
- CloseDr. Karl Naegler
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Venture Advisor Healthcare (Paris / Munich)
General Partner GIMV
ex-Ventech & Atlas Venture ($1.1B) -
- General Partner at Ventech, a pan-European and China focused VC fund with over $500M Assets Under Management established in 1998
- Member of Life Science practice focused on biotherapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices
- Previously 8 years with Atlas Venture in London and Munich, a trans-Atlantic VC firm with over $2 billion Assets Under Management
- During his time at Atlas, Karl has been instrumental in the formation and financing of several start-ups in the biopharma space applying different business models - spanning from discovery stage to specialty pharma
- He worked closely with U3 Pharma, prior to its acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. in 2008 and served on the boards of Nitec Pharma and Lumavita
- Previously, he worked as a Scientific Fellow at the CNRS for Neurochemistry in Strasbourg, France
- Completed PhD for his work in the area of molecular neurobiology at the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin
- MSc in Biology from the Free University of Berlin and prepared thesis at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia
- Contributed to several publications in highly respected scientific journals, including Science and FASEB
- CloseDr. Nissim Darvish
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Venture Advisor Healthcare (Israel)
Senior Managing Director
OrbiMed-Israel ($5B) -
- General Partner leading the Life Sciences team at Pitango, an Israeli Venture Capital firm with over $1.3 billion assets under management investing in high technology companies for over 14 years with offices in Israel and Silicon Valley.
- Brings to The Founders Club ballanced experience as both a venture capitalist and a highly successful Life Science entrepreneur.
- Acted as an Entrepreneur in Residence with Medica Venture Partners.
- His scientific background, together with his practical experience as a CEO of a company which was acquired, adds value to The Founders Club portfolio.
- Prior to that, Dr. Darvish was among the founders of Impulse Dynamics, a highly successful developer of cardiovascular implantable devices, and for 7 years served as its CEO and President.
- Earlier in his career, Dr. Darvish was a research fellow at the US National Institute of Health in the fields of neurobiology and electrophysiology.
- He has held numerous academic and research appointments and has an extensive list of awards, prizes, publications and published patents in his field.
- Serves on the boards of Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corporation, superDimension Ltd. and Vascular Biogenics (VBL).
- CloseDr. Hans A. Küpper
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Venture Advisor Healthcare (Munich)
Managing Partner
The Global Life Science Ventures ($300M) -
- Over 25 years experience in biotechnology and Life Science as a hands on Venture Capitalist, industry senior executive, head of R&D and academic
- Partner at The Global Life Science Ventures, a major Life Science venture capital firm active both in the US and Europe with active assets of over €200M under management
- Experience not only as a VC, but also as a researcher and industry practitioner
- Acted or is still acting as a board member responsible in all aspects of investments for numerous private, publicly held and successfully sold Life Science companies including companies now listed on NASDAQ and the Vienna Stock Exchange
- Academic and R&D experience at Heidelberg University and postdoctoral fellow at MIT in Boston with Nobel Laureate Prof. Khorana
- Author of 50 scientific publications and 13 patent applications
- Active industry experience holding various R&D and management positions at Biogen in Geneva
- Built Molecular Biology department at Behringwerke AG, Head of R&D and member of the board of their Immunology/Oncology business unit, with major focus on gene regulation and vaccines
- Management experience within the industry includes extensive deal negotiations and various aspects of company restructuring such as acquisitions, joint ventures and spin-offs, including the spin-offs of the vaccine business and the diagnostics business of Behring
- PhD from the University of Heidelberg
- CloseDr. Berthold Hackl
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Venture Advisor Healthcare (Frankfurt / New York)
CEO invendo medical
MD medtech VC firm
Heidelberg Innovation ($300M) -
- CEO, invendo medical
- Serial entrepreneur & director
- 7 yrs MD medtech VC firm Heidelberg Innovation
- Pharmacia (now GE Healthcare); eHealth venture; Eurofins public offering
- Stratec Medical (now Synthes, €10bn mkt cap)
- Board mtm labs, Arthro Kinetics
- Founder, bohemiansummit.com, the European medical device CEO summit
- INSEAD MBA, Molecular Biologist
- CloseTim Guleri
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Venture Advisor Technology (Silicon Valley)
Managing Director
Sierra Ventures ($1.5B) -
- Serial entrepreneur, built two software infrastructure companies before joining Sierra in 2001
- Tim founded and was CEO of Octane Software, a leading provider of e-commerce infrastructure, which he sold to Epiphany (NASDAQ:EPNY) in 2000 for $3.2B
- Headed Sales and Marketing functions at Scopus Technology (NASDAQ:SCOP), which went public in 1995, and was a leader in the CRM space
- "I love helping build companies, and entrepreneur's can relate to that passion in me," says Tim. "I'm the coach who played the game before, not just the guy that's giving advice but has never been on the field."
- Past board positions include Allot, Commtouch, Precise, Ornet, Saifun and many others
- Appcelerator
- Approva
- Code Green Networks
- DotNetNuke
- Makara
- MakeMyTrip.com (India)
- Red Aril
- Allot
- Commtouch
- Precise
- Ornet
- Saifun
- Many others
Tim's playbook is built not only on 20 years of hands-on operating and investing experience, but also on a solid technical education. Tim holds a BSEE from Punjab Engineering College in India and a MS in IEOR and Robotics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
- CloseEvangelos Simoudis
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Venture Advisor Technology (Silicon Valley)
Sr. Managing Director
Trident Capital ($2B) -
- Sr. Managing Director at Trident Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm established in 1993 currently focused on Software, Services, Internet & CleanTech on a global basis
- Prior to Trident, Evangelos spent 5 years as a partner at Apax Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm where he invested and served on the boards of early and mid-stage IT companies. At Apax he also chaired the firm’s IT advisory board
- Prior to entering venture capital, Evangelos had more than 20 years experience in high-technology industries, in executive roles spanning operations, marketing, sales and engineering
- His experience as a technology executive includes serving as President and CEO of Customer Analytics, a Trident-backed, eCRM company acquired by Xchange, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXAP), and as Vice President of Business Intelligence Solutions at IBM
- Evangelos' current directorships include Acteea, 8thBridge, eXelate, Extole, Host Analytics and PivotLink
- Prior directorships include Bristol Technology (acquired by Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ)), Composite Software, Confluent Software (acquired by Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCL)), DesiHits, Hip Digital, Princeton Softech (acquired by IBM) and Vidavee (acquired by Vignette (NASDAQ: VIGN)
- Evangelos earned a PhD in computer science from Brandeis University and a BS in electrical engineering from Caltech
- CloseDr. Roel Bulthuis
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Venture Advisor Healthcare (Geneva / Amsterdam)
Head of Merck Serono Ventures ($55M) -
- Roel is Head of Merck Serono Ventures, the strategic venture capital group of Merck Serono, a healthcare group with a market capitalization of over $19 billion
- Roel established Merk Serono Ventures in 2009
- Through the ventures group, Merck Serono is committed to actively invest in emerging biotech companies which have the potential to provide innovative products in Merck Serono’s core therapeutic areas, or access to innovative technologies
- In addition to the venture fund, Roel is also responsible for all ‘externalization’ transactions at Merck Serono, including ‘fostering’ deals, spin-offs and other alternative financing models
- Prior to joining Merck Serono in 2006, Roel was a Director in the Biotech Investment Banking Team at Fortis Bank, where he was responsible for the origination and execution of a wide range of financing and strategic transactions in the biotech sector based out of Amsterdam and New York
- Before joining Fortis Bank, Roel worked at Devgen NV in Gent, Belgium, as a business analyst
- Roel holds a Msc. in Biopharmaceutical Sciences from Leiden University, the Netherlands, and an MBA in Finance from the Helsinki School of Economics, Finland
- CloseYossi Sela
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Venture Advisor Technology (Israel)
Managing Partner
Gemini Israel Funds ($700M) -
- Managing Partner at Gemini Israel Funds, active VC investor since 1993
- One of the most accomplished venture capitalists in Israel, with over ten successful exits in his career
- Ranked #1 venture capitalist on the Forbes Israel Midas list in 2006 and #89 in the global Forbes Midas list
- Represents Gemini on several portfolio company boards, including Modu, Novafora, RadLive and Xjet
- Past board positions include Allot, Commtouch, Precise, Ornet, Saifun and many others
- Served as the interim Chief Executive Officer of Ornet, which was a Gemini portfolio company. Yossi led that company until its acquisition by Siemens AG in September 1995
- CloseBlake Modersitzki
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Venture Advisor Technology (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Managing Director
Pelion Venture Partners ($620M) -
- Joined Pelion Venture Partners in 2002, after 13 years as an executive with Novell and WordPerfect Corporation
- Deep industry operating experience, as well as a successful investment track record
- Prior to joining Pelion, Blake was Managing Director for Novell Ventures and Vice President of Strategic Business Development
- Directed Novell's venture strategy including both its direct investments in companies and indirect investments in venture capital funds
- Served on the boards of several public and private companies as well as the advisory board of several venture capital firms
- Prior to managing Novell's venture capital organization, Blake held a number of sales, marketing, product management, global channel sales development and business development positions within Novell and Word Perfect
- Currently serves on the advisory boards of Cross Creek Partners and Cougar Capital
- Bachelors degree in Economics from Brigham Young University
- CloseDr. Anja König
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Managing Director Novartis Venture Fund
Novartis International AG, Switzerland ($700M) -
- Dr. Anja König is a Managing Director at the Novartis Venture Fund in the Basel office.
- She is active in the UK, Switzerland and Europe and also manages a USD 20 mio fund in Korea.
- Dr. König serves on the board of directors for Oxagen, Heptares, Covagen, Diagnoplex, Bicycle Therapeutics and Nabriva.
- Prior to joining Novartis Dr. König was an Associate Partner at McKinsey and Company in New York City.
- Dr. König has experience working in the US, Europe and Emerging Markets. Anja König is a scientist by training and holds a PhD in physics from Cornell University.
- The Novartis Venture Fund is a VC Fund with Novartis as a single Limited Partner. It has an independent fund structure and an independent external board. The Novartis Venture Fund currently has more than USD 700 Mio under management and more than 70 portfolio companies.
- CloseChris Burke
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Venture Partner Technology (London)
ex-MD RIM BlackBerry EMEA
ex-CTO & CIO
Vodafone UK Highland Capital Partners
VantagePoint Venture Partner ($4.5B) -
- Senior corporate, ex-Managing Director EMEA for Research In Motion / BlackBerry
- Strong telecom pedigree, previously, CTO & CIO at Vodafone UK Ltd, Chief Technology Officer at Energis, various management positions in the Telecom Infrastructure Division at Nortel
- Technical, responsible for managing technology and telecom product architecture, design, development, deployment, support and operations for Vodafone in the UK
- Senior contact network, over 26 years experience in telecom product design, development and operations for equipment manufacturers and service operators
- International, held executive positions in North America, Europe, Near East and Asia Pacific and sits on the executive committees that define and select technology across the Internet, IT and telecoms
- Entrepreneurial investor, active angel investor in 15+ ventures
- Venture Capital, advisor to Highland Capital Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners
- CloseGuillaume Lautour
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Venture Advisor Technology (Paris)
Partner at AGF Private Equity
Joined AGF in 1999 at its inception ($750M) -
- Partner at AGF Private Equity, a $3.7 billion private equity group of which over $750 million in Venture Capital for Europe with a venture portfolio of 80+ European high-tech companies
- Invested in more than 20 early stage Internet and Telecom startups for the last 10 years
- Board member of of Deezer (online music on demand), TravelHorizon (online ski travel), Mentum (radio planning for mobile operators), eRepublik (social strategy game), Yoono (social network aggregator) and Questico (online personal coaching). His other investments include: Dailymotion (video sharing portal), Steek (online backup for ISPs, sold to F-Secure), Travelprice (online travel, sold to Lastminute.com), Telisma (voice recognition, sold to OnMobile), Fluxus (hosting, sold to British Telecom), Mediapps (portal solution, sold to EverTeam) and OneAccess (enterprise routers)
- Previously, 5 years in technology investment banking in Paris and New York. He started his career as an option trader
- Dipl.-Eng. in Telecommunications Engineering, Economics and Actuarial Studies
- CloseRyan Pollock
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Venture Advisor Technology (Denver, CO)
Managing Director Meritage Funds ($600M) -
- Ryan Pollock is an actively investing venture capitalist at Meritage Funds, a Denver, Colorado VC, which invests globally with over $600M of assets under management
- Meritage leadership's past exits include Brooks Fiber Properties (BFP) acquired by WorldCom for $3.4 billion; Cencom Cable Associates acquired by Crown Cable Corp, a division of Hallmark Industries, for over $1 billion; and MetroNet Communications acquired by AT&T Canada for $3.2 billion
- Prior to joining Meritage Mr. Pollock gained seven years of operating experience as Business Development Manager at Investec, a $60 billion global asset management company
- He currently serves as a director of Miniweb and a board observer of Perlego Systems, both Meritage portfolio companies
- Mr. Pollock is a member of the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association board of directors as well as an executive coach to MBA students at The Daniels College of Business at Denver University
- Mr. Pollock holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Cape Town, a graduate degree in International Economics, Politics and Philosophy from Oxford University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin
- He is also the founder and Chairman of Starfish Greathearts Foundation USA
- CloseJörg Überla
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Venture Advisor Technology (Munich)
Venture Partner, Environmental Technology Fund (ETF) ($165M)
ex-General Partner Wellington Partners ($1B) -
- Entrepreneur, active angel investor, CEO mentor and non-executive director for high-growth technology ventures
- Venture Partner at £110 million London-based cleantech VC fund Environmental Technology Fund (ETF) focused on cleantech deals in German speaking European countries
- Ten years in Venture Capital. One of five General Partners driving the overall strategy of Wellington Partners ($1 billion USD+ under management), from fundraising to investment strategy and investment decisions
- Led due diligence, negotiations, long term company building, IPO and tradesales, as well as crisis management and special turn-around situations
- Involved in 15 ventures as a Venture Capital investor typically taking a board seat
- Closely tracked c. 100 ventures backed by Wellington, selected out of thousands of business plans
- Global contact network
- Prior experience includes four years as entrepeneur in a startup - Speech Machines - from two people in one room, through fundraising and building the organisation all the way to getting revenue traction and ultimately selling the company to a strategic buyer
- MBA INSEAD, Ph.D. in Computer Science Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, Universite J. Fourier, Master of Science, Computer Science Grenoble, France, Bachelor of Science, Computer Science Technische Hochschule München
- CloseJörg “George” Sperling
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Venture Advisor Technology (London / Munich)
Partner WHEB Ventures
Infineon Ventures
Ridgewood Capital Target Partners ($300M) -
- Partner at WHEB Ventures, London based Cleantech Fund with a 15 year history
- Currently running the Munich office for WHEB Ventures
- Previously spent 6 years as a VC in Silicon Valley at Infineon Ventures and 2 years on the East Coast at Ridgewood Capital
- Cleantech focused Venture Partner for 2 years at Target Partners in Munich, Germany
- Corporate career held executive positions at technology companies most recently VP Sales Global for Dresden based mixed-signal expert ZMD AG
- Past investments include Ikanos IPO, Volterra IPO, Lightlogic sale to Intel and mediaQ sale to Nvidia to name a few
- Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Aachen, Germany
- Conducted research in the area of semiconductor crystal growth at AT&T Bell Laboratories (New Jersey, USA) and at the Israel’s Institute of Technology (Technion)
- CloseJonas Risberg
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Venture Advisor Technology (Stockholm)
ex-Partner 3i Group Partner
InnovationsKapital MD MCI Worldcom ($15B) -
- Venture Capital, former Partner 3i Group ($19 billion in funds), former Partner InnovationsKapital ($400+ million in funds)
- Over 8 years partner experience as a venture capitalist deal sourcing and managing deal flow, due diligence and deal making, advising portfolio companies as an active hands on board member actively bringing investments through to exit
- Senior corporate, Managing Director MCI Worldcom Nordic and later VP with responsibility also for Spain, Austria and Ireland
- Grew MCI Worldcom Nordic from a start up to $150M turnover and 550 employees
- Strong telecom & technology pedigree, senior management positions at Ericsson & IBM
- Master of Science in Engineering and Business Administration from Linköping Institute of Technology
- CloseSophie McGrath
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Corporate Securities Law
Morrison & Foerster -
- Sophie McGrath is a senior associate in the London office of Morrison & Foerster and is a member of the Corporate Group. Ms McGrath advises on a wide range of matters, including private and public financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, restructurings, debt financing and banking and other credit transactions. A strong focus of her practice is in the venture and development capital sector, acting for companies seeking growth through financings involving combinations of both debt and equity. Ms McGrath also acts in traditional exit scenarios for such companies, such as trade sales and listings. Ms McGrath's practice covers a range of industries, although she has a particular expertise in the life sciences, technology and cleantech sectors.
- Advising Novo A/S which led a €100 million investment round into Symphogen A/S, a Danish biotech company that specialises in the development of recombinant antibody therapies for the treatment and prevention of disease. (2010)
- Advising a consortium of investors comprising Apposite Capital, New Leaf Venture Partners and SV Life Sciences in a $35.4 million series A financing for Convergence Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a spin out from GlaxoSmithKline. (2010)
- Advising the selling shareholders of RespiVert Ltd., a drug discovery company working towards new treatments for respiratory disease, on the $100 million acquisition by Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc. (2010)
- Advising SpringSource Limited, a division of VMware, Inc., the leader in Java application infrastructure and management, on the acquisition of Rabbit Technologies Ltd, an open source software company based in the UK. (2010)
- Advising IS Pharma plc an AIM listed specialist pharmaceutical and medical devices company on a £12.5 million cash placing. (2010)
- Advising Korn/Ferry International, a premier global recruitment business on its acquisition of the UK based recruitment agency Whitehead Mann Limited. (2009)
- Advising Oxford Immunotec Limited on a $26 million financing round with lead investor New Leaf Venture Partners. Oxford Immunotec is a medical diagnostics company who's lead product is a cellular blood test for the detection of TB. Also advised Oxford Immunotec on its prior financing round in 2007 for $40 million. (2009)
- Represented Ricoh Company, Ltd., Japan's second-largest maker of office machines, in its $2.4 billion acquisition of IKON Office Solutions, Inc., the world's largest independent channel for document management systems. (2008)
- Advising AIM listed IS Pharma Plc, a specialist pharmaceuticals and medical devices company on its £13 million acquisition of Speciality European Pharma International AG. (2008)
- Advising Green Power Corporation Limited on its acquisition of the assets of Firepower Technology Ltd, which included a formula for a chemical product claimed to increase the efficiency of fuel. Green Power operates in the fuel technology, biofuel and cleantech industries and is focused on developing solutions to improve fuel efficiency. (2008)
- Ms. McGrath graduated from the University of Sydney in 1998 with bachelor degrees in both Commerce and Law. She qualified as a solicitor in Australia in 1999 and was also admitted to practice in England & Wales in 2004. Ms. McGrath joined Morrison & Foerster in 2006 from the London office of SJ Berwin.
- CloseTrevor James
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Tax Law Partner
Morrison & Foerster -
- Trevor James is a partner in the firm's Tax Group and Managing Partner of the London office. He has over 20 years' experience in providing corporate and international tax advice. His clients include international banks, public and private companies, venture capital houses and high-net-worth individuals and he has sector-focused experience in advising technology, healthcare, media and communication companies.
- Mr. James has particular expertise advising on the tax aspects of private equity and M&A transactions. He has advised private equity houses on the design and implementation of tax-efficient private equity fund structure and the tax-efficient investment in MBOs, MBIs, secondary buyouts and venture capital financing (from early stage to pre-IPO funding). He has also advised a number of public and private companies on the planning and implementation of domestic and cross-border acquisitions and disposals.
- Mr. James has acted for a number of "IP rich" companies on the structuring and international exploitation of their IP assets, with the key objective of reducing the group's worldwide tax rate. He also advises a number of multinational companies on domestic and international tax issues, ranging from UK corporation tax planning to transfer pricing and controlled foreign companies matters.
- Mr. James has advised both banks and corporates in connection with the design and implementation of financial and structured products, including mortgage, royalty and receivable securitisations transactions and covered bonds transactions. He has also advised on a number of tax-based structured products and on medium-term note programmes and other cross-border debt securities offerings.
- Mr. James advises companies in connection with employee equity participation issues, including advising on HM Revenue & Customs approved share option schemes, unapproved option schemes, long term incentive plans and direct issue of shares to employers and directors.
- Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster, Mr. James was the joint head of the International Tax Group at Bird & Bird. Prior to this, he was the head of the London Tax Group at DLA. He joined Morrison & Foerster in 2005. He qualified as a solicitor in 1989 and completed his LLM in Taxation at Kings College, University of London in 1990. He frequently speaks at public seminars on a wide range of corporate tax subjects.
- CloseChris Coulter
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Corporate Securities Law
Morrison & Foerster -
- Chris Coulter is a partner in the firm's London office and a member of the Technology Transactions Group and the Global Sourcing Group. Mr. Coulter has over fifteen years of experience as a commercial lawyer, with a particular focus on transactions involving technology and intellectual property.
- He advises users and suppliers of technology and technology-enabled services on matters such as outsourcing and procurement, systems development and licensing. In addition, Mr. Coulter advises on digital rights exploitation, e-commerce and data protection/privacy, as well as the IP/IT aspects of M&A transactions and joint ventures.
- Representative Matters
- Odeon UCI Cinemas in connection with its UK pilot project to screen multiple exhibitions using digital technology.
- Security Printing and Systems in connection with the project to develop and supply the new British biometric passport.
- Motorola in connection with its acquisition of TTP Communications plc, a developer telecommunications equipment technology.
- Astron/RR Donnelley in connection with its provision of outsourcing services to ING Bank in the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland.