Industrial Net Zero Who's Involved

Partner at Britbots, investing in companies using automation - pure software, machine learning or robotics - to bring about large scale productivity improvements.

Engineer with a background in building tech in the energy sector. Backing early-stage software founders across UK & Europe.

MBA Oxford, High Impact Leadership Cambridge, BSc BA Zurich School of Economics, Business Architect, Systems Builder, Corporate Diplomat, Financial Engineer, Sustainable & Innovative Finance strategies for UN SDGs, FRSA. Co-Founder and CEO of Fund4Impact, UK Gove funded digital platform connecting early stage ventures with the right source of capital. Founder of Proodos Capital, a Sustainable Investment Fund investing in climate smart agriculture and climate smart energy.

Dama Sathianathan is a partner at Bethnal Green Ventures (BGV), Europe’s leading early-stage tech for good VC, backing ambitious founders using technology to tackle pressing social and environmental challenges at scale. At BGV, she leads on community and networks, driving BGV's efforts to act with integrity on diversity, equity and inclusion in helping founders from underrepresented backgrounds access capital and fuel the wider tech for good movement across the UK.

Darren is the Program Manager in Antler’s London office and has over seven years of experience working with tech startups, helping them go to market and secure investment. He previously worked as Head of Innovation at Unbound, connecting 100s of startups with global corporations at events such as Unbound London, FinTech Abu Dhabi and Innovfest Unbound in Singapore. Darren also worked at Digital Catapult, where he helped establish their first accelerators.

Computer scientist by training, Georg spent many hours coding by himself and working in startups. He loves to meet and support great founders appreciating that they are attempting two incredibly hard things at the same time: pushing the limits of technology while building a fast growing company. Georg is Principal at IQ Capital Partners, a deep-tech​ early stage VC investing in UK companies capable of dominating global markets. He previously invested in several B2B software-, deeptech- and sustainability startups from seed to growth stage with Zouk Capital, Octopus Ventures and Nauta Capital.

Jake joined Mercia in 2020 as an Investment Associate for Mercia’s EIS Fund team. In addition to research support, origination and execution of early stage investments, Jake undertakes portfolio support across Mercia’s EIS Fund portfolio. Jake focuses on Software and Life Science investment opportunities.

Jonathan Sun is the Founder of Horizan VC, an alt-VC Fund investing in idea stage to pre seed founders using Convertible Future Earnings Agreements. Prior to this, he worked on an Edtech app for 3 years and helped manage community at Othership.

Passionate about scientific breakthrough technologies and a desire to support the most scientifically and technologically ambitious ventures, Rick invests in startups that are using deep technologies to solve big and practical problems with technically ambitious solutions. Rick leads and manages the firm’s investment thesis in all deep tech sectors, including AI, Quantum technologies, Material Science, Cyber Security and Biotech.

Rockman previously worked at Ascension, an early-stage VC built by exited entrepreneurs to back the next generation of tech and impact founders. He was responsible for fund operations, portfolio support as well as sourcing, screening and performing due diligence on investment opportunities. Prior to VC, Rockman co-founded a venture-backed cyber security company where he worked with enterprise customers in banking and national security.

Tom has spent time on both sides of the table and has a passion for technology that is able to make lasting impactful changes.

Vanessa Viana, Managing Partner at Capital Lab Ventures, the first cross-border venture firm bridging deep tech investments in the UK, Europe, Latam, and Israel. She has more than twenty years of experience in venture capital, private equity, M&A, and risk management. From 2011 to 2019 Ms. Viana was the co-founder and fund manager at Bradesco Private Equity, having managed a $2 billion multi-strategy Private Equity fund and the Corporate Venture Capital fund of the second largest bank in Latam. Vanessa led the investment, growth, and exit events, including the IPOs, of some portfolio companies.

Alex is a finance professional who has worked with tech entrepreneurs from start up to £25m turnover since 2010. He is a Director at Silicon Valley Bank where the mission is to help companies reach their next round faster.

Lawrence leads research at Lunar Ventures, an early-stage deep tech fund. Previously he was a Partner at Outlier Ventures, a Web3 accelerator, developing the investment thesis focused on the intersection of blockchains, IoT and AI. He has worked with DCMS, RadicalxChange, WEF, and OECD on technology policy.

Rachel is an associate in the early-stage practice with SVB UK. She is responsible for serving banking clients in the pre-seed to Series A funding stages. Before joining SVB UK, Rachel worked in various analyst positions with Deloitte, Macquarie Group, in addition to JPMorgan Chase in the UK and Australia. Rachel earned a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies with Spanish from the University of Sussex and has an interest in sustainability and purpose led businesses.

Nastasha Velasco is an economist focused on Technology Innovation and Agile Business Strategy. She worked across nine different countries, four different industries, and led more than 52 teams. She was Chief Executive & Finance Director for the Superintendency of Credit Unions in Venezuela and was Director of Strategic Budgeting & Planning for El Hatillo Municipality . She managed more than 50 national public opinion polls and two Presidential & Local Exit Polls through her company Brainy Consulting. Moreover, she worked on Strategic Operations & Business Development with startups and scaling organisations in Europe such as enpact, P1 Racing Fuels, Just a Change, Bridge for Billions, and Tech Nation. Currently, she is AI & DS Innovation Partner at Digital Catapult , the Founder of Growth Vikings, and a TOA Founders KLUB Member.

Maurizio is a technologist, technology leader and executive with over two decades of experience in data and digital roles spanning science, R&D, strategy, innovation, corporate development, market and business development and technology commercialisation.

An experienced Investment and Commercial Manager with substantial track record of sourcing, structuring, modelling, marketing, and closing investment deals of venture-stage businesses. Matias can advise founders and entrepreneurs on growth planning for their businesses; these range from strategy development, investment structuring, to raising and securing the needed equity capital.

Marina is passionate about innovation and technology, and specifically about its role in improving the lives of billions. She has been working in technology as the founder and advisor for almost a decade.

James has experience of delivering 100 assignments in multiple industrial sectors/end markets - last count was 40, including, FinTech, manufacturing, services and digital/tech, public sector and universities.
Recently acting as lead facilitator for FinTech North's regional strategy build-up in the North East in collaboration with Dynamo, 300 stakeholders and liaison with Edinburgh's Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence during 2019.

11+ years of experience with 8+ years in the field of innovation, in corporates roles, consultancy and R&D. Andreas has led award-winning innovation projects end to end from concept development to business case, prototype and launch, including two spin offs.

Richard H Harris is helping founders and investors achieve an optimal outcome when selling their businesses. His expertise lies in building early-stage technology companies and leveraging business acumen to generate solutions for complex issues. Richard specialises in championing strategic initiatives to deliver effective results, participating in critical decision-making processes while working proactively with cross-functional teams to produce service excellence. With a strategic mindset, he is committed to cultivating exceptional stakeholder relationships, meeting their needs and expectations at every step. As an experienced and goal-oriented professional, business owners know they can rely on his ability to provide exceptional service, resources, and methods to meet ever-changing objectives and ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements.

Alex is the Associate at Concentric, a VC fund based out of London. His primary role is to manage the European pipeline, with a particular interest in SaaS and Web3/Gaming. Prior to Concentric, Alex worked in M&A at HSBC before joining a predictive analytics start-up (now a Mastercard company).

Wil is Cofounder & Director at Metta, LP in The Fund and Investor & Advisor at Landscape. He has personally invested in 30+ startups, directly supported over 60 on accelerator programmes and helped invest over £3m to date. He is also a VC scout for Ada Ventures and have started, scaled and sold his own business.

Viola has 15 years experience working in the technology and creative sectors in both Asia and the UK. Currently working as an Accelerator Programme Manager with Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs to unleash innovation and maximising sustainable impact. Prior to joining CISL, she was part of the founding team establishing the London Fashion Fund, which supported start-ups and entrepreneurs to address innovation and sustainability in the fashion industry. Viola is also advisor and mentor for a few fashion technology start-ups.

Steven Kear is Principal Technologist and Founder of Kear Technology Solutions and a Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Visiting Professor. Always keen to solve a problem, Steven draws on his background in Computer Science and extensive knowledge of embedded systems, electronic product development and digital transformation, to understand technical needs, business requirements and deliver creative, tailored solutions.

Shravane has more than 18 years of global experience in enterprise asset management focusing on Energy Efficiency and Operations monitoring systems spanning various industries. In 2016, Prognostic was founded as an Enterprise AI driven Asset Management for Asset Energy Monitoring, and later launched CarbonAnalytics, a granular Carbon Intelligence platform for Industrial Decarbonisation. He is passionate about climate change, Shravane is a Techstars’ alumnus and now mentors startup in cleantech space.

Rozalie is one of the co-founders of Thermulon - a startup developing advanced materials for building insulation. Rozalie is an entrepreneur driven by profit and purpose, with focus on sustainability.

Robert has been involved in energy since 2000 and since 2004, he has been focusing on renewable energy across development, lending and investing side. In 2018, Robert set up Ikigai to help deliver the energy transition. The company looks at cleantech as key elements to support the energy revolution. Creation of value is at core of what we do as we believe there is no energy transition without creation of value.

Patrick works in the Climate Change & Environment Studio at Deloitte Ventures. He has experience mentoring a number of startups with climate tech solutions to various challenge areas (e.g. Energy, Mobility & Circular Economy).

As a Senior Advocate, Jerome acts as an ambassador for Unity’s growth into new industries, specifically automotive, transportation and manufacturing. Jerome has two decades worth of experience building interactive user experiences across web, XR, installations, mobile and embedded devices for brands such as Tata, Airbus, Panasonic Avionics, as well as architectural visualisation apps for Herzog & de Meuron and Zaha Hadid.

Transitioning from the world of sustainable transport and future mobility Nathan has long been an advocate of ‘using use less better’ and with that a common sense approach to how we produce and consume products and services. Nathan is firmly of the belief that there are more than enough assets to go round and that the real challenge or opportunity is to simply be a bit more savvy in how we use those assets whether they be pallets or bicycles! Previous to this role, Nathan headed up a partnership function at Liftshare.com that resulted in a successful collaboration with Enterprise Holdings where again the focus was on better use of existing assets as to avoid waste and duplication.

Lecturer in entrepreneurship and strategy. Led projects worth 2 million US dollars. Eager to learn the best entrepreneurial practices to enhance product innovation.

Kourosh is a British-born, London-based entrepreneur. He is currently Co-founder and CEO at his Deeptech startup called Valkyrie Industries which specialises in creating haptic wearables for virtual and augmented reality. Alongside, he has also joined a newly built start-up, FloatSync, which creates sustainable solutions for recycling mismanaged plastics. He has a background in Product Design Engineering from Brunel University (UK) and holds a double master's degree in Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art. Since 2017, Kourosh has mentored across a wide range of programs from Barclays Eagle Labs to Digital Catapult in London. His 5 years as a Deep Tech founder and his past 11 years of experience in innovation & design allows him to leverage vast knowledge to help much earlier entrepreneurs to find their feet.

Karan is a Programme Manager with the Asia Programme at Fashion for Good. He leads the design and management of the Innovation Programme and also looks after overall portfolio support. By engaging the broader investment and innovation ecosystem, he supports sustainable fashion-tech entrepreneurs in their journey to scale within the industry. Prior to Fashion for Good, Karan worked at Yunus Social Business, working with corporates to venture-build social businesses and pilot disruptive innovation, and was also a summer analyst at Ankur Capital Fund.

A highly motivated corporate intrapeneur/entrepreneur, with a passion for new connected technologies, and supporting major firms to exploit them by developing engaging customer propositions that drive growth. Jan has a proven track record of 25+ years in the energy, telecoms and tech markets, with experience across strategy, business development, innovation management, proposition development, product management, brand and marcomms. Experience gathered from consulting projects with P&G, EON, RWE, Allianz, BAE Systems Detica & Vodafone IoT, and corporate innovation roles at EE/Orange and Deutsche Telekom.

Jess is a consultant in the Climate Change and Environment Studio in Deloitte Ventures. Combining her Consulting experience with climate change expertise, she works with Deloitte’s alliances and the start-up market to develop innovative solutions to address risks and create opportunities in sustainability.

Jeffrey is a climate change policy expert and clean technology specialist with a background in entrepreneurship and business acceleration. He is the Managing Director of Zest Associates, a Dubai-based sustainability consultancy that he founded in 2020, and has 17 years' experience that cuts across sustainability strategy, climate policy, clean tech innovation and green finance. Previously, Jeffrey founded Beyond C, a UK climate consultancy, and Terra Power, an R&D clean technology start-up that couples biogas with land remediation. He was instrumental in establishing a £40-million public-private partnership Venture Capital fund for clean tech innovators, prepared the £125-million business strategy for the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, and designed and launched the Offshore Wind Innovation Hub.

Harry is currently Chief of Staff at Greyparrot, a startup that uses AI to solve the waste crisis, which has raised $5.5m to date. Previously, Harry ran Tech Nation's Applied AI programme, through which 90+ companies have graduated, including Cervest, nPlan, Monolith AI, Flexciton and others. Before that, Harry supported over 180 startups at Wayra, Telefonica's accelerator.

Geoff Anderson founded one of London’s award-winning cyber security start-ups in 2012, taking the company through multiple funding rounds (£3.5M) including Venture Capital funding from Softbank Investments, Japan. He is best known for his thought leadership and is an innovative entrepreneur who developed a security platform focused on consumer usability to reduce friction during authentication.

Fernando has +15 years experience in innovation, circular economy, and project management. His areas of expertise include leadership, strategy, mentoring, digital, development of new products and services, and management of collaborative innovation projects. Fernando has designed sustainability strategies for circular startups, clean-tech companies, buildings and waste management in cities, among other projects.

David is an experienced strategist, business developer and angel investor across sectors ranging from logistics, engineering, early-stage technology, media and sports equipment. David’s background is in logistics, having started his career with global shipping and industrial provider P&O, where he worked in operational and commercial roles. David left to join the Board and lead the strategy of a niche engineering logistics provider, transforming it into a leading player in the sector. He then played a key role in a successful Management Buy Out, and subsequent successful exit to Wincanton, the largest UK-owned logistics provider, where David integrated the business and led Business Development & Strategy in the defence and engineering sector. Following an MBA, David has operated as a strategic consultant and angel investor, and he has extensive experience in start-ups, scale-ups and corporate roles. He has been a Non Executive Director and Board Advisor / Observer in businesses in the Internet of Things, Agritech, Sports Technology and Composites. He is now the Associate Director for Whitecap Consulting in Birmingham and the Midlands, and Practice Lead for Logistics. David is an active MBA alumni of the Business School at the University of Birmingham, and has an MA from Oxford University.

Byeronie Epstein is a dynamic and action-orientated entrepreneur who is passionate about driving positive change with a focus on healthcare, energy, and mobility. Byeronie has leadership experience in driving complex multi-stakeholder projects at a global level. She has mobilized over 27 multinationals that have combined revenue of over $2 trillion to implement transport solutions in cities. She has also been the liaison to organizations like the World Bank and has implemented projects relating to sustainability (climate, energy, and transport) in Europe, South America, North America, and Australia. Byeronie has a master’s in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town. In her spare time, Byeronie likes to go on adventures and can be found on top of a reindeer in outer Mongolia or climbing Kilimanjaro.

Amir is cofounder and CEO at Virtuleap, a VR startup that unlocks neuroscience with virtual reality to help increase attention levels, and address cognitive illnesses, disorders, and learning challenges. Previous to Virtuleap, Amir founded Gameguise, a mobile games studio based in Dubai, and Time Dirham, the first social impact startup to introduce time banking to the Middle East. He is an alumni of York University and THNK School of Creative Leadership. Amir is a contributing writer to tech blogs like VentureBeat and Tech Crunch on the topics of emerging tech, spatial computing, and startup ecosystems.