Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology

Sam Ettelaie is the Co-Founder and CIO at Thema , Europe's strategic LP for emerging fund managers. They act as a strategic cornerstone limited partner, writing first tickets of up to £5m, offering operational and regulatory support.  Sam joins James Pringle and Hector Mason to discuss building long-term defensibility, knowledge vs operational edge,  Fund of Funds investing, & so much mor...

Callum Taylor is the Head of ITV AdVentures Ignite , they are here to help startup and scaleup brands begin an ongoing journey into the exciting world of TV - not as simply a media owner, but as a business partner. Hosting some of the nation’s favorite shows and offering unrivaled reach, advertising on ITV will supercharge your brand's growth - unlocking new customers in the only medium that...

Johannes Weber is the Founding Partner at Ananda Impact Ventures , the leading impact venture capital fund with a pan-European investment remit, managing ca. €200 million in four Core Impact Funds, with backing from notable institutional and private investors. They back technology businesses committed to having a positive impact that answers the most pressing social and ecological challenges of ou...

Meri Beckwith is a Co-Founder at Lindus Health . Their mission is to accelerate clinical trials, so patients can benefit from new treatments sooner. They are an anti-CRO running radically faster, more reliable clinical trials for life science pioneers. They do this thanks to a commercial model that aligns incentives (fixed-priced quotes per study, with milestone-based payments), marrying a world-c...

Chrys Chrysanthou and Leila Zegna are General Partners at Kindred Capital . At Kindred, they align their ambitions and achievements with their portfolio - in structure and in spirit. Every entrepreneur they invest in becomes a co-owner of the fund and they call it ‘equitable venture’. They invest early and work with their community of founders and advisers to help founders get further, faster from...

Suranga Chandratillake is a General Partner at Balderton Capital ;  a multistage venture firm with more than two decades of experience supporting Europe’s best founders from Seed to IPO. They have both early and growth funds and invest across the technology sector. Suranga joins James Pringle and Hector Mason to share strategies for creating new processes, the importance of establishing good relat...

Dinika Mahtani is a Partner at Cherry Ventures ; an early-stage venture capital firm led by a team of entrepreneurs with experience building fast-scaling companies such as Zalando and Spotify. The firm backs Europe's boldest founders, usually as their first institutional investor, and supports them in everything from their go-to-market strategy and the scaling of their businesses. Dinika join...

Amon Ghaiumy is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ophelos ; a fintech startup with unique technology that uses machine learning and behavioural science to get people debt-free and organisations paid back. Amon joins James Pringle and Hector Mason to discuss how he started Ophelos, the existing debt collection industry situation, the founder experience in the UK Tech ecosystem, & so much more.  Don&apo...

James Evans is the Co-Founder and CEO of CommandBar ; an AI-powered user assistance platform that makes your product easier to use. Activate and retain more users to grow faster. James joins James Pringle and Hector Mason to discuss how to determine product-market fit, CommandBar’s hiring philosophy, their fundraising strategy, & so much more.  Don't forget to like, subscribe, and follow...

Christian Gabriel is the Co-Founder and former CEO of Capdesk (acquired by Carta), a platform that helps people manage equity, build businesses, and invest in the companies of tomorrow. Their mission is to unlock the power of equity ownership for more people in more places. Carta is trusted by more than 40,000 companies, over 5,000 investment funds, and half a million employees for cap table manag...

David Bateman is a Managing Partner at Claret Capital Partners . The Claret team has been active in the technology financing markets for over 20 years and provides debt solutions to help entrepreneurs and private equity investors grow their companies while minimizing dilution. Since 2013 Claret has backed over 140 European SMEs from a wide range of geographies across Europe. David joins James Prin...

Agate Freimane is a General Partner at Norrsken VC , an Article 9, or "dark green," investment fund. They operate as a pure impact fund, exclusively investing in companies that have a sustainable objective for the product or service they develop. They provide extensive support to their portfolio companies, assisting them in implementing impact workshops and training programs. This enable...

Christian Noske is a Partner at NGP Capital . They back early-stage B2B companies from Series A onwards in Europe, the US, Israel, and China within enterprise software, industrial tech, cybersecurity, and infrastructure. Their current portfolio includes Coda, DataLoop, Clue, Nova Labs, Scandit, Shippeo, & SecurityScorecard, while their exits include Deliveroo, Xiaomi, Moovit, Kaltura, and many...

This episode is with Raphael Thiolon (Managing Director) and Lopo Champalimaud (Co-Founder & Managing Partner at V3 Ventures) at Verlinvest , an international, family-backed evergreen investment company. They partner with visionary entrepreneurs who are driving consumer revolutions and building the next generation of category-defining brands that will positively impact the consumer sector for...

Audrey Handem is a VC at Speedinvest ; one of Europe’s most active early-stage investors with more than €1 billion AuM and 40+ investors based in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, and Vienna. Founder success is Speedinvest’s top priority, so they don’t just send some money and "check in" at board meetings. Their mission is to empower founders with game-changing support through every stage o...

Jay Radia is the Founder and Managing Partner of Blissgrowth . They ideate, build, and scale industry winning B2B software technology companies with the best second-time founders. Jay joins Hector Mason to talk about decision-making, how happiness affects the business, startup process for his different companies, & so much more. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and follow The Riding Unico...

Roger Wade is the Chairman of Boxfund VC , a venture capital fund established by entrepreneurs, funded by entrepreneurs, and dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs. They possess a deep understanding of the qualities required for entrepreneurial success and actively seek out exceptional individuals with brilliant ideas. They provide them with financial backing and expert guidance to help them thrive...

Sir Martin Sorrell is the Founder and Executive Chairman of S4Capital plc, the tech led, new age / new era digital advertising and marketing services company for global, multinational, regional and local clients, and millennial-driven influencer brands. To commemorate the launch of Riding Unicorns in 2020, Sir Martin joins James Pringle and Hector Mason the second time around to talk about the lat...

Chris Smalling is a professional footballer and is also the Co-Founder of The Player's Fund. Chris currently plays for AS Roma in Italy.  He has 31 caps and 1 goal for England. A few year's ago Chris started investing in companies that align with his plant-based lifestyle and he has now helped launch The Player's Fund alongside other top investing athletes such as Ben Stokes, Stuart...

Niccolo Perra is the Co-Founder of Pleo . Pleo offers smart company cards that enable employees to buy the things they need for work, all while keeping a company's finance team in control of spending. Simplify bookkeeping, eliminate expense reports, and revolutionize your business. Niccolo joins James Pringle and Hector Mason in this episode to talk about Co-Founder relationships, product fee...

Jimmy Fussing Nielsen is a Partner and Co-founder of Heartcore Capital , an early-stage venture capital fund with offices in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, and Paris. Since 2007, they have backed some of Europe’s biggest category-defining companies, such as Tink, Neo4j, Boozt, Peakon, Seriously and TravelPerk. So far, they have invested in over 100 founding teams from 13 different countries. And t...

Babs Ogundeyi is the Founder and CEO of Kuda , a fintech company on a mission to make financial services more accessible, affordable and rewarding for every African on the planet. They've built the money app for Africans around the world, giving them a better alternative to traditional finance by delivering services including free money transfers, smart budgeting, investments and instant acce...

Kirsty Grant is Managing Director at Seedrs . Seedrs is Europe’s leading online private investing platform that enables individuals to invest in startups, growth companies, and, if eligible, top VC funds, as well as supporting entrepreneurs in all sectors to raise capital from their communities, angels and institutional investors. Since its launch in 2012 as an equity crowdfunding platform, Seedrs...

Donald Gillies and Henry Irish are the Founders of PassFort . They enable regulated financial services companies to rapidly onboard customers then manage risk and compliance standards throughout the customer lifecycle. Their integration model enables them to ingest datasets from any provider and interoperate with any system. They help you build a data ecosystem, with pre-built connectors to more t...

Saif Hameed is Founder and CEO of Altruistiq . The platform enables large enterprises with complex supply chains to automate sustainability data measurement, management and exchange - with unparalleled accuracy and ease. They believe that business has the power to be a force for positive change in the world. Their mission is to help businesses do more of what is measurably good, and less of what i...