I have founded, been CEO, chaired or been one of the original investors and backers in over 70 digital and technology companies worldwide, including the US, most European countries, the UK, Israel, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria. I spend much of my time focused on fintech, crypto, health and wellness, SaaS and digitisation. I founded fintech company Wonga, which I built to over $100m in annual net profit, and helped to co‑found SME banking startup Tide. I have been recognised as Digital Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 (The Guardian), UK’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 (EY) and Founder of the Year 2010 (TechCrunch). I am also a technologist and the inventor on a number of granted and pending patents.
As a multiple‑time founder with experience through to multi‑billion dollar outcomes, I continue to invest very early and always take real skin in the game. I am not an institutional VC and do not focus on maximising assets under management. I work closely with founders to optimise product roadmaps and funding strategies, an approach I sometimes describe as Riding Shotgun. Early investments include Wise, Cazoo, Purplebricks, K Health, YuLife, Sure, Demyst, Zoe, Farewill, CityMapper, Modifi, UnBabel, Thimble, HiBob, Elliptic, Lendingkart and VivaReal.