People

Mark is Seraphim Capital’s Managing Director and has 18 years of venture capital and technology investing experience. He is also on the board of Cavendish Capital. Prior to Seraphim he was at YFM Equity Partners serving on their main board for a number of years and working on the British Smaller Company VCT 1 and 2. He initially trained as an equity analyst and fund manager at Williams de Broe and Brewin Dolphin before moving into venture. He has a Degree in Accounting & Finance, MA in Economics & Finance from the University of Leeds and a range of professional investment qualifications.

James joined Seraphim shortly after its launch in 2006. He has participated in all the investments Seraphim has made to date. Previously he worked at Burlington Consultants, a boutique strategy consultancy that was acquired by Deloitte & Touche. At Burlington / Deloitte, James worked on c.20 private equity transactions, conducting commercial due diligence across a wide range of sectors. He holds a first class degree in History from University College London where he specialised in the history of science and medicine.

Rob has over 15 years technology Venture Capital experience in both Investment and operational roles from start-up through to early stage, growth, development and AIM floats. Prior to Seraphim Rob was with YFM Equity Partners as an Investment Director working across London Seed Capital, The Capital Fund and the British Smaller Companies VCT plc. He has been Board observer or Director for over 30 portfolio companies including the World’s leading social listening company Brandwatch (14x Exit). Rob was also Investment Director for the London Business Angels Network. In 2013 Rob successfully launched, as Co-Founder, a FinTech start-up raising £3.5m from leading Angel Investors, where he led the commercial engagement with the tier 1 banking community. In his early career Rob worked in Silicon Valley for a boutique consultancy, working on new market entry for pre IPO companies and commercialisation strategies for University spinouts. He then went on to work as an Analyst for the University of Ulster’s new Ventures team UUTech. Rob holds a BSc(Hons) in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Glasgow and a Postgraduate Diploma in Information Technology Systems from the University of Strathclyde. He is also a Director of Capital Enterprise which is committed to making London the best place to start and grow a business. Outside of work he can be found walking his dogs in the countryside, following the exploits of the English rugby and cricket teams or indulging his passions in classic cars and cooking.

Ms. Johnson has a long and distinguished career as founder/co-founder of such space ventures as SES ASTRA, SES Global, Loral-Teleport Europe, Europe Online, as well as having played critical roles in bringing about space sector leaders including Iridium and ILS. An experienced venture capitalist and investor, Ms. Johnson has been a member of the Strategic Committee of Iris Capital for the past decade and until recently has served as President of the European Business Angel Network, now President Emeritus.  Ms. Johnson serves and has served on the boards of a number of emerging space leaders including NorthStar Earth and Space and Kacific.  She is also the founding president of the VATM, the Association of Private Telecom Operators, co-founder of the Global Telecom Women’s Network (GTWN) and co-founder of the Middle East and North Africa Business Angel Network (MBAN) and the African Business Angel Network (ABAN).

Michael is widely recognised as a leading authority on the commercialisation of earth observation data gathered by satellites. As inventor of Clip Mapping and cofounder/CTO of Keyhole Corporation – which Google acquired in 2004 – Michael shepherded the technology that would go on to become Google Earth. He subsequently spent more than a decade in senior leadership roles at Alphabet / Google with billion-user products as CTO of Google Maps, Google Earth, and Local Search, and more latterly as Google’s Chief Technology Advocate. Michael has also previously held senior roles at Wearality and Silicon Graphics.

Matt O’Connell is a recognised thought leader in the geospatial intelligence industry. Currently a Director of Space Flight Industries the next-generation space company enabling access to space through secondary payloads and redefining global intelligence. From October 2015 to July 2016, he was CEO of OneWeb, a telecom start-up seeking to build a constellation of satellites to provide affordable high-speed Internet access for the world’s unconnected. Prior to joining OneWeb, he was President and CEO of GeoEye. In January, 2013, he concluded the sale of GeoEye to DigitalGlobe for $1.3bn. From 2003 he grew GeoEye from 60 employees producing $9 million of revenue per year to 760 employees producing $360 million (2012). Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, GeoEye was a leading global provider of satellite and aerial imagery and geospatial information products and solutions. GeoEye was publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange and listed on the Russell 3000 index.

Kit is Seraphim Capital’s Chairman and a Managing Partner with over 25 years of early stage investment experience. He is also Founder and Managing Director of the The Summit Group which he grew into a diversified financial group encompassing vendor finance, property investment and services, structured finance, medtech, insurance and fund management – in addition to backing many other early stage businesses. Previously he was with JP Morgan in London and New York. He has an MA in Law and Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.

Paul is a Managing Partner of Seraphim Capital and has 25 years of UK venture capital and private equity experience. He is also Managing Director of Pi Capital and on the boards of three Ventus VCT funds. Prior to joining Pi Capital, Paul spent 19 years at ECI, the London based mid-market buy-out house, where he was Managing Director. During his time at ECI, the firm invested in more than 100 companies, in investments spanning the gamut of start-up, early stage, development capital, buy-ins and buy-outs in UK private companies. Previously he was with Price Waterhouse, where he spent six years, latterly in corporate finance. He is a chartered accountant and holds a BSc in Physics from the University of Surrey.

Anthony has 25 years of early stage angel investment and venturing experience. He is the former Managing Director and founder of Newable Private Investing (previously trading as London Business Angels) which is one of the UK’s longest established and most active angel groups.

He is the former Chairman of the UK Business Angels Association, and President Emeritus of the European Business Angel Network.

Josephine brings more than a decade of experience in investment/equity research following the aerospace industry. Her research coverage has included a wide range of small-to-mid cap Defence and Security Technology companies, such as space (DigitalGlobe and GeoEye), drones (AeroVironment) robots (iRobot), and threat detection. She worked most recently at the Benchmark Company, where she established a Washington D.C. office prior to relocating to Paris, France. She began her equity research career covering Global Communications at JP Morgan. Josephine received her MBA from Georgetown University and bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside.

Jeff brings more than a decade of operational and venture capital experience focused around deep technology. Prior to Seraphim Jeff managed strategy at Viasat, a provider of satellite broadband and secure networking systems for defence and commercial markets. Jeff worked across a variety of early stage start-ups including as co-founder and CEO of DeepSee, a next generation augmented and virtual reality optics company. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Jeff led climate tech venture capital investments at DTE Energy Ventures. Jeff holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of work he enjoys digital design, playing rugby, and gardening.

Lewis holds a First-class Aeronautics and Astronautics MEng degree from the University of Southampton, specialising in Spacecraft Engineering. He has worked as a Thermal Analyst in the Rotatives department at Rolls-Royce, primarily focusing on the safety aspects of jet engines on Civil Aircraft. He also completed an internship at RBS in the Data and Analytics division. He is an avid Welsh Rugby supporter and a certified snowboard instructor.

Christiana is Seraphim Capital’s Executive Assistant, and joined the team at the start of 2017. She acquired over 15 years’ experience as a PA and Bookkeeper in the fashion industry before leaving in 2016 to work as an Executive Assistant at Deloitte. During her time at Deloitte, she supported Partners and Directors in the Human Capital and Financial Services departments within the Consulting division. In her spare time she is a keep fit enthusiast, enjoying regular spin and step aerobics classes.