Investment Experts

Jodie is hugely passionate about entrepreneurship and helping entrepreneurs along their journey. She has founded, bought and closed her own start-ups, worked directly for founders in scaling companies and enabled over 250 entrepreneurs. Jodie works for Entrepreneurial Spark and is Project Lead for Fusion and the UK Space Agency Accelerator.

Ashleigh’s role is to guide and support entrepreneurs in developing the skills and mindset needed to take their business to the next level. Throughout her career, she has had the privilege of working with businesses from different sectors in various capacities, including running Accelerators and Incubators. This experience has given her a deep understanding of what it takes to identify and nurture entrepreneurial talent.

Kristina is the Founder and Managing Director of leading South East investor group, South East Angels, which has invested over £1M into startups since forming just a few years ago. With over 8 years experience in supporting startups, Kristina's expertise lies in early-stage startup capital, marketing, and finance. Having sat on both sides of the table during deal negotiations: the founder side and the investor side, Kristina has gained significant insight into the process and the dynamics at play, from what makes for a successful raise to what can ruin a deal in an instant.

Morgan Killick is an investment readiness expert with 25 years experience in business. Morgan founded an IT Services company in his bedroom while studying for a PhD. After exiting to an MBO in 2014, he now advises and mentors businesses from start-ups to £multi-million turnover companies. He works in a consultancy capacity for various institutions and accelerators and startups he has supported in the last few years have raised over £20m. Morgan also holds two non-Executive Directorships and recently won Innovate UK funding for his latest project – an AI startup. Mentees will find Morgan approachable and enthusiastic but nevertheless his straight-talking style will help you focus on getting results.

Giles is a serial entrepreneur, having founded and scaled a handful of tech companies, raising both angel and VC money. Following his entrepreneurial journey, Giles joined NorthInvest working with early stage startups across the North of England and created the South Yorkshire Angel Hub, growing it from 7 to over 40 members, before taking up his current role as Regional Development Manager for Par Equity, an early and later stage VC fund. He is leading Par Equity's expansion into Yorkshire and the North of England, identifying and backing the most innovative, high growth tech startups in the region.

Martin is the founder of angelgroups, a large angel network investing at Seed stage in high-growth businesses. Whilst the group is largely sector agnostic, it doesn’t invest in any business that can create harm, including gambling, alcohol, adult themes, weapons or anything that can have a negative environmental impact.  This group is supported by angelgroups proprietary tech and as a founder, Martin empathises with others going on the same entrepreneurial journey. 

Marla is the Founder and CEO of the HERmesa angel syndicate which invests in pre/seed stage women (co)founded startups in the UK. She has grown the syndicate from 5 women to over 170 members and, to date, they have collectively invested in 21 startups. Prior to launching HERmesa, Marla worked for nearly 20 years for media & technology companies in operational roles as a strategist, business development director, sales lead and COO.  The companies ranged from large multi -nationals, to small media tech start-ups. Marla spent the early years of her career working on Wall Street & the City at investment banks in structured finance roles. Marla holds an MBA degree from the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Jo Nisbet is a corporate partner at Harper Macleod LLP, one of Scotland’s leading independent law firms. Jo works in Harper Macleod’s entrepreneurial team and specialises in advising high growth companies. She has extensive investment experience, including in-depth knowledge of equity crowdfunding. Jo advised on over 50 deals in 2022 and one-third of the investment deals Jo led on in 2022 were cross border, making the team one of the most active in the Scottish entrepreneurial marketplace. Jo also advises on exits, shareholder agreements, share option agreements and restructure work and is independently recognised in Chambers and in Legal 500.

Shruti began her career in Singapore where she worked with organizations across Southeast Asia, supporting corporates and foundations develop and execute innovation programmes across verticals such as food/agri-tech, energy, healthcare, and robotics. She worked closely with Government agencies, Centres of Innovation, and SMEs in the region, delivering and evaluating the impact of SME support programmes, building her expertise across sectors such as manufacturing, precision engineering and environment/water technology, while also mentoring several early-stage founders to scale their businesses. Prior to joining the UKI2S team, she was an Investor with an early-stage climate tech fund in London, where she managed a portfolio of 36 companies, lead their 12 month-long Accelerator programme, and built out their impact measurement practice. Shruti holds a dual degree in Mathematics and Economics from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and is a Women’s Merit Scholar from London Business School’s Master’s in Finance programme.

Andy is a science and technology entrepreneur, financing and growing businesses seeking to commercialise research in sectors such as space, telecommunications and semiconductors. Andy is a scientist and engineer by background, with a Masters in Nuclear Physics and early career in satellite systems engineering and space imaging. Andy has worked with leading consultancy firms on technology development and £1bn mergers and acquisitions. Andy enjoyed developing space strategy with the scientists at the UK’s National Physical Laboratory and is passionate about growing the UK space economy. Andy is on the Executive Committee of UKspace and co-chairs the Space Exports Group. Investors will benefit from Andy’s wide-reaching knowledge of the UK’s space sector and the people within it.

David is a serial entrepreneur in the technology sector and Principal at Manchester Angels; a technology investment angel network in partnership with leading global tech advisory GP Bullhound and commercial property specialist Bruntwood. He also runs Glenluna Ventures - a tech advisory business that raises money for early-stage startups and scaleups. As Founder and ex CEO of Visual Commerce business DigitalBridge (now Fixtuur) he pioneered the use of AI in consumer-facing design solutions concluding deals with some of the world's largest DIY retailers. He is an advisor and NED for several technology startups/scaleups and supports those businesses through early growth and fund-raising journeys; he has raised millions in funding for both his business and for others. David is and has been Entrepreneur in Residence at a number of accelerator programmes including L Marks, Enterprise City Accelerator run by Applied London and Tech Nation and cyber-security accelerator DiSH in conjunction with Barclays.

With a background in start-up incubators, accelerators and growth programmes, Rebecca has worked with hundreds of startups in preparation for securing funding. Specialising in storytelling, pitch preparation and structure, founder confidence levels, communication styles and self-limiting beliefs, she enables founders to command a room and land their proposition. Her approach ensures messaging resonates with customers and investors alike.  

Teaching experimentation, growth techniques and foundational strategies such as defensibility, she focuses on creating the evidence investors want to see in securing funding and prepares founders for the tricky questions they’re likely to face.

She has a positive psychology coaching practice, working 1-2-1 with founders on their mindset, consults on startup growth strategies and writes teaching programmes on innovation, lean startup and design thinking.