EI has a supportive team of investment specialists with considerable hands-on early-stage experience.
Head of Investment
Andrea is part of the founding Old College Capital team and has more than 30 years of investment and venture capital experience. Andrea is FCA qualified and before joining OCC held director positions at Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank Of Scotland and Scottish Enterprise. Andrea holds a BSc in Pure and Applied Mathematics from the University of Strathclyde.
Investment Manager
Simon joined the team in May 2019. Simon is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAS) with varied commercial experience, having founded his own company and worked with a wide range of others as part of roles in strategy consultancy, accounting, finance and early-stage investment. Simon holds a BA in Economics and Management from the University of Cambridge.
Investment Executive
Kate joined the Investment Team in March 2020. Kate has a variety of experience in technology commercialisation, most recently as part of the Enterprise Development team at EI, where she supported the development of University of Edinburgh spinout companies, and previously in policy development and regulation. she holds a PhD in Microbiology from Imperial College London.
Investment Executive
Dougal joined the team in December 2021 from Atlantic Bridge, a Dublin-based venture capital firm, and was previously a fellow at M Ventures. Dougal has additional experience in corporate strategy and market research. He holds an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a BSc from the University of St Andrews.
Investment Administrator
Catie has a wealth of university administrative experience having previously worked as EI's DDE Programme Administrator and at Edinburgh College of Art supporting the Institute of Design Informatics. She has worked in a variety of industries ranging from start-ups to SMEs. She studied Business Management at Dalhousie University with a focus on Entrepreneurship.
The Investment Team is part of the wider Enterprise Services team at EI and we work closely with colleagues across EI and the broader University. The team also report and make recommendations to several internal University boards.
Head of Enterprise Services, Director of ETF and OCC GP Board
John is the Head of Enterprise at Edinburgh Innovations, bringing together Enterprise Development, Technology Transfer and Investment activities. He has held several previous roles in commercialisation, most recently as Director of Innovation and Enterprise at UCLan.
Director Of Operations, Corporate Services, Director ETF and OCC GP Board
Ashley is the Director of Operations in the corporate services division of the University, leading the delivery of the University’s strategic priorities and operational activities. Ashley is a Chartered Accountant with experience in large scale mergers & acquisitions, corporate restructuring and strategic projects
Director of Specialist Services, UoE Finance, Director OCC GP Board
Terry is the head of Treasury Services at the University, secretary for the UoE investment committee, and a founding member of OCC’s GP board. Terry’s areas of responsibility at the UoE cover Treasury Management, Investment, Endowments, Taxation, Financial Modelling, Pensions, and Payroll.
Life-sciences entrepreneur, Director OCC GP Board
Simon has 25 years of experience in healthtech research and commercialisation, having held founder, CEO and Chairman roles in entrepreneurial companies around the world. Simon is also an experienced angel, venture capital and private equity investor.
Old College Capital investment opportunities are all considered by an external investment committee, made up of sector and early stage experts.
Managing Director, Head of Private Equity, BMO Global Asset Management (EMEA)
Hamish joined BMO Global Asset Management in June 2005 and has 30+ years of investment experience. Hamish is head of the PE team, with overall responsibility for the performance of the BMO PE Trust and the limited partnership funds. Hamish is based in BMO’s Edinburgh office.
Partner at Pentech Ventures
Sandy has been a Pentech partner since 2001. His areas of interest include security technology, the applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence, and new infrastructure technologies such as blockchain and microservices.
Vice-Principal Corporate Services, University of Edinburgh
Catherine leads the Corporate Services Group at the University of Edinburgh, with more than 2,000 staff. Catherine holds a PhD in French Literature and Language, is a chartered accountant and fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She has held numerous non-exec roles and is currently on the board of Edinburgh University Press and the Scotland Advisory Group for Parkinson's UK.
Life-sciences entrepreneur
Simon has 25 years of experience in HealthTech research and commercialization, having held founder, CEO and Chairman roles in entrepreneurial companies around the world. Simon is also an experienced Angel, Venture Capital and Private Equity investor.
Computer science entrepreneur
Ian has 40 years' experience as an entrepreneur, chairperson and angel investor. Ian has a computer science background having founded Office Workstations Limited (OWL), the first and largest supplier of Hypertext/Hypermedia authoring tools (forerunner to the worldwide web). The company was subsequently sold to Panasonic.
Header image: Fizkes via GettyImages.