Libra: Diversity Drives Innovation

Known as TFC to many, Tom is a serial entrepreneur who has helped build companies with a combined value of $5B – and he’s not done yet. His fourth startup, Lollipop, is looking to shake-up online grocery by creating an AI assistant that does the shopping for you.
Prior to that, he helped scale Monzo bank to 4 million customers as COO while building their multi-award-winning customer support service. He also co-founded Curve, an all-in-one card aggregator and was Founding COO of early London FinTech, Osper, a banking app for children.
Before catching the startup bug, he spent many long (and slightly boring) years in management consulting with Bain & Co and Accenture. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA from New College, Oxford in Psychology, Philosophy & Physiology. In his (limited) spare time, Tom has also co-founded All In, a community of leading startups and scaleups who have pledged to move the needle on diversity and inclusion in the tech ecosystem.

Brianna Bao is an early stage deep tech investor at Simsan Ventures, a London and Seoul based venture capital firm. She is also the Co-founder and COO at Platin, an AI-powered professional networking platform. As a Forbes-featured VC specializing in early-stage deep tech startups, Brianna actively promotes DEI as well as democratization within the tech industry.

She demonstrates her commitment to supporting underrepresented founders and creating an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem through her mentorship roles at various accelerators, including Zinc VC, Google for Startup Black Founders’ Fund, and Tech Nations’ Libra Programme.

Brianna is the Diversity Lead at University of Oxford’s Founders & Funders, a highly curated community bridging the gap between science and business, where Brianna cohosted a Webinar Series on “Investing in Underrepresented Founders”.

Brianna holds an MBA from Cass Business School in London and a Master’s degree in Mathematics and Education from New York University, following a double major in mathematics and physics. Prior to embarking on her entrepreneurial journey, Brianna served as one of the earliest Math for America Fellows, teaching mathematics and coding to underprivileged students in New York City.

Currently, Brianna is involved in Girls Are Investors (GAIN) and is a passionate advocate for girls in STEM. She firmly believes in transformative potential of deep tech and actively promotes STEM education and learning throughout her career.

Andy Ayim MBE is a long-term investor in businesses that close gaps in society and for the planet. He is also the founder of the Angel Investing School (AIS).

Andy serves on the Board of Whering, Translate Culture, Treasure Tress, If We Raise and previously London Tech Week.

He has deployed over $3m into startups and alumni from AIS have invested over $5m in over 300 startups since 2021.

Passionate about Economic Empowerment Fintech and Climate Change.

Recently awarded Innovate Finance’s Standout Women in Fintech on Innovate UK’s Fintech Power list for being a Top Female Investor. Chenelle Ansah is an early-stage Venture Capital Investor investing in Climate Tech and Fintech in Europe and Africa.

In addition to being recognised as one of the UK’s leading female investors in Venture Capital, she is a speaker and holds a number of NED and Board Advisor positions.

Chenelle has worked in Financial Services for 16 + years and has spent the last 10 years working at the intersection of Fintech and Diversity. A Partner at Cornerstone Partners (the UK’s first black-owned investment firm), Chairwoman of the Investment Committee and Board Advisor at Crisis Venture Studio.

As a campaigner, Karl has spent the past decade of his life advocating for a fairer and more inclusive business ecosystem. Karl offers consultancy and advisory to high profile individuals, decision makers and corporates. His philanthropic efforts have helped raise millions for charities in the UK. A gifted orator, Karl is regularly invited to speak at corporate, public and charity events including TEDx Talks. He is also the co-founder and chairman on Black Seed, Europe’s first Black fund for Black founders by Black founders. A £10M fund and community providing black founders access to an extensive network whilst acting as a bridge between the city and community.

Dama Sathianathan (she/her) is a partner at Bethnal Green Ventures (BGV), Europe’s leading early-stage tech for good VC, backing ambitious founders using tech to tackle pressing social and environmental challenges at scale. At BGV, she leads on deal flow, community and networks, driving BGV’s efforts to act with integrity on diversity, equity and inclusion and fuel the broader tech for good movement across the UK.

Dama previously worked for international NGOs advocating for better human rights practices in global development and humanitarian response and has a background in international relations and human rights.

Dama sits on the steering committee of VentureESG, the world’s largest community of VCs and LPs stewarding better-shared learning and practices to integrate ESG and impact at the fund level and beyond. She’s also a Trustee at Chayn, a non-profit building open-source products and services for survivors of gender-based violence and domestic abuse.

Tom is an entrepreneur passionate about disruptive technology for societal and climate good. He was CEO and Founder of acquired fashtech scale-up Metail until 2019. Angel investor and policy change catalyst, he is also currently co-founder of research nonprofit Extend Ventures, and serves as Non-Exec Director for SPOKE, Verco and ‘Do Nation’ amongst others.

Charlie is the Founder of Harmonic, a B Corp-certified Recruitment and Executive Search firm. With 19 years of experience in Search and Recruitment, he is a seasoned leader and expert headhunter, specialising in leadership roles for Startups and Scaleups.
Recognised for his entrepreneurial achievements as a two time Founder, Charlie is the youngest-ever recipient of the Recruitment International Entrepreneur of the Year award and multiple Sunday Times Fast Track listings. He also serves as a judge for the prestigious British Business Awards.