Tristan Khan

Founder / CEO

I lead the executive team across all functional areas of the business, set high-level strategic direction and ensure the company is adequately resourced for achieving objectives.

Commercial, Strategy, Leadership, Development

1. Founding Goosebump, assembling a top-tier team of 8, developing a validated launch product and go-to-market plan, all in four months.

2. Building the two company-leading revenue divisions from scratch at growth-stage VC-backed companies.

3. My work in DEI, both on a one-on-one, and corporate policy and resourcing levels.

4. The mentees and direct reports of mine I’ve been able to support in defining and achieving their purpose-driven goals.

London is the centre of the world! It’s a major technology and culture hub, logistically optimal for running global businesses, and is a magnet for top talent.

Lyubov Guk

Founding Partner

Scout, select and invest in great early-stage international founders, supporting them to realise their vision in the UK.

GTM, Investment, Strategy

1. Going through my own founding journey as a partner within my own VC firm, supporting the often-overlooked but often-incredible sector of international founders, wishing to grow their businesses in the UK.

2. I am one of the principal organisers of the Ukrainian-British startup roadshow, creating a platform for incredible Ukrainian businesses in front of the UK’s senior VC network!

3. Together with Tech Nation Visa Team I launched and lead a unique International Founders Office Hours initiative linking early-stage startups on their way to the UK and the leading investors within the local ecosystem.

From my very first visit to the UK, I felt a huge affinity with it’s history, culture and values. Being lucky enough to spend my time between the UK and Ukraine, I can’t think of a better place to build and grow my company and my life. With such a rapidly growing tech sector, I am in a unique and priviliedged positon to help other international founders see the UK I see and support the tech ecosystem to grow even more!

Lauren Kisser

Director of Alexa AI

I am the Director for Alexa AI based at Amazon’s Development Centre in Cambridge, U.K. In this role I lead a globally diverse team of knowledge engineers, product/program managers, business and data analysts building delightful information based experiences on Alexa.

Global Leadership, Operations, Scaling, Product

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I moved to the UK with my family because of a specific role within my company. It was meant to be a 1-2 year assignment. Six years later, we’ve decided to make the UK our home because of the wonderful opportunities afforded to all of us. My children have settled into schools, my husband landed a role that aligns closely with his background, and I enjoy the innovation and technology opportunities that cut across all sectors of business.

Kimeshan Naidoo

Chief Technology Officer

I lead the engineering team to scale existing products and develop new ones, to drive critical business outcomes at Unibuddy

Engineering, Leadership, Software

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London is one of the biggest (top 3) technology and startup hubs in the world.

Jillian Kowalchuk

Founder / CEO

As the Chief Executive Officer, my role is quite versatile, which I love. Most days, I spend managing the operations of our teams and projects, sales prospecting and customer relations, iterating on our strategy while researching and developing new product and growth ideas.

Management, Strategy, Sales, Operations, R&D

1. Launching Safe & the City at the London & Partners iconic offices

2. Meeting the most incredible people, many of whom are on my team, but also finding ways to support each other in our pursuits

3. Hearing roaring applause after finishing my TEDx Talk, Equality By Design sharing how my story towards building Safe & the City

4. Pivoting our technology during COVID-19 to develop and launch our B2B offering- i3 Intelligence SaaS to scale safety capabilities to more tech products

I choose to live in the UK because it offered me the broadest opportunities to grow my career in the global market, access great talent to build a business and learn from the best.

Jason Laing

Founder / CEO

I oversee new product development, Innovation opportunities and Executive networks.

Material Science and Smart Innovations through Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

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I came to the UK / Manchester for the collaborative mindset and as its the home of Graphene.

Jack Wang

Principal

I source, coach and nurure founders of amazing tech start-ups with capital and personal support, to sustainably bring their incredible solutions to market

Tech Investment, Scouting

1. ) Backed a few tech unicorns across Europe including Monzo in the UK.

2. ) Got my MBA degree from London Business School.

3. ) Supported a few gaming studios in the UK which was especially exciting and rewarding during COVID.

4. ) I’ve been able to help a few angel clubs and micro VCs to give founders overlooked by last institutional funds a shot at success!

The UK is a world leader in Fintech (more so than Silicon Valley) due to advanced regulations, which makes it a really exciting place for me and my passions. It’s also very close culturally to Australia, which makes me feel very at home. It also the best Asian food in all of Europe!

Elie Matta

Head of Engineering

I lead a high-performing cross functional teams made of software engineers, QA, DevOps, Data Science and Designers. My role is to enable teams and individuals to develop on the personal/career level while delivering on new features. As we are in hyper scale growth, expanding the team is an important aspect of my day-to-day and I love it!

Software Engineering

1. ) Co founded 2 successful startups, one of which recognized by Harvard

2. ) Scaled engineering teams 10x in a quarter (6 to 60)

3. ) Able to balance management and technical expertise in a fast paced moving environments

4. ) Taught 700+ software engineers to date…

I chose the UK because its tech sector has established itself as a global hub with massive growth. I am excited to contribute to the startup ecosystem, as I am confident that my extensive technical and business expertise will enrich the tech scene and add a positive impact to the UK digital economy.

Deepak Paramanand

Director of AI Research & Product Management

I am in charge of directing research in areas of AI, ML and Cryptography to find innovative ways to solve existing problems. Based on this research I then lead the teams who build products and services that benefit JP Morgan’s employees, partners and clients.

Product Management, Strategy, Leadership

1. A successful career spanning 18 years, 3 continents, 6 companies in both Enterprise and Consumer areas across Media, Telecom, Investment Banking and Finance domains.

2. Whilst at Microsoft launched to millions of users an innovative, successful, ethical AI First product.

3. Working on cutting edge AI & Cryptography research and surface impactful products to thousands of JP Morgan’s employees, partners and customers.

4. Campaigned internally and externally for ethical and innovative use of AI through talks, webinars and written mediums.

The UK has straightforward immigration laws, which are easy to understand and apply to. The UK has tremendous opportunities in finance, technology, AI which set it apart from many other countries. Its location places it at the centre of the eastern and western hemispheres and allows for easy navigation to either areas. Its world class education is an attractive harbinger for future success thus helping families with kids chose this country over many others. Its emphasis on walking the talk on climate change cements its place in the world order as a beacon of change.

Daniel Glazer

Managing Partner

I lead the US Expansion group and the London office at the Silicon Valley-headquartered law firm Wilson Sonsini. My team supports UK/EU startups and scaleups on venture financing, M&A, and IPO transactions, and through their US life cycle

Legal, Investment, Strategy

1. ) Founded and scaled the London office for Silicon Valley’s pre-eminent law firm.

2. ) Honored as The American Lawyer’s first “Transatlantic Innovator of the Year”

3. ) Co-founded the US Department of Commerce’s SelectUSA Tech initiative to support non-US technology companies with US expansion

4. ) Appointed a GlobalScot trade advisor by the Scottish Government

I have always had a keen interest in the US-UK special relationship, technology, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. Moving to the UK to support UK companies’ US expansion and fundraising efforts was the ideal way to marry all those interests. Also, as someone who dislikes weather that is too hot, too cold, or too sunny, I adore the UK weather!

Cansu Deniz Bayrak

Senior Partner

I lead fundraising for Bethnal Green Ventures and run our highest performing portfolio’s seed and Series A deals.

Early-stage investment, impact, tech for good, hardware

1. Reconciled my two careers, human rights law and tech, in impact investment

2. Convened an international network that helped me move across countries while growing my career

3. Built and ran an IoT accelerator in London after running one in Istanbul

4. Co-founded Turkey’s number one cosmetic product reviews platform

In early 2016 (pre-Brexit), I was considering offers from Berlin, Barcelona, and London. I thought London offered the best career opportunities and an amazing route to European citizenship.

Bade Adesemowo

Founder / CTO

As a person who thrives in high-pressure and fast-paced situations, I strive for positive results through the application of my leadership abilities and innovative thinking. In addition, I possess expertise in technology both from the technical and business perspective. I have an aptitude for optimising performance and motivating colleagues. In any position, I am able to visualise success, and identify innovative and effective strategies for achieving it. I have artfully balanced workplace objectives and productive relationships, inspiring strategies and insightful suggestions to achieve a competitive business edge. My innovation and leadership strengths have enabled my professional growth.

Development, Leadership, Finance, Investment

1. ) Navigating the move of our Fintech Startup (Social Lender – now Social Reputation) to the UK ;

2. ) Now Operating seamlessly(almost) on 2 continents ;

3. ) Launching a Tech Resource & Tech leadership as a Service solution;

4. ) Coaching & Mentoring hundreds of Tech professionals to achieve their goals

We considered multiple countries particularly the US, Canada and France before deciding on the UK because of the quality of life and also the country’s focus on Fintech. We also compared the various support available to us from each country and realised that the UK government’s Global Entrepreneur Programme would provide us the best soft landing for our move. We are still Africa focused but now positioned for global growth as a UK entity.

Alexander Chikunov

Managing Partner

As a Managing Partner of UK-based VC, I am investing into UK startups. We are supporting them at every step of the way and provide them with the necessary tools to scale and raise capital and to develop their solutions more rapidly.

Investment, Scouting, Globalisation

1. ) Fund (Sova VC): started with Eur 20m Fund in 2020, to date we’ve launched 2 funds (Eur 50m+ current AUM) and developing further strategies;

2. ) Portfolio: we’ve managed to build outstanding portfolio of 6 companies and continuously supporting them over their journeys

3. ) Team: I’ve built experience and passionate team of 6 people, capable to deliver just an amazing results.

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The UK was chosen as an anchor geography because I believe the UK is one of the most developed European geographies for VC, with the necessary infrastructure, investment climate, talent pool, and market to create successful ventures.

Akram Dweikat

Engineering Manager

I lead one of our algorithms teams. Hire and help grow engineers careers, I manage 2 large and complex projects and help build roadmap for our products.

Engineering Manager/ Computer Engineer, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Machine Learning, AI

1. ) I Also have been appointed as an AI Expert by the World Economic Forum, serving on their Global Future Council on Artificial Intelligence for Humanity.

2. ) I started a lot of initiatives that supported and kicked off the startup community in Nablus Palestine.

3. ) I won multiple entrepreneurship and programming competitions (e.g Microsoft Imagine Cup Local, NYUAD Hackathoon). My work got featured twice on Google Blogs, one on Forbes Middle east.

4. ) I co-founded/helped build initiative in Palestine to build agricultural gardens for food and income security. We built around 600 gardens, helping 600 families.

I choose the UK for its potential and what it offers, it is a high growth market for startups and for opportunities, it has a lot of prestigious universities, it has a lot of culture and history, museums, theaters..etc. also access to technology and talent here is amazing.

Bihe Zhu

Senior Product Manager

I am the owner of one strategic growth programs of Amazon Fashion in Europe. I own the product feature request, timeline to implement, and define the Go-To-Market strategy. I also leverage customer feedback to improve their online shopping experience. Our mission is make every customer coming to Amazon Fashion look and feel good, all the time.

Marketing, Product, Project Management

1. I got promoted twice within my first 3 years of my career and was one of the youngest at my level

2. I launched the first Direct-To-Consumer e-commerce platform for a well-known household brand when I was a graduate trainee

3. I am a blogger on one major social media platform in China, where I share career advice in the UK with my audience.

4. I’m one of the finalists of Asian Women of Achievement Award in

The UK has a dynamic environment for tech. We have access to the best talents, investments and companies. I love the innovations, the community, the network I have here. In addition, I love the diversity and openness of London, where I can meet people from everywhere around the world, learn from them. Nobody would judge you by gender, ethnicity or background.