Stefan Gullgren became the Ambassador of Sweden to the UK in August 2023 having most recently served in Warsaw as Sweden’s Ambassador to Poland. Previously, Stefan has served as Sweden’s Ambassador in Kyiv, held various positions at Sweden’s embassy in Moscow as well as different roles within the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm.

Howard was appointed Deputy Mayor for Business and Chair of London and Partners in December 2023.

Before joining the Mayor’s team, Howard worked in business for thirty years, spending 17 years as Managing Director for Strategy of the Canary Wharf Group. At Canary Wharf, Howard was involved in the development of the Elizabeth Line and supporting the 2012 Olympic Bid and Olympic Legacy as well as commercial inward investment projects in tech, health and life sciences, and financial services.

He has been an active member of business organisations including Business LDN, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, TheCityUK and the London Property Alliance.

He is a trustee of “The Line” art walk along the River Lea. Formerly Chair of the East End Community Foundation (2013-2022) he is now a patron of the charity, and a patron and former Vice-President of UK Youth.

Howard was Chair of the Business Advisory Board for the University of East London School of Business and Law and has been a visiting lecturer at the School.

Howard was a Parliamentary Candidate for the Labour Party and is the Chair of Labour Friends of Bangladesh and Labour Friends of USA.

Michelle is co-founding partner of Blume Equity, a climate tech growth equity firm. She has spent the last 20+ years as a VC and private equity investor. She was previously a partner at Mid Europa Partners and investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Blume invests thematically in European climate tech scale-ups with an impact-lens. Michelle is passionate about supporting purpose-driven entrepreneurs who are tackling the climate emergency and leveraging technology to create a more sustainable world.

David is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and advisor, with deep expertise in building and scaling advanced AI and deep tech ventures from the earliest stages of R&D to fully realized, market-leading businesses. As a Partner at Deeptech Labs, David’s focus spans fundraising, portfolio management, strategic development, and driving industry partnerships.

Drawing on an extensive background that includes founding and leading multiple ventures, David has worked hand-in-hand with global corporates, top-tier venture funds, and high-performing scale-up teams, bringing novel technologies to market and leveraging deep strategic insight to refine business models, accelerate commercial traction, and deliver meaningful enterprise value.

Sarah has over 10 years experience across the innovation ecosystem, as an investor, founder, and finance professional.

She is currently a Director at HSBC Innovation Banking, leading the ‘Next Generation VC’ vertical, working with the highest potential Principal level investors across the UK to support the growth of both their portfolio and their careers. She runs an exclusive development program for these individuals, and is passionate about supporting the best and brightest founders and funders in their journeys with financing and strategic resource.

Sarah has a first-class degree in Economics and Econometrics from Bristol University and an MBA from London Business School. Unusually for a Brit, she speaks 3 languages (and is plotting the 4th) and believes there is no better learning experience than travel, having visited over 60 countries, and has now passed this on to her daughter, who at just 2 years old has a passport full of stamps!

Marcus is a co-founder and Partner at Energy Revolution Ventures ("ERV"), an energy tech VC specialising in electrochemical investments. ERV invests at Seed and Series A across hydrogen, energy storage, carbon capture and advanced materials. Their portfolio companies include Green Li-ion, Oort Energy and Anthro Energy.

Marcus has been in energy technology innovation since 2016 with deep expertise in hydrogen. Marcus started his career building hydrogen powertrains at start-ups in the automotive and aerospace sectors. He has led investments in areas such as hydrogen production & purification, grid-scale energy storage, structural batteries and battery recycling. He is a director of the UK's first electrochemistry focused venture builder, Prosemino. He is a Chartered Engineer (IET) and holds an MEng in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University.

Laura is a Senior News Executive at Deliberate PR. As a former journalist, she worked as a producer and news editor for Al Jazeera in Qatar and London, Sky News and NBC’s London bureau. Her role involved planning, producing, and executing international broadcast news ranging from elections and conflicts to environmental disasters and world summits.

Before that, she was Editorial Director of the Frontline Club in London, curating and hosting a program of events that endorse independent and freelance journalism and promote dialogue on international affairs.

Kai is a senior reporter at Sifted — the Financial Times-backed publication covering startups and tech in Europe.

I am Andy Jones, journalist and broadcaster, I have written for every UK national newspaper - broadsheets and tabloids - and produced articles for titles as varied as Monocle, Vice, GQ and Wired. I've also made and fronted TV programmes for BBC1, BBC2 and C4 Dispatches as well as my own radio packages for BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Monocle Radio.

I have a specialism in investigative work - reporting from refugee camps for BBC and anti-poaching missions in Gabon rainforest - as well as breaking big news stories for The Sunday Times/The Times; and business stories for BBCWS and tech stories for Wired.

I have also media trained 350+ speakers, predominantly Scandinavians, in preparation for them speaking to the UK broadcast, tabloid and print media.

Since 2012, Benjamin’s agency, Deliberate PR, has supported Swedish startups and scaleups by leveraging the UK media’s ongoing fascination with all things Nordic to turn Britain into a gateway to the US and wider English-speaking world.

Deliberate PR takes pride in creating news-powered editorial media visibility for startups which attracts investors, conference organisers, and provides ammunition for sales teams.

Deliberate PR Nordic clients include Pophouse Entertainment, Paebbl, Alight, Exeger, Nordic Air Defence, SweBal (Sweden Ballistics), Kahoot!, Svenska Institutet, Node.VC, Strise, and Magnus Carlsen’s Take Take Take app.

Chris is a Technology Specialist at the Department for Business & Trade (Science & Technology Directorate). He has assisted companies to establish a presence in the UK, and UK tech companies to export. Chris covers AI, data analytics, cloud, IoT, data centres and cyber security. He has supported technology companies to access opportunities in many sectors including retail, financial services, energy, transport, infrastructure, manufacturing, defence & security. He has also supported the development of policy in AI, Data Centres and Cyber security.

Chris has previously worked for an Open Innovation consultancy, supporting Corporates to work with early-stage companies and universities. Prior to that he worked in Corporate Venture Capital assessing investment opportunities across the European region.

He has over 25 years tech industry experience in research, technology development, manufacturing and marketing in the USA and Europe, with experience of knowledge transfer, innovation, IP assessment, early-stage companies, and developing routes to market.

James joined Whitecap in 2022 after working in the financial services industry for over three years. In his last role, he focused on asset-backed lending across several sectors, working with start-ups, SMEs, and large corporates. 

Since joining Whitecap, James has worked on strategy projects in financial services and higher education; and is leading the curriculum mapping analysis on the West Midlands & Warwickshire LSIF project. 

James has a BSc in Economics and Politics from the University of Exeter and an asset finance diploma from the London Institute of Banking and Finance.

Ciaran O'Malley serves as the Enterprise Commercial Director for the UK at Airwallex, a global fintech company specializing in cross-border payments and financial services. In this role, he leads the enterprise go-to-market strategy across the UK and Europe, collaborating with high-growth businesses to integrate financial services into their platforms. Prior to joining Airwallex, Ciaran was the CEO of Trustly UK, where he spearheaded the deployment of Open Banking payment solutions across various industries. His earlier career includes roles in Financial Institutions M&A and quantitative risk management. Ciaran is also a member of the Payment Systems Regulator's Advisory Panel, focusing on Open Banking and fintech access to payment services in the UK.

Drawing on almost 30 years of experience in the Infrastructure & InfraTech markets, Edward has worked with owner operators, investors, tech & advisory businesses and major contractors.

He is a co-founder of Alchera Technologies acting as a market development leader across the sector, connecting organisations and individuals to create opportunities. He currently works leading market engagement and development for a deep tech scale up GScan.

Sebastian is the founder of Smash, a company that operates strategically important technologies across security, infrastructure, and advanced systems.

He is a two-time exited technology founder with hands-on experience across the full spectrum of building businesses — from founding and scaling, to fundraising and successful exits. He is a shareholder and advisor to several ventures in the technology space, including serving as Strategic Advisor for Growth at Cambridge Future Tech.

Sebastian began his career on the graduate programme at Deutsche Bank, within FIG M&A. He went on to work as a professional investor, leading private investments for a single-family office, and worked across strategies at a multi-asset fund manager.

He holds an MSc in Business and Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Elisabet Vinberg Hearn is an international expert on leadership impact, teams and people-first digital transformations, operating as leadership strategist, speaker and executive coach. She is co-founder of Think Solutions and CEO of Katapult Partners. Elisabet has an MBA in Leadership & Sustainability and has recently studied Sustainability Management at Cambridge University and AI strategy at MIT CSAIL.

Hailey Eustace is the Founder of Commplicated, the first strategic communications and branding firm built specifically for early stage deeptechs, to help startups and VCs articulate their vision more clearly and in ways that actually move the needle.

Hailey started her career at the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, a $485 million fund specialising in biotechnology, clean energy, and deeptech, managing the due diligence and follow-on funding from Seed to Series B as well as communications.Subsequently, she moved to London and became head of global communications at the largest accelerator network in the world, worked on global campaigns for brands such as Microsoft and HSBC, and led communications and brand at a deeptech startup out of Cambridge. She is now a first cheque angel investor in deeptech and health tech startups and a scout for VCs, and mentors at organisations such as Founders@Cambridge, Deeptech Labs, the Royal Academy of Engineering, Ada Ventures, Maze Impact, and Zinc VC.

Catherine Hanley is a Senior Portfolio Manager at Commplicated where she works with deeptech startups to achieve their next business and funding milestones. Catherine has an MSc in Computer Science and most recently worked at a neurotech startup that was using AI and neural data to develop a new class of precision medicine, ultimately running their lead therapy programme for cardiovascular disease. Prior to this, as a member of the technical team, she implemented methods to communicate trial results to different stakeholders. Catherine also has extensive experience managing UK and US government-backed, startup-led research projects.

Jonathan manages the Innovate UK Business Growth service at UCL Innovation & Enterprise. Innovate UK Business Growth empowers innovation-driven small and medium-sized enterprises to grow and achieve their industry- and society-transforming ambitions.

Jonathan has previously been working as an Innovation adviser and Innovation & Growth Specialist working with innovative London-based SMEs from all sectors to access strategic funding & finance, to commercialise disruptive innovation and to internationalise. He also has experience in advising and supporting university startups and spinouts to enable them to scale up internationally.

David Cronin is a passionate advocate for sustainable innovation and international investment. As Inward Investment Manager – Sustainability at London & Partners, he plays a key role in attracting pioneering foreign direct investment (FDI) to the UK capital, with a focus on companies that align with London’s ambitious climate goals.

London & Partners is the business growth and destination agency for London, supported by the Mayor of London. The organisation promotes London as a leading global city for business, tourism, and talent. Within this mission, David is part of a specialist team dedicated to positioning London as a world-class hub for sustainable business. His work directly supports the city’s target of becoming net zero by 2030, by helping innovative global companies establish and expand their operations in London.

David collaborates with a wide range of stakeholders—from government departments and local authorities to private sector leaders and international investors—to ensure that London remains at the forefront of the green economy. His role involves identifying high-impact opportunities, facilitating market entry, and championing sustainable practices that contribute to long-term economic and environmental resilience.

Prior to joining London & Partners, David spent over four years at Enterprise Ireland, the Irish government’s trade and innovation agency. As a Market Adviser on the Client Service Excellence team, working across 40 global offices, supporting strategic initiatives and enhancing client engagement with senior leadership across the organisation.

Matt is Director, ClimateTech & Sustainability within the Venture & Growth team at HSBC Innovation Banking. Matt leads the Bank’s engagement with ClimateTech & Sustainability focused growth-stage companies, providing support with banking and lending solutions.

Matt has over 25 years of banking experience in client coverage, debt finance, team leadership and sustainability roles in the UK and Australia. Prior to joining HSBC in 2023, Matt was Head of ESG Origination at Barclays, leading sustainable finance origination, green and sustainable product development and ClimateTech ecosystem engagement.

Avisha Blakeway is Director at HSBC Innovation Banking, leading the Deep Tech vertical within the Venture & Growth Team. In her role as a Relationship Manager, Avisha works closely with venture-backed companies to identify and implement global banking services and tailored financing solutions to accelerate the growth ambitions of some of the most innovative and transformative UK and European companies!

Avisha brings over 14 years of experience in Relationship Banking, holding a range on positions within Corporate Coverage teams, and with the last 5 years dedicated to serving the Technology sector. Known for fostering long-term relationships built on expertise and trust, Avisha is passionate for driving growth and success across the Deep Tech verticals.

Matt is the CEO and Co-Founder of Scalerr. Scalerr is a global growth advisory firm and recruitment consultancy which helps scaling tech companies grow both locally and internationally. Scalerr has helped over 550 Tech companies grow and in doing so helped to create 48 unicorns ($1 Billion Valuation while privately owned) and has a truly global reach. Matt is also on the board of London’s Entrepreneur’s Organisation Chapter which supports founders grow and scale their businesses and is the Co-Chair of TechUK’s Scale Up Committee, helping scaling tech companies across the UK. In addition to Scalerr’s upcoming investment fund, he is an LP across a number of investment firms and supports a number of accelerators and growth hubs globally.

Nikki has over 15 years’ GTM and revenue growth experience. She has worked at tech start-ups, large enterprise and in the public sector. Over the last decade Nikki has been supporting clients with international expansion across Europe, APAC, the Middle East and USA. Nikki is a mentor for the EIC Scaling Club; is Chair of the APAC Working Group for TechUK, and sits on a number of Advisory Boards.

Having many years of experience in service businesses similar to Goodwille holding multiple leadership positions in leading UK accountancy practices, it is a huge privilege to serve as Goodwille’s CEO at an exciting time for the business. I look forward to developing the company further in close cooperation with my fantastic colleagues, business partners and international clients.”

As CEO, Kevin keeps a close eye on the ‘bigger picture’, building the strategic alliances that underpin Goodwille’s extensive network as well as looking at new business opportunities ensuring that Goodwille is at the forefront of its service offering.

Kevin is a keen follower of Sunderland FC and he attends the Edinburgh fringe festival every year which helps cement his love of Guinness. He is a music lover and an aspiring guitarist – although he says, his enthusiasm far outweighs his ability!

I advise clients across a variety of industry sectors including technology, financial services, telecommunications and the space sector. My experience includes advising clients on a wide range of commercial contracts, including IT and business process outsourcing, consumer terms and conditions and software licensing and development agreements.

I am a Senior Associate in our corporate department, specialising in M&A, private equity and venture capital, with a particular focus on the life sciences, technology and financial sectors.

Working alongside our other specialist departments including tax, funds, employment and banking, my focus is on advising our clients on a wide range of cross-border, multinational and domestic transactions, including equity funding, strategic acquisitions, bolt-on acquisitions, management buy-ins/buy-outs and exits.

Having acted as counsel for both investor and company from early stage investment right the way through to exit (and at every other stage of equity funding in between), I use my experience to offer insights on prevailing market trends and provide thoughtful advice, tailored to help each client plan ahead for the next step in their journey.