Team
-
Simon Cook
x close
Simon Cook
Simon is the CEO of DFJ Esprit and has been involved with the UK venture capital industry since 1995. In 2006 he led the merger of Cazenove Private Equity with Prelude Ventures and in 2007 he completed the next stage of Esprit’s expansion plan, negotiating the partnership with DFJ to form DFJ Esprit. Previously Simon was a partner with Elderstreet Investments and a Director at 3i in Cambridge.
He has been involved with a number of Europe’s most successful technology start-ups. His past successes include Cambridge Silicon Radio, Virata, nCipher and KVS. Simon is now responsible for DFJ Esprit’s investment in LOVEFiLM. Prior to venture capital, Simon worked as a strategy and IT consultant at KPMG (where he established the Internet practice) and as a computer games developer.
Simon is a graduate of University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).
-
Stuart Chapman
x close
Stuart Chapman
Prior to joining Esprit in Febuary 2005 Stuart was a Partner of 3i Ventures. He was also a founding partner of 3i US, based in Menlo Park, CA.
Stuart had 13 years of venture capital experience with 3i in Europe and the USA. While he was at 3i US he was responsible for 3i's investments in Still Secure, CollegeNet, Appshop and Digital 5. Following his return from the US in October 2003 he was responsible for 3i’s investments in The Cloud and Searchspace, the IPO of Pixology and the sale of Magic 4 to Openwave. Stuart is responsible for DFJ Esprit’s investments in Road Angel, Lagan Technology, WAYN.com and Connectivity.
Stuart is a member of the British Venture Capital Association High Tech Committee. Prior to 3i, Stuart was involved in software and systems implementations in the Banking sector. He is a graduate of Loughborough University.
-
Alan Duncan
x close
Alan Duncan
Alan has been in the venture capital industry for more than twenty years, initially through establishing a corporate venturing fund for Ferranti and then with Foreign & Colonial Ventures and Newmarket Venture Capital. He joined Prelude Ventures in 1996.
Alan is responsible for a portfolio of DFJEsprit’s electronics investments including Phyworks, Xanadu Wireless, Lime Microsystems, SiConnect, XMOS and DisplayLink. His previous investments have included Alphamosaic (sold to Broadcom) and nCipher (IPO on LSE).
Alan has an electronic engineering background and gained his industrial experience in computer systems with Ferranti plc.Alan is a past member of the European Venture Capital Association High Tech Committee and lectures regularly on EVCA’s venture capital professional training courses.
-
Nic Brisbourne
x close
Nic Brisbourne
Nic has been in venture capital since 2000. In that time he has worked in London, Europe and Silicon Valley. His main areas of focus have been software and media. Prior to DFJ Esprit he was with Reuters Venture Capital.
Nic's investment experience includes buy.at (sold to AOL for $125m) and UltraDNS (acquired by Neustar - NYSE NSR). He currently manages DFJ Esprit's investments in Zeus, WAYN and Tribold.
Prior to joining Reuters Nic worked for Operis, a software and services start-up, and Cap Gemini. Nic also authors a blog commenting on the European technology and venture capital markets. Please see www.theequitykicker.com
-
Charles Cameron
x close
Charles Cameron
Charles is a Managing Partner of Encore Ventures. He has more than 20 years experience advising European companies, venture and private equity groups on capital raising, mergers and acquisitions in his capacity as a former director of Kleinwort Benson, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies International.
He has worked in New York, Tokyo and London advising on transactions ranging from the privatisation of the UK electricity industry to financing emerging healthcare and technology companies across Europe. Of note he led the IPOs of certain European well known technology companies, including Bookham Technology and Telecity. Between 2002-2005 he was also the Chief Executive of InTechnology, the provider of data storage and data security products and services.
He is currently a non-executive director of Gas Turbine Efficiency and Achilles Group. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina.
-
Robert James
x close
Robert James
Rob James manages DFJ Esprit’s portfolio of healthcare and medical technology investments. Since joining Esprit in 1998, he has been involved in a number of successful transactions including the exits from Oxford Biomedica and DNA Research Innovations.
Rob manages DFJ Esprit’s investments in Oxford Immunotec, Kiadis Pharmaceuticals and Avantium.
Prior to his time in venture capital, Robert worked for seven years commercialising cancer therapeutics and diagnostics arising from the research conducted by Cancer Research UK. He was responsible for licensing Temodal to Schering Plough (generating annual sales in excess of $600m) and Trovax to Oxford Biomedica.
Rob graduated with a genetics degree from Sheffield University and a biochemistry PhD from the University of London. He has also served on the BVCA Technology Committee for four years.
-
Paul Murray
x close
Paul Murray
Paul has been involved in European venture capital since 1995. He was previously a Director of 3i’s UK technology business where he was responsible for over twenty investments at 3i. His past successes include Bookham Technology (NASDAQ: BKHM), Oxford Glycosciences (acquired by Celltech plc), Microcosm (acquired by Conexant) and Neos Networks (acquired by Scottish & Southern).
Paul is responsible for DFJ Esprit’s investments in Imagine Communications, Tagsys RFID, The Listening Company, PacketExchange and Intense Photonics. He also led the sale of Blackspider to SurfControl in July 2006.
Paul is a graduate of St Anne’s College, Oxford University with a degree in Mathematics.
-
Nigel Pitchford
x close
Nigel Pitchford
Nigel is a Partner with Encore Ventures. He joined as a result of Encore's acquisition of the bulk of 3i's European venture portfolio in 2009.
Prior to joining Encore Nigel had been with 3i for 12 years, becoming a Partner in 2006, and ultimately leading the venture team's healthcare activities across Europe and the US. He was responsible for leading deals such as Domantis, Apatech and Arakis, and in working closely with the management teams to create and realise signficant value. Nigel remains a Director on the Board of Apatech.
Nigel studied chemistry at the University of Oxford, before completing a PhD at the University of Durham. His research activities were focused on aspects of computational chemistry and rational drug design and saw him join the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) in 1994, where he spent two years working on new product design and projects for pharmaceutical company clients. He completed an MBA at Warwick Business School, before joining 3i in 1997.
-
Graham Redman
x close
Graham Redman
Graham joined the Esprit team in November 2006 and is responsible for the financial and IT systems of the firm. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers working primarily with SMEs before moving into industry. After leaving PwC Graham became the Senior Accounting Manager for INC Research, a US Research Triangle based CRO before taking a Controllership position at Unitive Electronics, a venture-backed semi-conductor packaging company based in the US.
Graham holds an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University where he studied at Sidney Sussex College.
-
Brian Robertson
x close
Brian Robertson
Brian is a Managing Partner of Encore Ventures. Before joining DFJ Esprit, his career spanned over 20 years in corporate finance and operational management for growing companies. As a Managing Director of Lehman Brothers until 2004, and previously at Kleinwort Benson, he advised on financings and M&A transactions for a series of high profile companies in the communications and media sectors including Orange, TeleWest, Esprit Telecom, COLT and TeleOne, and later specialised in banking services to the private equity sector. Between 2005 and 2007 he also served as CFO of Pervasic, a venture-backed mobile data services company.
A Chartered Accountant, Brian gained a first class degree from Bristol University in English and History.
-
Krishna Visvanathan
x close
Krishna Visvanathan
Krishna has been a Venture Capital investor for over 10 years. He was previously a Partner in 3i’s Venture Capital team and was responsible for several successful investments including Ezurio Ltd, Ubinetics Ltd, Blue Lithium Inc, E2V plc, Fastnet Systems Ltd and BTN Ltd.
He started his career at Ernst & Young before founding Optika Fibre Technologies, a polymer fibre and display technology start-up based in SE Asia.
He currently sits on the boards of Icera Inc, Netronome Systems Inc, Taptu Ltd, The Cloud Networks Ltd, Light Blue Optics Ltd and Cambridge Semiconductor Ltd.
He has a degree in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
-
Cedric Latessa
x close
Cedric Latessa
Cedric has been involved in venture capital since 2000 and joined DFJ Esprit in 2007 as an Investment Manager. Prior to this Cedric worked for BIP, a private equity fund investing in high tech companies, where he invested in companies such as TiGenix (IPO), Cima Nanotech and 21Net. He also led a number of venture capital fund investments including Life Science Partners, Carlyle and Vertex. He has held internships at Mangrove (Luxembourg), Milenio Capital (Madrid), FCJE (Paris) and also worked at the EIF.
Cedric holds three masters’ degrees in Business, Corporate Finance and European Politics from Sciences-Po Paris and is fluent in English and Spanish, in addition to his native French.
-
Jean-David Chamboredon
x close
Jean-David Chamboredon
Jean-David joined the Encore Ventures team as a Venture Partner in 2009. He was previously head of the technology business for 3i Group plc in Paris. He has more than 23 years of experience in the IT industry.
Jean-David started his career at CapGemini, where he worked for 14 years on system integration. Laterly, he was in charge of Internet related business for Cap Gemini's Telecom & Media global market unit, founding the Cap Gemini Telemedia Lab in Silicon Valley. He then joined the venture capital industry in 2000, first as CTO of Europatweb and then as a partner at Viventures.
He focuses primarily on Software and Internet plays in France and Europe and has served on many start-up boards in France, Sweden and the US. Key deals include Okyz (acquired by Adobe), Netonomy Inc (acquired by Comverse), Screentonic (acquired by Microsoft), Highdeal (acquired by SAP) and Seloger.com (listed on Euronext). He currently sits on the board of www.Priceminister.com, www.FastBooking.com an www.Twenga.com.
Jean-David has a strong network in the system integrator world, as well as numerous connections in the internet community, both in Europe and in Silicon Valley. He attended Ecole Polytechnique.
-
William Reeve
x close
William Reeve
William Reeve joined DFJ Esprit as a Venture Partner in 2008. A serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor, William’s primary focus areas are e-commerce and business services.
William co-founded, Fletcher Research, which became the UK’s leading internet research firm before Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR) bought it in 1999. William’s second business, now trading as LOVEFiLM.com, has grown organically and by acquisition to become the leading international online DVD rental business. At LOVEFiLM.com, which DFJ Esprit has backed since 2004, William served in a variety of roles including President, Managing Director, acting CEO and COO; he left the business after helping to manage the acquisition of Amazon’s DVD rental business early in 2008. William serves as Non-Executive Director with several other UK-based high-growth companies. A former McKinsey consultant, William has a first class Masters degree from Oxford University.
