How to Secure Scale-Up Investment

Matt Adey

Director of Economics, British Business Bank

Matt Adey is Director of Economics at the British Business Bank and a graduate of Cambridge University and Australia National University.

His responsibilities include leading a team of economists producing publication quality research on small business finance markets, delivering economic support for British Business Bank product development and evaluation of British Business Bank activities.

His previous experience includes roles at the Bank of England, the UK Financial Services Authority, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the UK government Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

Marco Cerrone

Investment Manager, The FSE Group

Marco has 20 years experience in Commercial and Corporate Banking having started his career at RBS working in Large Corporates, before joining Santander Mid Markets team. During his banking career Marco has gained extensive experience working with trading businesses with a focus on cashflow lending and particular interest in high growth and tech businesses.

Marvin Fletcher Rogers

Principal Consultant and Private Equity Lead, Sage

Marvin co-leads Sage’s Global Private Equity Practice, focusing on the UK and Ireland. He supports PE operating teams in technology-driven value creation, helping portfolio companies scale through Sage’s suite of mid-market, cloud-native applications. Marvin also manages Sage’s UK strategic communities, including finance, investor, and technology industry forums, assisting early-stage companies in their AI-enabled digital transformations.

Before joining Sage as a Principal Consultant for the regional launch of Sage Intacct, Marvin worked as a product specialist at publicly listed SaaS companies such as NetSuite, Oracle, and Freshworks. He focused on cloud-native tech stack projects across ERP, CRM, PSA, subscription billing, FP&A, and reporting applications.

Sarah Gardiner

Director UK Network Insights & Strategy, British Business Bank

Sarah Gardiner has been a senior leader in Financial Services for over 25 years. She is a qualified banker an Associate of the London Institute of Banking and Finance, having won 2 prizes and been featured in the Financial Times.

Starting at the British Business Bank in December 2021, Sarah is currently the UK Network Strategy & Insights Director. Sarah was previously Head of Investor Relations and Rating Agencies at one of the top 4 UK lenders for more than 15 years, building the team from a standing start where she was responsible for 1800 global investors and over £50 billion of funding and equity.  

She is very experienced in investor pitches and has presented all over the world to investors to attract funding and equity. She has successfully navigated through 3 different crisis situations, the Financial Crisis in 2008, Brexit and more recently the global pandemic, where she raised over £7m of funding for vulnerable families across the UK. She was also one of the final 15 successful applicants in the Government sponsored ‘Inclusive Economy 2021’ focused on building back stronger.  Earlier in her career Sarah was also responsible for an SME portfolio.

In her spare time she is a keen runner and over the last 18 months a keen member of the Peloton tread community.

Aitian Li

Investment Associate, Calculus

Aitian joined Calculus Capital in 2021.  Prior to that she was a Senior Associate of Private Equity Investment at BOCOMI, which she joined in 2017. She has 6 years of corporate finance and equity investment experience and a large base of industry contacts. As an Investment Associate Aitian’s role is to source and execute new deals.

Aitian began her career at PwC where she qualified as a Certified Public Accountant in China. She holds an MBA degree from Oxford University.

Ian Merricks

Proposition Lead, VenturePath

Ian Merricks began as an entrepreneur in the music, radio and digital media sectors, raising VC funding for strategic acquisitions, ahead of a trade sale.

He has since held ownership or advisory roles in funds which have invested over £175m. In addition he has advised on 60+ Series A-B investment deals in the tech sector, raising over £650m+ of growth capital for companies.

In 2023, Ian launched VenturePath - The Growth Investment Community, bringing together £7bn of VC funding, exited entrepreneurs, proven experts and government to join forces to support the founders of high growth UK scaleups to grow, raise and scale more easily.

Mark Shepherdson

Director of Business Development, Santander

Mark has been with Santander 12 years working across their Business, Commercial and Corporate Banking divisions in both relationship and leaderships roles. Currently running Business Development across the South East he works alongside the relationships teams and is involved with all new client onboardings helping shape Santander’s proposals. Prior to Santander he spent 11 years at Clydesdale Bank working across Private, Commercial and Corporate banking. Outside of work he is married with two boys aged 11 + 13 and a crazy 3 year old Labrador who take up most of his time outside of running the boys to football and rugby.  

Sean Williams

Chief Executive Officer, AutogenAI

Sean Williams is the Founder and Chief Executive of AutogenAI. AutogenAI uses cutting-edge natural language processing technology to help companies write tenders, proposals and marketing copy, saving time and money and improving win rates.

Sean has worked in research, policy, business development and operational management for some of the largest, most successful public service providers in the UK. He has designed and managed large-scale public service contracts both across the UK and abroad, managing businesses turning over in excess of £75 million and directly and indirectly employing over 900 staff. Sean founded, and was the Chief Executive at, Corndel Ltd, where he grew the business from scratch to 350 people. Sean sold Corndel in November 2020 to THI Holdings in a reported 40m+ sale.

Sean is interested in artificial intelligence, the future of work, business creation, evidence-based policy, sustainable social enterprise, systems, incentives, technology, human potential, ideas and delivery.