Octopus has appointed George Whitehead (pictured) as venture partner manager. Whitehead joins from NESTA Investments where he held the position of Business Development Director for their GBP50 million fund and supported a number of programmes targeted at early stage growth businesses.
These programmes ranged from investments in company accelerators like Springboard, Seedcamp, Design London and the Microelectronics Academy to supporting networks such as the British Business Angels Association and the Business Leaders Network.
Prior to NESTA, Whitehead set up a biotechnology incubator, and managed an ICT incubator in Canada on behalf of the University of Toronto. He began his career as an Investment Manager at Oxford Innovation, where he built up one of the most successful business angel networks in Europe.
Having spent his career working with private investors and ambitious entrepreneurs, Whitehead’s role at Octopus is to engage and develop the Octopus Venture Partner Group. The 110 Venture Partners are an experienced, entrepreneurial, engaged network many of whom work closely with the teams within our portfolio as non-executives, mentors or consultants.
"At the heart of Octopus’ offering is a group of Venture Partners who have been there and done it before," says Whitehed. "The team here recognises how critical it is for entrepreneurs to have an exceptional network to draw on when building a fast growing business. The Venture Partner Group is made up of high calibre, seasoned entrepreneurs who understand the challenges of a growing a business and are prepared to roll up their sleeves to get involved when asked."
