Downing Ventures has appointed Joe Raffa as a Venture Partner as it scales up for global expansion and sector specialisation.  Raffa is an investor and executive with extensive expertise in early stage and Fortune 100 technology companies bringing with him a wealth of knowledge to the Downing team and portfolio companies, as Downing Ventures continues to increase value added across the board. Raffa is currently advising several startups across Europe and the US on product strategy, engineering execution and international expansion. Prior to joining Downing Ventures, Joe worked with BCG Tech Ventures, the research commercialisation and spinout arm of Boston

General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm, has appointed Brett Zbar, MD, as a Managing Director and Global Head of Life Sciences. Zbar brings a more than 15-year track record of investing in multi-stage life sciences, biopharmaceutical and healthcare companies driving innovation and advancements in patient care. General Atlantic also announced the launch of Life Sciences as a fifth, standalone sector under its growth investment platform, alongside Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare and Technology.    Zbar joins General Atlantic from Foresite Capital, an investment firm that aims to transform healthcare by funding visionary entrepreneurs, where he served as Managing Director. While at

Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, has appointed Michael Wilkins as a Partner.“We are very excited to have Mike join the partnership. His breadth and depth of experience serving the technology, media and telecommunications sectors is a perfect fit with our firm’s sector focused approach to investing,” says Steve Royer, Partner of Shamrock Capital. “Mike’s preceding emphasis on software, internet, and education complements a number of interesting opportunities and trends that we are seeing in our markets. We have known and worked with Mike for almost two decades and have been consistently impressed by his long-term, investor-like approach to

TMF Group, a global professional services firm, has appointed a new senior executive to help drive its North America growth plans in the fund administration sector.Kwame Lewis joins TMF Group as head of fund services for the North America region. Previously, Lewis served as chief financial officer for ACON Investments, a middle-market buyout private equity manager with more than USD5 billion in assets. Prior to that he spent 16 years as an auditor for PwC, focusing on private equity and venture capital funds. Lewis will support and accelerate the growth of TMF’s fund services unit in North America.   Jan

Private equity firm YFM Equity Partners (YFM), which has offices in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London, has promoted Mike Clarke to the partnership.Clarke has 12 years’ experience in corporate finance and joined the Leeds office as investment director in January 2019. Over the last 18 months, he has been involved in a number of high-profile deals, including the £4.5m Series A investment into Leeds-based data visualisation, reporting and analytics software developer Panintelligence.   As well as representing YFM on the board of Panintelligence, Mike is responsible for sourcing and transacting the firm’s new investment opportunities across Yorkshire and North East,

Global law firm Reed Smith has appointed Shervin Shameli as a partner in its Global Corporate Group and London office. This latest hire marks the tenth partner to join the firm’s Global Corporate Group across EME in 2020.Shameli has over thirteen years’ experience in the funds space and joins from MJ Hudson, a specialist funds focused firm, where he was head of private funds at MJ Hudson Law. He has also previously worked at Proskauer Rose and SJ Berwin,  and has undertaken secondments with Universities Superannuation Scheme and the European Investment Fund.   Shameli’s practice is focused on advising fund

Mid-market private equity firm Palatine has appointed Greg Holmes as an investment manager in its Impact Fund team based in Manchester.
Palatine’s award-winning Impact Fund was launched in 2017 and invests in profitable businesses making a positive impact on the environment or society. 

The returns-focused GBP100 million fund, one of the first dedicated to impact investments in the UK mid-market, supports management buyouts, growth capital and buy-and-build models, investing GBP5 million up to GBP10 million, and has so far completed five deals. Greg, 30, has nine years’ experience in the North West corporate finance market, having spent five years with

Shore Capital Partners (Shore), a private equity firm focused on microcap investments within the Healthcare and Food and Beverage industries, has made three new senior additions to its Chicago team.“It is my pleasure to welcome Alex, Ankeet and Riley to Shore” These roles support Shore’s continued growth and strategy to provide operational expertise to portfolio companies. “It is my pleasure to welcome Alex, Ankeet and Riley to Shore,” says Justin Ishbia, Managing Partner. “Each will play an important role in our vision to be the premier microcap investor. We look forward to their contributions and teamwork.” Prior to joining Nevill,

King & Spalding has appointed Tim FitzSimons as a partner in the firm’s Corporate, Finance and Investments (CFI) practice group in its Chicago office.“Tim has led public- and private-company multibillion-dollar transaction teams across many industries, and has strong relationships at the senior-management level,” says Todd Holleman, head of King & Spalding’s CFI practice. “This kind of experience gives him credibility that we will leverage as we provide meaningful advice, insights and ideas to investment banks, private equity firms and companies targeting sales and purchases.” FitzSimons, who joins the firm from Jones Day, has advised companies on public and private transactions