About us
Our story, Team
We are experienced business professionals, finance specialists and entrepreneurs with a passion for supporting disruptive and dynamic businesses at each stage of their journey.
Novo combines extensive venture finance and management expertise to target the critical areas and challenges faced with any early stage or growth business. These include: access to capital and corporate finance support, growth engineering, strategic and operational management expertise, sales and marketing, team development and recruitment.
The Exec and partner team hold extensive experience across corporate finance, venture capital, private equity, institutional capital, management consultancy and building early-stage companies from the ground up as founders/shareholders.
Christopher is an expert in debt financing, having operated for over 20 years in the industry. His outreach is extensive across the likes of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Yorkshire Bank, OakNorth and Swoop. He works closely with Novo in providing a variety of debt solutions to both established and growth phase enterprise spanning from £25k to £25m+ in single transaction quantum.
An experienced M&A and investment advisor, Abeed has led and supported over 20 successful transactions across the marketing services, technology, and energy sectors. Most recently, he led the sale of Nexta to Kevel in January 2025 for $20 million.
Abeed built and ran the Technology division at SI Partners, Cactus and Waypoint, advising founders and shareholders on growth strategy, capital raises, and exits. As an M&A Partner, he worked with a wide range of creative and digital agencies to position them for successful acquisitions.
On the buy-side, Abeed has driven acquisition strategies and execution for leading investors and corporates including Mountain Gate Capital, Havas North America, Stagwell, and Perenco. He has consistently been a leading source of deal flow for London-based private equity firm YFM, helping identify and unlock high-value investment opportunities.
Over the course of his career, Abeed has helped raise over $70 million for investment projects and has been instrumental in landmark deals such as the sale of Spark44 to Accenture.
His cross-sector perspective and deep operator insight bring unique value to both founders and investors navigating complex growth and liquidity events
Iek has over 25 years’ experience in the investment banking industry, working in London, Singapore, New York and Los Angeles. Iek is currently a Director at Strand Ventures, at one of London’s leading boutique Merchant Banks and high end Nominated Advisory with large scale transactions globally; channelled through the London and South African regions. His expertise spans all entry points of equity (private and public), debt and hybrid capital structures coupled with detailed insights in organisational growth and development and Quant Dark Pool Trading. Iek worked in various equity capital market roles at Silverwind, Libertas Capital, HSBC, Enskilda Securities, Merrill Lynch and Smith New Court. He is an active sailor holding an International Yacht Masters Certificate and competed in the America’s Cup with Oracle-BMW.
Taj is a commercially focused and highly analytical MBA with a 25-year track record of growth, turnaround, and financing while operating as an executive in numerous VC/PE environments. His international business experience and knowledge, coupled with hands-on experience in energy from waste, anaerobic digestion, renewables, oil, gas, mining, technology, carbon capture, education, childcare, manufacturing, FMCG, and technology platforms provides valuable leadership and strategic guidance to all stages of growth ventures. Taj is also a multiple founder and has experience of guiding Ventures through every stage of their growth journey. An expert in positioning and growing ventures; his skill set is tuned for Novo’s ever-increasing portfolio across all aspects of the growth journey.
Carl is an expert in the private Small Cap markets having operated within the SEIS and EIS sectors since inception, firstly as a fund raiser for funds via IFA’s followed by directly supporting early-stage UK enterprise. At Novo, he leverages his extensive experience to manage and assist start-up and early stage venture companies looking to grow. With a proven track record in identifying and investing in high-growth businesses, with a focus on innovation and sustainability, coupled with his extensive outreach direct to CEOs of funds, he is well placed to lead in financial support to motivated and credible founders who qualify as high growth potential. His expertise spans various sectors including technology, SaaS, B2C, B2B, healthcare, and renewable energy. Carl’s passion to support entrepreneurs and in achieving their growth potential whilst creating positive social impact is at the very core of the ethos and value system of Novo.
Joe brings over a decade of experience in strategic leadership within the FE sector. In 2019, Joe won a silver award as National Business Person of the Year at the SME Business Awards at Wembley Stadium and won Business Person of the Year at the Blackmore Vale Awards on the south coast. He is a leader in his field, highly respected with a track record of revenue generation in funded provision as well as commercial sales. He has been the driving force behind many education-based ventures (including Chief Revenue Officer in a Plc, and currently is leading the growth of a Grade 2 listed specialist education and training provider operating within the Mental Health & Social Care sector). He also sits on the board of WESPA (World Elite Sports Performance Academy), delivering world-class performance training to young athletes, along with various NED roles within the Education & Training sector.
Philip has been in Carbon capture & sequestration technologies for over 10 years, and fifteen years in mineral exploration, hence very well placed within the mineral to Carbon sequestration market. His insights into the use of naturally occurring minerals has enabled him to, over the past 5 years, develop natural weathering processes to capture and permanently store CO2 by utilising Olivine as the principal mineral material. He has an enviable understanding of minerology, weathering processes, and the subsequent impact upon local environments; along with additional revenue streams that are by-products of the sequestration process, leading to local social mobilisation, farming, education and employment.
John is a Chartered Accountant who joined the media industry in 1993, working for Universal & Paramount Pictures as a Marketing Accountant, following which he joined Warner Bros and became Vice President for EMEA. John has an impressive filmography, having overseen all 8 Harry Potter films, Superman, The Matrix, Batman & The Dark Knight Rises. He was involved in the negotiations of over 120 vendor contracts across EMEA, managing a distribution budget of $250m, delivering content to WB Theatrical, Home Video, TV & Consumer Products.
Glyn is an entrepreneurial renewable project developer who has successfully initiated, developed, financed and operated plants in the UK and Germany since 1993. A founder of Brooke Energy, his portfolio currently exports electricity to the National Grid across 5 EFW assets; which he co-designed and built. His extensive international network and industry experience create valuable insights for emerging technologies with applications that address the global energy crisis.
Andrew has over 20 years in Finance, specialising in UK Small Cap stocks. This led him to focus on startups, including creating HomingPIN.com, the world’s first lost property system. Furthermore, he has an in-depth knowledge of global partnerships for revenue generation across B2C (via distribution networks and licensing), and B2B across large scale industries such as flight travel infrastructure and has used these skills advise and assist in securing investment for early stage ventures. Andrew is currently working with Novo across an exciting B2C consumer product and a disruptive aviation venture with roll-out planned across the UAE.
Novo Ventures Limited. Company No: 09924740. The Foundry, 6 Brindley Place. Birmingham, B1 2JB.
