In this episode, we explore Jodie O'Keeffe's fascinating journey from IT contractor in 1990s Australia to becoming one of Angel Academe's most insightful investors. Starting with a chance magazine discovery in a Melbourne supermarket, Jodie shares how her unconventional career path through technology, journalism, and philanthropy unexpectedly converged into angel investing expertise. We dive into her methodical approach to learning the ropes and how she successfully transitioned from Australia's...
Jul 08, 2025•39 min
Standing at a copy machine at HSBC late one night, reviewing 50 statements of work that needed urgent attention, Kayleigh Kuptz had her lightbulb moment. "Technology should do this," she thought, "this should not be done by me." Four years later, that frustration has become Deployed—a B2B SaaS platform that's saving enterprise clients millions while transforming how corporations engage with service providers forever. Deployed is one the the increasingly successful portfolio companies of Angel Ac...
Jun 17, 2025•32 min
The last flight out of London carried just two passengers on that fateful March day in 2020. As Boris Johnson announced the UK's first lockdown, Mike Gammell and his co-founder Duncan were airborne, heading to Scotland with nothing but faith in their vision for alcohol-free beer. Four years later, Days Brewing has become the fastest-growing brand in the UK's no and low alcohol space, proving that sometimes the biggest risks yield the greatest rewards. On this episode we're delighted to be joined...
Jun 10, 2025•45 min
How a biochemist turned management consultant became one of the UK's most experienced angel investors — and what new angels can learn from his journey. When Simon Blakey made his first angel investment in 2000, the startup ecosystem looked radically different. There was no AngelList, no Seed Legals, and certainly no standardised term sheets. Finding deals meant subscribing to the "Venture Capital Report" — a physical, green-bound publication that featured just two or three opportunities with bas...
May 30, 2025•37 min
On today's episode, we are joined by Aled Phillips, Co-Managing Director at Niche Private Clients, who helps us take an in-depth look at the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) , their similarities, differences, and when they might be right for your investment strategy. It's a fascinating discussion that we hope you enjoy. Please do leave a comment or question and we'll do our best to reply....
May 12, 2025•24 min
In a world searching for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-derived products, Deep Blue Biotech – a graduate of climate-tech-focused fund Carbon13 ’s 2023 Venture Builder programme – is making waves with an innovative approach to chemical production. Using cyanobacteria – one of the most efficient photosynthetic organisms on the planet – they're developing technology that not only creates valuable chemicals for the personal care industry but removes CO2 from the atmosphere through the proce...
Apr 09, 2025•28 min
In the latest episode of Angel Insights, we sat down with Rob Wallis, co-founder of Moth Drinks, a SyndicateRoom portfolio company revolutionizing the ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail market. From humble beginnings in a home kitchen to expanding across the Atlantic, Moth has established itself as a premium brand in a rapidly growing category. Here's how they did it.For more information on the Access EIS fund please visit www.syndicateroom.com...
Mar 17, 2025•30 min
While carbon dioxide (CO2) often dominates climate discussions, methane plays a disproportionately large role in global warming. "Methane is a bit like the ugly duckling compared to CO2. It's between 28 and 84 times more potent, which means when it's in the atmosphere, it absorbs much more heat." We had the privilege of speaking with Louise Parlons Bentata, the CEO and co-founder of Bluemethane. The conversation revealed the surprising scale of the methane problem and how Bluemethane is pioneeri...
Feb 19, 2025•25 min
Cocoon was formed through the Carbon13 venture building programme with the desire to tackle the emissions produced by the world's second most consumed good, concrete. Eliot Brooks, CEO and Co-founder, joins us to share more about Cocoon's journey and how its product uses a byproduct of steel production to reduce emissions in concrete manufacturing. If you enjoyed the episode please like and subscribe and head to www.syndicateroom.com for more information. Please note, investing in early...
Jan 22, 2025•29 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Join us as we speak all things Hydrogen fuel and climate-tech related with James Milner, CEO of Access portfolio company Wild Hydrogen. Learn how the hydrogen fuels industry has evolved, where it's headed, and why it's such an exciting time to be in the space. Find out more about what we do at www.syndicateroom.com Find out more about Wild Hydrogen .
Oct 04, 2024•39 min
David Hickson, part of the founding team at Founders Factory, joins us to give a bit of background on Founders Factory and why they are starting a new Pre-seed B2B SaaS programme and fund when so many others thought B2B SaaS was saturated. To find out more about the fund SyndicateRoom and Founders Factory are building please visit www.syndicateroom.com/founders-factory-seis. Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely ...
Aug 28, 2024•29 min
Hannah Leach , Partner at Houghton Street Ventures & Co-founder at VentureESG, joins us on this exciting episode of Angel Insights where we delve into ESG and what it really boils down to when it comes to startups and Venture Capital. In this episode we look beyond the products and services being built to the supply chains, hiring processes, and a whole lot more. As always, if you'd like to learn more about our fund you can read here about Access EIS and if you'd like more on the tax reliefs...
Apr 04, 2023•28 min
We had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the incredible Dr. Brian Moretta of Hardman & Co. Brian is a quant by nature, a former fund manager by past, and a fund analyst and reviewer at present. Not to mention, in his spare time, Brian is a professor at the prestigious Heriot-Watt University. Brian spends his days picking apart funds ( EIS and VCTs ) and creating the reports used by wealth advisors and IFAs so it was a privilege to get his take on how to approach reviewing a fund. Whe...
Mar 01, 2023•26 min
What does one do with a PhD in visual processing? Naturally, one would join the entrepreneur first accelerator, launch a machine learning-based visual processing business, sell it to twitter, then work one's way up the Twitter hierarchy before retiring around 30. Then one would turn one's hand to angel investing. Don't believe me? Listen in to today's guest Zehan Wang as he recounts his tales and all of the lessons he learned along the way which he now applies to his angel investing. New to ange...
Jan 23, 2023•39 min
Addie Pinkster is the Founder and Chief Executive of Adelpha, a female-led corporate financial advisor and leading investment network, that specialises in high-quality, fast-growth, UK-focused companies. Prior to that, she spent 15 years in investment banking, most recently as Head of Hedge Fund Strategy at Citi. She is also a NED, and a growth & tech investor. I got to speak to Addie about her experiences in finance, what matters to her when it comes to choosing companies for investment, an...
Nov 07, 2022•45 min
Andy Ayim MBE joins us on Angel Insights to discuss all things angel investing and how he finds time to balance family, work, and purpose. From product manager to entrepreneur, to angel investor, and opening his own angel investing school , Andy is on a mission to make the angel investing pool as diverse as the entrepreneurs starting companies. Andy's journey is filled with drive, self-discovery and a number of insights he shares with us in the episode. Always learning, authentic, humble, and a ...
May 17, 2022•44 min
Srin Madipalli seems to have tried a bit of everything before turning his attention to building a startup. Fortunately all of the insights he'd picked up as a geneticist, lawyer, MBA and self-taught coder came in handy and he ultimately founded Accomable which he then sold to Airbnb. Since his departure from Airbnb he's focused his time on angel investing and mentoring startups. Today he shares some of the lessons he's learned along the way.
Mar 16, 2022•46 min
Nick Jenkins, the founder of Moonpig.com and a former member of BBC's Dragon's Den, joins us on Angel Insights to share what he's learned and how he invests.
Jan 06, 2022•46 min
Matt Lerner is an angel investor, founder of Startup Core Strengths, and tech industry legend. In this episode we delve into what he's learned from helping to build some of the biggest names in the game (Paypal being one), mentoring countless companies scale during his time at 500 startups, and investing in many others.
Nov 26, 2021•32 min
The incredible Mac Conwell discusses how he got into VC and what drives Rarebreed Ventures. From investor product fit to the value of twitter for networking, and what the next steps are to get more diverse founders backed.
Oct 21, 2021•26 min
Sarah Turner, co-founder of the incredible Angel Academe, joins us today to discuss the changes she has seen in the angel investing ecosystem over the last decade and shares thoughts on what more needs to be done to bring more women into angel investing.
Sep 21, 2021•32 min
Dr. Silvia Mah, PhD, MBA, is a founding partner of Ad Astra Ventures, Stella Angels, Stella Labs and Women's Venture Summit, and is a prolific angel investor.
Sep 06, 2021•50 min
Peter Cowley started life as an engineer but quickly developed a passion for entrepreneurship which has stuck with him his entire career. He fell into angel investing before he really knew what it was all about and soon became a true student of the game.
Jun 21, 2021•27 min
Denzel Walters, co-founder for Community Growth Ventures, sat down to chat with us about his professional experience, his approach to angel investing, and the gap in the market in backing diverse founders that led to the founding of Community Growth Ventures.
May 19, 2021•42 min
Today we had the privilege of chatting with Caroline Halliday, from the Green Angel Syndicate. Caroline has a wealth of experience working with environmentally-minded businesses and investing in cleantech startups. Listen in to learn how she approaches a cleantech investment opportunity.
Apr 22, 2021•31 min
Super Angel Kirsten Connell talks to us about her career, both before angel investing and since, and the lessons she's learned along the way that have led to her becoming one of the top business angels in the UK with a particular focus on cybertech.
Mar 22, 2021•29 min
We had the opportunity to chat with Super Angel Simon Thorpe about his career, before angel investing and since, and the lessons he's learned along the way that have led to him becoming one of the top business angels in the UK.
Feb 22, 2021•18 min
In addition to having an enviable angel portfolio, super angel Chris Mairs CBE has held various executive roles at Metaswitch Networks, including a long stint as CTO. He's been the Chairman of Magic Pony Technology, Curon Medical, Phoelex, Board Member at Raspberry Pi, Venture Partner at Entrepreneur First and is a Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering. We had the chance to sit down with Chris and discuss his incredible experience in both his professional life and angel investing. In Today’...
Jan 25, 2021•26 min
Beyond being an incredible angel investor, Ros has built an enviable career in telecoms and IT, having been COO at Relish Networks, the Managing Director for broadband at three, and Chair of the UK5G advisory board. We had the chance to sit down with Ros and discuss her incredible experience in both her professional life and angel investing. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1) How to transition into angel investing 2) Should you always invest in what you know? 3) The red flags to look out for ...
Dec 03, 2020•23 min
Gale Bowman is the founding director of IrishAngels, has grown the group to 150 investors and managed 15 investments totaling over $5.5 million in seed and Series A capital. Her previous work experience includes market research consulting at Nielsen and corporate strategy at Orbitz. She has consulted many startups on customer research, marketing, and funding strategy. Bowman sits on the Board of the C200 Scholars Network and is a member of the Irish Entrepreneurs Network. In Today’s Show We Disc...
Nov 08, 2016•19 min
