The Global Institutional Distribution team and key employees

Benjamin was appointed CEO of Octopus Investments in February 2023. He joined Octopus in 2010 and has broad experience in retail and institutional fund management. Benjamin has worked across multiple retail and institutional investment products, including leading the Octopus Apollo VCT. He led our Octopus Healthcare, and then Octopus Real Estate teams for 6 years, chairing its Investment Committee.
 
Prior to Octopus, Benjamin invested across a range of sectors at YFM Equity Partners and Interregnum, and previously worked in technology and consulting.  He has an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Jonathan oversees the investment strategy of the fund management businesses which form the Octopus fund management group which manages more than £10 billion of retail and institutional money. Octopus Investments is a multi-strategy alternatives manager, helping investors to generate long-term income and capital growth by investing in sustainable infrastructure and real estate, to back some of Europe’s fastest-growing, most disruptive businesses and to solve some of society’s greatest challenges.
He joined Octopus in February 2015 as Product Head for Octopus Inheritance Tax Service. Before joining Octopus, Jonathan ran a team at Lloyds that looked after the bank’s non-core equity portfolio. He also undertook stints at BNP Paribas, Robert Fleming and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Jonathan is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has an MA in Geography from the University of Oxford.

Chris co-founded Octopus in 2000 from the front room of his London flat. Today, Chris is an award-winning entrepreneur whose role is to develop Octopus relationships with institutional investors around the world. He is responsible for the Group’s expansion into new areas and he also sits on the investment committee of several Octopus funds.

Chris spends his time championing British entrepreneurialism and promoting policy ideas to drive business growth, by meeting UK business leaders and stakeholders such as MPs and government ministers.

Before founding Octopus, Chris led one of the global equity research teams at Mercury Asset Management. He has a first class MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Simon has overall responsibility for the day-to-day decisions and strategic direction of Octopus Group.

Much of his time is spent looking for new opportunities for Octopus, such as moving into the commercial energy sector with Octopus Energy.

Before founding Octopus in 2000, Simon spent two years working at Mercury Asset Management. He holds a first-class MA in Modern Languages from St. Andrews University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Caroline leads the the global institutional sales function; supporting its strategy and strengthening the relationship between the institutional funds distribution team and investment functions, as well as focusing on partnerships with investment consultants.

Caroline joined Octopus following a 15-year career at Willis Towers Watson (WTW) and has brought a wealth of diverse experience that spans investment consulting and strategic sales; including designing investment strategy and solutions for institutional investors. She also focused on helping clients establish their ESG values and creating impact through their investments. Most recently, Caroline was in a global people leadership role, in charge of setting the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) strategy and shaping the culture of the business. 

Caroline graduated from the University of Exeter where she studied Mathematics and she also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Harry leads the Institutional Marketing function; developing strategy to take the Octopus Investments brand and funds to institutional investors across global markets.

Harry joined Octopus following a seven-year stint as Group Head of Marketing at Triple Point Investments. He raised retail, institutional and public capital over five different investment strategies. He also led the communications function for the consortium running the government HNIP and GHNF (Heat Networks) projects.

He has brought a wealth of experience that spans both listed and unlisted funds, with a clear focus on impact investment. Harry’s teams have won multiple awards for marketing and communications, both locally and internationally.

Prior to his time in the UK, Harry was a founder of Fintech insurer BrightRock (Acquired by Sanlam) and was Executive Creative Director of Vitality’s global brand agency.

Harry graduated from the University of Johannesburg, where he studied Graphic Design and from Vega where he obtained a post grad BA hons in Brand Communication.

Sian leads the the UK institutional sales function. Sian joined Octopus Investments from BlackRock, where she spent more than six years fundraising for the group’s Alternatives platform, most recently as a Director in the Multi-Alternatives Product Strategy Team. Her responsibilities included designing innovative solutions for investors, client engagement and fundraising. Prior to this Sian spent time in the Investment Solutions Team at Partners Group, as an Investment Manager at Railpen, and in the multi-asset team at Schroders. She began her career at JPMorgan.

Anne-Sophie joined Octopus in September 2022 and is responsible for capital raising and investor relations for Octopus Investments in Europe.

Anne-Sophie previously spent ten years at Hedgebay – a secondary advisory firm – where she was heading up the European office. From 2007-2011 Anne-Sophie worked as an Institutional Business Director at Castlestone Management – a global macro hedge fund – and prior to that she was in Institutional Sales at Lombard Odier IM in Paris.

Anne-Sophie holds a MS in Economics and International Finance from the Université Louis Lumiere Lyon 2, and a post-graduate degree in International Trade from Université Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne.

Robert Cashmore MBE is Octopus Investments’ Head of Middle East Sales, leading Octopus’ relationships across all asset classes with Middle Eastern investors.

Prior to Octopus, Robert was a senior British diplomat specialising in Gulf investment into the UK. He spent four years as the UK Government’s Head of Investment for Saudi Arabia, based in Riyadh, and two years as the Director for Investment Middle East, based in the UAE, during which time he played a leading role in securing the £10bn UAE-UK Sovereign Investment Partnership. He received an MBE in the 2020 Queen’s Honours for services to UK Trade and Investment.

Prior to Government, Robert spent five years in the City of London working for a number of investment banks, including UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Robert holds degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics.

Semi is responsible for Korea and Japan Coverage for Octopus Investment on institutional fund distribution and investor relationship management.

In her previous role as an Inward Investment Manager at the UK Department for International Trade, Semi provided strategic advice to large UK infrastructure fund managers on distribution to large Korean institutional investors such as pension funds, asset managers and insurance companies.

Semi has a degree in English Linguistics and Literature from Sahmyook University in Korea and an MA in International Relations from University of Warwick.

Tom is responsible for investor relations and supports the team with capital raising at Octopus. Tom Joined Octopus in September 2018 as part of their retail sales team where he was responsible for distributing Octopus’ tax efficient solutions before moving across to the Global Institutional Distribution team in January 2022.

Tom is a graduate of the University of Reading where he studied Politics and International Relations.

Emma is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with family offices across Europe.

Prior to joining Octopus, Emma spent 10 years at Institutional Investor in London and New York. As Director of Investor Relations and Content she established and built relationships with single family offices, launching Institutional Investor’s private network of family offices in 2013.

Emma has a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Hons) from Liverpool John Moore’s University.

In his role heading up the Sustainable Infrastructure team, Rob oversees investments in new sectors such as fibre broadband and the management of both the OITS product and the OSIF fund. He also sits on the Octopus Investment and Valuation Committees.

Rob joined Octopus in 2013 as Head of Valuations, and then became Head of the Sustainable Infrastructure team in 2019.

Prior to this, he was a director in the M&A team at RBS working across various sectors specialising in infrastructure and utilities.

Rob graduated from Warwick University where he read Mathematics.

Sean has 20+ years investing, asset management, and financing experience across a breadth of infrastructure assets classes.

Prior to joining Octopus he was Senior Director and Fund Manager at Aviva Investors, responsible for infrastructure equity mandates across multiple sustainable infrastructure sectors, as well as investment strategy and origination activities.

Sean was also previously responsible for investment strategy and origination as Senior Director at Balfour Beatty Investments and he also advised on corporate and project finance transactions across the renewables, energy and utilities sectors at RBC Capital Markets.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance from the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary and is also a CFA charter holder.

Lukasz specialises in investing in emerging sustainable infrastructure companies. He leverages his experience as a sustainability engineer, entrepreneur and energy market advisor. He is also a board member of a number of portfolio companies.

Since joining Octopus in 2013, he has led multiple transactions in the energy transition, telecoms and financial sectors. He was a part of the Octopus Group’s Principal Investment Team. Lukasz also co-founded a lending business.

Before joining Octopus, Lukasz was a consultant at Arup, advising on infrastructure deals.

Lukasz holds two master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and practised engineering with a focus on sustainability.

Ed is head of the Octopus Inheritance Tax Service, which includes Fern Trading and the Octopus Trading Partnership, and is responsible for the investment performance of these products. He is also a member of the Octopus investment committee and is a director of several Octopus portfolio companies.

Before joining Octopus in 2010, Ed was a finance lawyer at SJ Berwin for five years before relocating to Los Angeles as head of business affairs for CineFinance LLC, a subsidiary of Houston Casualty Company.

He also holds the Investment Management Certificate.

Sarah supervises debt raising across the Octopus group and manages ongoing relationships with banks and other lenders. She has 25 years’ experience as a lender, a debt advisor, and, in her current role, as borrower. She also chairs the Octopus Investment Committee and is a director of Octopus AIF Management Ltd.

Before joining Octopus in 2013, she previously held roles at SocGen and Rothschild.

She has an MA in History from the University of Edinburgh.

Isobel joined Octopus in 2014 and in the last 4 years has spent her time managing portfolio companies in the digital fibre infrastructure space. She is a Non-Executive Director on two companies rolling out fibre broadband networks in the UK.

Before joining Octopus, Isobel was a Senior Manager at PwC in transaction services performing due diligence on small and medium sized companies in an array of sectors.

She is also a chartered accountant.

Ben joined Octopus in 2015. His role involves managing the Octopus Inheritance Tax Service portfolio of companies, overseeing £3.5m of unlisted assets across a variety of sectors. He has 15 years’ experience in investing, M&A and finance. He is a board member of a number of portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Octopus, Ben spent five years in investment banking with a focus on equity capital markets across multiple sectors.

Ben is a chartered accountant and studied mathematics at the University of Nottingham.

Matthew is responsible for originating, executing and monitoring investments, with a focus on the Octopus Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (OSIF).

He joined Octopus Renewables in 2014 where he led 10 investments into UK solar projects and the refinancing of a 750MW solar portfolio. He later moved internally to Octopus’ Principal Investment team where he was responsible for Octopus Group balance sheet investments.

Prior to Octopus, Matthew worked at Ludgate Investments, a specialist private equity firm focussing on growth stage companies in the “cleantech” sector.

Matthew graduated with a first-class degree in mathematics from the University of Oxford and has passed all three CFA exams.

Phil has been heavily involved in building connections in the fibre broadband sector, working to increase the Octopus presence in this industry.

He works to find new companies for investment as well as managing our existing portfolio.

Phil joined Octopus in 2016. Before this, he worked at KPMG in both the audit and M&A teams.

Mikey focuses on sustainable infrastructure investment, focusing on the energy transition, circular economy, future mobility and digital infrastructure sectors. He focuses on deal origination, execution and portfolio company
support.

Before joining Octopus, Mikey was a Senior Associate at Pricoa Private Capital, a private debt and equity investment firm working across a range of sectors. Prior to that he worked for two years in International Development, doing policy research on urbanisation in low-income countries.

Mikey graduated from Oxford University with a first-class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and a Master’s Degree in economics.

Robert focusses on sustainable infrastructure investment, focussing on the energy transition, circular economy, future mobility and digital infrastructure sectors. He focusses on deal origination, execution and portfolio company support.

Robert joined Octopus in 2019 and previously worked in the Octopus Real Estate team where he supported the team with fund structuring, reporting and transactions.

Before joining Octopus in 2019, Robert worked at KPMG in both the financial services audit and the Financial Engineering Group focusing on commercial real estate as well as Corporate & Investment Banking clients.

Robert is a Chartered Accountant & CFA qualified professional. He has also completed the FMVA certification.

Alice focuses on sustainable infrastructure investment, including sectors such as digital fibre infrastructure, circular economy, energy transition, and future mobility. Her role involves deal origination, execution, and portfolio management.

Alice joined Octopus in 2022, having spent four years in Santander’s (SCIB) Structured Finance team. Here, she focused on Debt Advisory for and lending to large-scale energy transition and infrastructure projects.

Alice graduated from St. Andrews where she read and achieved a first in International Relations.

Matt’s role within the team is to focus on origination and deal execution across a range of sustainable infrastructure sectors. He also supports business development and fundraising.

Matt joined Octopus in 2015 and was previously an Asset Manager in the Octopus renewable energy team. In this role he managed a portfolio of over 100 solar sites and supported equity and debt transactions.

Matt holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham.

Alex joined Octopus in 2015 to help develop our energy strategy, originate and structure investments in new areas and to widen our investor relationships. Alex manages Octopus Energy Generation’s private institutional funds which serve a number of large pension and insurance company investors.

Prior to joining Octopus, Alex was Director in the Energy and Environmental Infrastructure team at EY LLP where he provided a wide range of corporate and project finance services to leading players in the Renewable Energy industry. Alex is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, qualifying in 2003.

Matt is Co-head of Octopus Energy Generation, a team that he started nine years ago and has built to 70 people with over £3 billion of energy assets under management. During this time, Matt led Octopus investment into Lightsource Renewable Energy (now Lightsource BP) and oversaw the growth of that business from start up to exit. He also led the team’s expansion strategy from an initial focus on UK solar PV into on-shore wind and other renewable energy assets across Europe and Australia. Matt is Chairman of the investment committee and member of Octopus Investments’ Executive Committee. 
 
Prior to Octopus, Matt was an investment manager at Shore Capital and a manager at PwC. He has an MBA from Cambridge University and an Economics degree from Bristol University.

Alliott joined Octopus Ventures in 2008 and became CEO in 2017. Over this time the team has backed more than 120 entrepreneurs and has grown to become one of Europe’s largest and most active venture investors. Under his leadership, the Octopus Ventures investment team has evolved to specialise in health, fintech, deep tech, B2B software and consumer and created a market leading portfolio talent function across Europe and the US.

Alliott worked closely with the food e-commerce business Graze (acquired by Unilever), the ecommerce platform Rangespan (acquired by Google), the machine learning tech startup Magic Pony (acquired by Twitter), the pet food company Tails.com (acquired by Nestle) and the property portal website Zoopla (that listed on LSE and was later acquired by SilverLake).

Malcolm joined Octopus Ventures in 2013 and splits his time between the assessment of new investment opportunities within the Fintech Team, primarily within the Fintech and Insurtech sectors, and ongoing portfolio management.

Malcolm is a Non-Executive Director of various portfolio companies including BoughtbyMany, By Miles, DeadHappy, Metrasens, Segura, Semafone and Sofar Sounds. Prior to joining Octopus, Malcolm spent a number of years in the investment banking industry, firstly within the TMT team of Bank America Merrill Lynch in London then at GP Bullhound, a leading boutique investment bank, focusing exclusively on technology businesses.

Kirsten joined Octopus Ventures in 2021 with a specific focus on our early-stage activities. She is Principal of our new First Cheque Fund.

Prior to joining Octopus Ventures, Kirsten ran CyLon, a deep tech accelerator programme investing and supporting over 60 startups. She was also part of the original Seedcamp team and part of the growth journey taking them from a portfolio of 30 startups to over 200.

Kirsten is an angel investor in some of the UK’s hottest cybersecurity startups inc. Tessian, Immersive Labs, Senseon, Cybersmart, Zamna, RiskLedger and eCora.

Richard joined Octopus Ventures in 2017 and focuses on investments in B2B Software companies. He is fund manager for the Octopus Apollo VCT and he also sits on a number of portfolio company boards.

Richard has been an investor in UK and international SMEs since 2006. He previously worked in TPG’s direct lending fund, at RJD Partners, a UK-focused Private Equity fund, and at Dresdner Kleinwort in the Principal Finance group. He qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC and holds a first class degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Birmingham.

Ed is responsible for leading Octopus Real Estate and sits on the Investment Committee. Ed joined Octopus in 2017 and previously led our Care Homes and Corporate Development teams. For the latter role, Ed led Octopus Real Estate’s growth into new sectors and developed our existing businesses. Prior to joining Octopus, Ed was a lawyer with international law firm Allen & Overy. He has a BA in Economics from Durham University and an MBA from the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School.

Andy joined Octopus in 2021.  His team provides bespoke funding solutions to property developers to enable them to deliver ‘living’ assets, from residential through to student accommodation schemes and care homes. In a career spanning just under 20 years, Andy has gained significant experience including working for Lloyds Banking Group, Santander and most recently Secure Trust Bank.

Michael joined Octopus in 2021 and he leads the day-to-day activities of our Care Homes team and is fund manager of the Octopus Healthcare Fund. He has 20 years’ experience in real estate including managing institutional funds. Michael is a member of The Association of Real Estate Funds’ (AREF) ESG and Impact Investing Committee.

Prior to joining Octopus, Michael was at Lothbury Investment Management, where he spent over a decade as an Executive Director and Senior Fund Manager, managing institutional real estate funds, implementing a growth strategy and expanding the flagship fund by more than threefold. He has also worked at KBC Asset Management and Fuller Peiser, and has a degree in Land Economy from the University of Aberdeen.

Since joining Octopus in 2013, Ludo is now the manager of our commercial real estate debt funds I, II and III, and has built our commercial lending team. Under his tenure, Octopus Real Estate has become one of the UK’s most active non-bank specialist property investors, lending across residential bridging and buy-to-let, commercial bridging, term and the development sectors. Ludo also sits on our Management and Investment Committees.

Prior to joining Octopus, Ludo was a Partner at Melford Capital Partners LLP, UK Property Director at Janus Henderson Investors, and an Associate Director at JLL. He has an Estate Management degree at Oxford Brookes University.

Kevin joined Octopus in 2018 and he is a member of the Octopus Real Estate Investment Committee and is responsible for both deploying and raising funds. Kevin leads the Schroders/Octopus Retirement Living Fund team and also works with senior debt providers in sourcing senior development debt.

Since receiving a Masters from Oxford Brookes School of the Built Environment, Kevin has clocked up over 25 years in the real estate development and healthcare sector. He was one of the founders of ARCO and has served as an advisory board member for the Homes and Communities Agency (Homes England) and spent five years on the National Housing Federations development committee.

Steve is Head of Residential Lending at Octopus Real Estate. Steve has been with Octopus for four years, managing the product line and fund relationships, including overseeing four business development managers across London and the South. Steve joined Octopus in 2018 as Head of Buy to Let.

Jack joined Octopus in 2022, having spent over 15 years in real estate, specialising in affordable housing. Jack was previously Executive Director for Growth and Investment at one of the country’s fastest-growing affordable housing providers, and previously led partnerships divisions for several large housebuilders. He is a member of the CISI and is an RICS Registered Valuer.