Founders Factory

Serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Founders Factory.

Damian Routley is Chief Operating Officer at Founders Factory, where he works on building and investing in early-stage companies across deeptech, telecommunications, health, climate, and fintech sectors.

Jack Kennedy is a mining and deeptech investor at Founders Factory, where he leads early-stage mining investments through a $10M joint venture with Rio Tinto. He previously worked as a deeptech investor at Kintanna and has experience as a founder and product lead.

Bianca Furtuna is Head of Data Science at Founders Factory, where she leads applied machine learning initiatives. She has built and managed data science teams and delivered complex machine learning solutions, with experience mentoring ML scientists and engineers. Her focus areas include applying machine learning and data science to healthcare applications.

Camila Zattar is a finance professional with experience across venture capital, private equity, and investment banking. She has held roles at Ada Ventures, Founders Factory, Stirling Square Capital Partners, and Credit Suisse, and currently works in finance at Strava. Zattar holds bachelor's degrees in business administration and economics from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and has worked in Brazil, the United States, and London.

Charlotta Kemp is Program and Community Lead at Founders Factory, where she develops and executes accelerator programs for early-stage mining and nature technology startups. With over a decade of experience in international investment and trade, she manages partnerships with Rio Tinto and the Western Australian Government to provide capital, mentorship, and resources to approximately 24 startups annually. Her expertise spans public affairs, investor relations, and government relations.

Claire Morris serves as Chief Studio Officer at Founders Factory, where she leads the Venture Studio in partnering with entrepreneurs to build and scale technology companies. With over 23 years of experience in digital and technology, she has previously managed teams across leading agencies and startups.

David Hickson is Chief Strategic Development Officer and member of the founding team at Founders Factory, a global technology operating and investing firm managing a portfolio of over 400 tech companies, more than 80 of which were launched internally. He was part of lastminute.com's founding team through its 2005 sale for $1.1 billion, and has supported fundraising efforts across four technology ventures totaling over $100 million in capital raised. Hickson serves as a non-executive director at Simba and as co-founder, Chief Strategic Officer, and non-executive director at Tribe Sports.

Edoardo Gentili is an investor and operator at Founders Factory focused on early-stage companies in AI, fintech, data, cybersecurity, and creative industries at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages. He supports portfolio founders with fundraising, go-to-market strategy, and partnerships, while also utilizing AI agents for sourcing and evaluation processes. Gentili co-founded Italians in VC, a global community aimed at connecting Italian professionals in venture capital, investment, and entrepreneurship.

Edward Kandel is cofounder and CEO of Coform, a community platform for solutions engineers, presales professionals, and forward-deployed engineers that hosts monthly discussions among members from companies including Twilio, Stripe, Datadog, and Wiz. Through Coform, he is developing Focal, a system of record designed to provide visibility into deals, calls, and technical outcomes for SE teams. Previously, Kandel worked at Founders Factory investing in and advising enterprise startups on building presales and delivery functions.

Frank Webster is General Counsel and Head of Corporate Development at Founders Factory, a multi-sector venture studio and early-stage investor. With over 20 years of experience in investment, early-stage technology, and M&A law from previous roles at top-tier US law firms, he oversees legal operations, international expansion, and investment activities while providing support to the company's portfolio of more than 350 companies. He serves on multiple boards representing Founders Factory UK, including positions with investors such as Mediobanca and Rio Tinto.

Giulio Brugnaro is a Founding Partner at Production Capital, an investment and deployment platform for physical AI that finances and operates autonomous hardware in industrial and infrastructure sectors. He leads product and technology initiatives focused on demand surfacing, deal structuring, risk underwriting, and asset tracking. Brugnaro holds a Ph.D. from University College London in robotic manufacturing applied to construction and has previously served as Venture Design Lead at Founders Factory and Director of Product & Engineering at Mind the Bridge.

Jack Howell is Head of Applied AI at Founders Factory. Previously, he co-founded Kody with Yoyo Chang, a payments-focused venture. His background includes design work with Adobe Creative Cloud tools and prototype development.

Jacob George is Director of Product at Founders Factory, where he develops AI agents and generative AI products focused on workflow automation across healthcare, fintech, and retail sectors. With over a decade of experience shipping AI products, he has supported portfolio companies that raised more than $100 million and brought 30+ products from conception through product-market fit. His background includes founding team experience at Emagin, which was acquired by Autodesk.

Lee Bernasconi is Chief Marketing Officer at Founders Factory, a global company builder and early-stage investor. His experience spans venture strategy, go-to-market and growth strategy, customer acquisition and retention, product and customer experience, digital marketing, sales enablement, and marketing strategy and communications.

Levi Young is Sector Director at Founders Factory. He has experience in digital ecommerce and merchandising, with background in leading high-growth startups and teams. Young has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and Management Today's 35 Under 35 selectee.

Liam Nolan is Head of Growth at Founders Factory. He works on user and customer acquisition through online and offline channels, conversion rate optimization, and lifetime value strategies including CRM and pricing optimization, with a focus on data-driven decision making.

Louis Warner is a General Partner at G-Force and partner at venture funds Granpool and AI Tech Builders, focusing on deep-tech, AI, and software investments. He serves as executive chair of Brenpower and board director at Dayjob and Metalchemy, bringing over 25 years of experience in venture-backed technology companies across roles including CEO, COO, and co-founder. His background includes exits ranging from IPO to private equity, as well as experience working with hundreds of founders across multiple geographies and investment platforms.

Luca Pessina is the founder of Filli, a company that develops mobile and web applications for startups and businesses. The company focuses on democratizing software development.

Olly Betts is Fintech Sector Director at Founders Factory, where he builds and invests in fintech startups across wealth, health, insurance, and sustainability. He has worked with over 50 portfolio companies and supported founders in raising more than $300 million, drawing on 20 years of experience founding and scaling fintech ventures, including OpenWrks (acquired 2020) and a leadership role at TDX Group (acquired 2014). He currently leads Version 40, a personal venture focused on customer-centered financial services.

Raluca Ciobancan is Head of Talent at Founders Factory, where she advises pre-seed startups on talent, people, and culture matters and has managed hiring processes for over half of the studio's founders. Her background includes recruitment, graduate programs, agile transformation, and startup experience, which inform her work building talent programs and supporting founders through early-stage hiring and team development.

Sahil Sachdev is Director of New Ventures at Founders Factory, where he oversees the creation of 10-20 new ventures annually. He has been involved in the development and investment of over 60 startups from inception, representing more than £35 million in total deployment, and has supported several high-growth companies in the UK market.

Tamryn Barker is Sector Director for Mining & Nature Tech at Founders Factory, where she supports technology founders addressing challenges in mining and climate. She works in partnership with Rio Tinto and the Government of Western Australia, focusing on ventures in Western Australia and globally.