Our dealmakers

Alpesh Patel

Sector: AI, Cyber, FinTech

International market lead: India, SE Asia

Coverage: Leeds, London

Co-founder of TiE UK, part of the world’s largest entrepreneur mentoring organisation, Alpesh is a hedge fund founder, former Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, barrister and an international best-selling Financial Times author, former FT columnist and Bloomberg TV presenter. He was named “top FTSE 100 forecaster” by the Financial Times, advised the UK Prime Minister on UK-India relations and worked in the US Congress. He runs a “trillion-dollar” campaign to help a million people build an extra $1m in their portfolios.

Eamon Tuhami

Sector: AI, FinTech, MedTech, Big Data, SaaS

International market lead: Africa, Turkey, with support for North America

Coverage: London, Cardiff, Bristol, Wales and South West

Eamon is a founder and builder with over 25 year's experience and multiple exits. Through X8IQ, his AI growth consultancy, he helps non-technical leaders and their teams accelerate intelligently. He works closely with tech founders making the transition from start-up to scale-up. As GEP Dealmaker based in Cardiff, he has landed 30+ international scale-ups into the UK across London, Cardiff and other regions. An active investor who loves perfecting pitch decks, he chairs and sits on a number of boards.

Elizabeth Varley

Sector: Software, MedTech, Life Sciences, DeepTech, AI, Energy

International market lead: Australia

Coverage: National

Elizabeth Varley is a two-time founder who supports high-growth companies scaling from the UK and serves as a venture partner at Tribe Global VC. She is also co-founding a deep tech venture focused on the energy transition. Elizabeth sits on multiple boards as an advisor and non executive director. She was Founder and Global CEO of TechHub, where she helped scale over 3,000 companies across the UK, Europe, India and the US.

Simon Sprince

Sector: EdTech and Corporate E-Learning, Retail Tech / E-Commerce, HealthTech, Data & AI

International market lead: Canada, Lithuania

Coverage: North West, London and the South East

Simon has over 20 years’ experience working at the intersection of innovation, academia and corporates, developing and commercialising new products across multiple industries. As director at the International Centre for Digital Content and founder of Focus Innovation. He supports GEP companies with UK product-market fit, market access, R&D grant funding, university partnerships and raising investment.

Stephen Mooney

Sector: FinTech, Quantum, AI

International market lead: USA

Coverage: Brighton, London

Stephen Mooney specialises in fintech and predictive AI, with over 20 years' experience as a founder, operator and investor. As a GEP Dealmaker, he has supported over 80 international, venture-backed companies to establish and scale in the UK. He works primarily with later-stage founders, leveraging deep networks across VC, corporate and advisory ecosystems to unlock capital, strategic partnerships and market entry at scale.

Tim Luft

Sector: Creative, AR/VR, Tech

Market lead: Poland

Coverage: Midlands

Tim Luft is a UK-based CEO and innovation leader specialising in business growth, international expansion, and emerging technologies. As Head of European Innovation, he delivers high-impact programmes supporting start-ups, scale-ups and inward investment. With deep experience in digital innovation, AI and partnerships, Tim has led initiatives across the West Midlands and beyond. He runs a business incubator and is the founder of a regional Business Angel Network, with interests including XR for simulation and training.

Dace Dimza-Jones

Sector: Pharma and Biotech, Life Sciences, MedTech, Digital Health

International market lead: Eastern Europe

Coverage: Devolved nations

Dace is a prominent voice on the national and international stage, well known across the life sciences community for helping to grow and scale IP-rich and R&D-intensive companies. With 13 years of NHS operational and clinical research experience across over 30 therapeutic areas, she bridges the gap between global pharma and healthcare systems. Expertise spanning biotech, medtech, digital health and engineering biology, Dace connects global capital with high-impact innovation to accelerate UK market entry, R&D partnerships and commercial scale-up.

Angela Stathi MBA

Sector: Financial Services, Defence, Digital and technologies, Deep Tech, AI, Clean Energy, Clean Tech, Health

International market lead: Europe, APAC (Singapore), LATAM

Coverage: Greater London and South East (Oxford and Cambridge)

Angela built her career in leading tech and financial institutions including Moody’s, Fitch, BNP Paribas and Schroders, before moving into deep tech ventures and non-executive advisory roles with PE/VC firms, large corporates, the European Commission’s €10bn Fund, UNDP, NATO DIANA, FCA and Digital Boost. As the Founder of Zyndeo and Co-Founder of Brazil Tech Connect and S2C Ventures, she connects tech ecosystems and governments with high potential scale-ups. Within OFI, Angela supports scale-ups with UK expansion, investment readiness and strategic growth.

Tony Hughes

Sector: AI/Data, Creative, FinTech, Deep Tech

International market lead: Japan

Coverage: Bristol, Cambridge, Liverpool, London

Tony Hughes is an entrepreneur, advisor and UK Government Dealmaker supporting high-growth international companies to establish and scale in the UK. With over 20 years’ experience, he has founded multiple ventures across technology, university institutes and the creative industries. He has supported hundreds of global scale-ups, connecting them to investment, enterprise customers and strategic partners to accelerate international expansion.

Tony Kypreos

Sector: Climate Tech, Deep Tech

International market lead: Spain

Coverage: Cambridge, London

Tony is the GEP’s MedTech and ClimateTech lead, focused on attracting high-potential international ventures to scale from the UK. He is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at King’s College London’s London Institute for Healthcare Engineering and lectures/mentors in entrepreneurship at Cambridge Judge Business School and Cambridge Earth Sciences. He has extensive venture capital, corporate innovation and founder experience, including Executive Board roles at T-Mobile International and co-founding MedTech and technology ventures, with several exits.