Meet the Investors: Glasgow

Usman Ali

Partner - Venture Debt, Salica Investments

Usman Ali is a partner at Salica Investments pan-European venture debt fund.

With over 13 years of experience and an impressive track record of investing more than £100m in 30+ growth stage technology companies across the UK and Europe, Usman brings unparalleled expertise to the table. His recent investments include innovative companies like Shift, Apperio, Administrate, Virtualstock and FullCircl.

Amy Burnett

Head of KPMG Private Enterprise Access, KPMG UK

Amy heads up the KPMG Private Enterprise Access programme in the UK, delivered via the Emerging Giants Centre of Excellence. Emerging Giants is a Global KPMG brand for our support of fast growth and innovative scaling businesses. The team identify and support high potential startups and scaleups across the UK and work alongside them to accelerate their success. We are here to work organically with businesses, delivering traditional and new KPMG services and support throughout their business lifecycle.

Patricia El Jichi

Investment Manager, Par Equity

Patricia El Jichi is an Investment Manager at Par Equity, an Edinburgh-based VC that invests between £1m to £6m at Seed and Series A stages, in technology and deeptech companies across the North of the UK. Her responsibilities include deal origination, due diligence, investment execution and monitoring follow-on funding and M&A requirements for portfolio companies. Before joining Par Equity, she invested in impact-driven tech start-ups and spinouts initially at Ada Ventures and later at SIS Ventures. Prior to VC, Patricia spent over a decade at international financial institutions such as Citigroup and J.P. Morgan, providing institutional service, advice and execution across asset classes to ultra-high net worth clients. Patricia is also a CFA Charterholder.

Ben Leslie

Investment Director, Puma Growth Partners

Ben is an Investment Director at Puma Growth Partners, a leading UK growth investor. Ben typically invests at Series A stage and focuses on SaaS and Consumer business models. Outside of work, he is a keen hiker and is always looking for the next peak to scale.

Barry McCulloch

Senior Manager, British Business Bank

A passionate advocate of the importance of SMEs in the economy, Barry has expertise in a range of finance and economic issues. In his role as Senior Manager at the British Business Bank, Barry is the eyes and ears of the Bank in Scotland and is focussed on raising its profile in the ecosystem and supporting SMEs on their finance journey.

Prior to joining the Bank two years ago, Barry spent over a decade working in senior policy and public affairs roles in Scotland – from lobbying governments and managing key relationships, through to advising think tanks and local authorities as well as co-founding an employability start-up.

 

Karen Meechan

Chief Executive Officer, ScotlandIS

Karen has been working in the technology sector for more than 25 years, joining ScotlandIS over 20 years ago. As Chief Executive Officer of ScotlandIS, the trade body and cluster management organisation for the digital tech sector, she is a passionate supporter of Scottish tech and its contribution to the economy.

She is a proactive and practical leader, who is inspired daily by meeting and talking to our members who create technology solutions that change the way we all live. One of the greatest parts of her job is watching these companies take something from little more than an idea on paper, to a hugely successful business.