Naomi Kerbal

Our Host

Naomi is a communications expert with deep experience of broadcast having spent 12 years as a TV journalist at Bloomberg, Sky News and CNBC.

Before TV news Naomi was a corporate access originator for Goldman Sachs bringing together institutional investors and corporate clients in the FTSE 100.

She is an advocate for social justice, access and equality through her podcast Show Me The Way which profiles women making a difference to lives of others; as a judge for the Veuve Clicquot BOLD awards; an ambassador for Asia Women of Achievement Awards and a founding advisor for OK Mentor.

Naomi started her professional life as an actress in the West End, on TV and Radio.

Ian Merricks

Guest Speaker

Ian began as an entrepreneur, founding a digital media group; raising private, VC and trade investment and securing an exit. He went on to build The Accelerator Network; providing growth and investment readiness support for 1,000+ tech startups. He created White Horse Capital, advising on 80+ Series A-B tech investment deals, supporting over £650m of growth capital transactions for high growth companies.

In 2023 he launched VenturePath - The Scaleup Investment Community, connecting £7bn of Series A-B VCs with scaleups.  Most recently he established the UK Scaleup Investment Mission, an industry-supported initiative to create more UK venture-backed successes, including from under represented founders and regions. 

Sandy Reid

Guest Speaker

Sandy has been with Mercia Ventures since 2017 and has broad investment experience across sectors and stages. This includes all aspects of investment including origination, execution and value creation where she particularly enjoys working with management teams and boards to support them on their journey to exit.   As Fund Principal for the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II for the East and South East Midlands she is responsible for delivery and performance across the East Midlands, managing the team from our Nottingham office. She also has a broader role across Mercia Ventures including as a member of Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Mercia, Sandy held a number of positions crossing all aspects of commercialising new products and technologies. These ranged from CEO of a VC backed business to corporate R&D bringing operator credentials to her investment role. 

In the dim and distant past Sandy gained a PhD in Chemistry and remains a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry but is now a generalist investor with a portfolio ranging from life sciences to software.

Gabbie Swycher

Guest Speaker

Gabbie Swycher is an investor at early stage consumer fund, Redrice Ventures. At Redrice, they invest in consumer brands, consumer tech, and B2B supporting the consumer ecosystem at seed and series A. Gabbie has a passion for consumer health, travel, and sustainability. Prior to venture capital, she worked in investment banking, advising global consumer companies on their M&A and equity strategies.

Sam Smith

Guest Speaker

Sam set up finnCap as a small division in 1998, bootstrapping it to £3.8m revenue. Then raised £1m to go it alone which took the business to £25m revenue. In 2018 she raised £5m as part of an IPO on the London Stock Exchange and made her first acquisition. So bootstrapping is her thing!

Triin Linamagi

Guest Speaker

Triin is the Founder & CEO of Sie Ventures. Formerly she was Vice President at The Venture Collective, investing in companies across US and UK. She was also an early-stage investor at Founders Factory and Startupbootcamp. Before her career in investments, she was a founder and operator in three companies across FinTech and Future of Work.

Bailey Morrow

Guest Speaker

Bailey Morrow is a Managing Director on the Venture & Growth team at HSBC Innovation Banking. Based in London, she is responsible for supporting growth-stage companies with banking and lending solutions. She leads the bank’s efforts as Head of Climate Tech, Frontier Tech and Consumer Internet.

Before transitioning to the UK, Bailey spent eight years with Silicon Valley Bank in San Francisco. She began her SVB career on the Private Equity and Venture Capital relationship management team, in addition to working with Series A companies on the accelerator team. Bailey holds a bachelor’s degree in combined sciences from Santa Clara University.