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Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Sustainable Ventures
A serial entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience taking start-ups from concept to exit, Chris is the Co-Founder of Sustainable Venture Development Partners (“Sustainable Ventures”) and a lead shareholder in the 8 businesses they have launched since 2011.
In 2012 he founded E-Car Club and quickly cemented the company as a significant new player in the sustainable transport space, raising over £2m in seed investment and forging national partnerships with household names including British Gas, Nissan & Renault. In July 2015 he managed the sale of the business to car rental firm Europcar for an undisclosed sum, delivering the world’s first exit for an equity crowdfunded business and a significant multiple return for investors.
He is now Managing Partner at Sustainable Ventures where he and co-founder Andrew Wordsworth lead a team of some of the UK’s most talented venture development and investment professionals, united by a vision of the world where the twin challenges of climate change and resource scarcity are addressed by commercial solutions. Over the last 7 years they have founded 8 businesses, invested in 15 and provided co-working space for a further 50, transforming a disused warehouse in Central London into what is now Europe’s largest ‘Cleantech Cluster’.
Chris is a regular commentator on subjects including entrepreneurship, crowdfunding and sustainable transport. He holds an MA (Hons) in Geography from the University of Edinburgh, along with an MBA from London Business School, and was the 2016 BusinessGreen Entrepreneur of the Year.