Who are they?
They sound German or something. 'Ana doesn't, boss!' No, she doesn't, Voice. Well spotted, son!
Anyway, let's find out all about them!
15 Sept 2020 - London and Bogota - Global technology investor, Amadeus Capital Partners, today announces a major expansion of its investment team. Edward Kliphuis and Kai Schmitz have joined as Partners and Ana Bernardo-Gancedo as a Healthcare Analyst.
So, uh ... 'How old is this PR email, boss?' See if you can guess. 'Six days old.' Congratulations, idiot! You win a biscuit. 'A Jammie Dodger?' Yes, a Jammie Dodger. 'Brilliant!' Yes.
Right. Let's deal with Edward first ...
With Managing Partner Andrea Traversone, Edward Kliphuis will lead the Amadeus "Scale" investment activities, supporting the next generation of Europe's transformational companies.
Edward joins from M Ventures, the €400m AUM corporate VC-arm of Merck KGaA, where he was responsible for healthtech, frontiertech and sustainability investments. Edward led, among others, investments in Akili Interactive Labs (first FDA-approved prescription videogame), Wiliot (battery-free Bluetooth tags) and Sonde Health (voice-analysis for health and wellness). Prior to M Ventures, Edward was at Kempen & Co, covering listed small-and mid-cap Life Sciences equities. He started his career as an analyst in the biopharma investment team of M Ventures.
Okay, okay. 'Jesus!' It's all right, Voice. / Does he have anything to say for himself though? That's the question.
Edward Kliphuis comments on his appointment: "I'm really proud to be joining Amadeus with its 23-year track record in venture capital and growth investing. Amadeus has a long history of forward thinking with investments such as Vocal IQ, Solexa and Graphcore. The Scale team will be applying this knowledge and experience to backing entrepreneurial businesses in healthtech, industrial technology and agritech across Europe."
Well, it seems that he does have something to say for himself. 'Yeah.' Never mind.
Let's find out about Kai!
Kai Schmitz, based in Bogota, Colombia, will invest in growth opportunities in Latin America alongside existing Partner Pat Burtis. The team invests in emerging technology champions in Latin America, focusing on FinTech, EdTech, SaaS and Next Generation eCommerce.
Kai has 20 years' experience in emerging markets. He joins Amadeus from IFC, one of the largest emerging market investors, where he was Regional Head Latin America for FinTech. Before that Kai was a senior expert at the World Bank where he advised central banks on payment market regulation and infrastructure. He is an independent Board member at Minka (Open Banking platform, Colombia), Movii (digital bank, Colombia), Koin (PoS Lender, Brazil) and RS2 (SaaS platform, USA). Earlier, he co-founded payment companies in the UK and the US focused on Africa and Latin America respectively. Originally a lawyer, he worked at law firms in his native Hamburg and London.
Right. And he says?
On becoming Partner, Kai Schmitz says: "I'm looking forward to working alongside my long-term ally Pat Burtis to capitalize on our previous experience in the booming Latin American technology market and provide badly needed growth capital for successful digital innovators. With a track record of $1 billion in commitments to over 160 global technology companies, Amadeus offers a tremendous platform for investing in Latin America's leading tech companies." And we believe him.
Okay, okay. He would say that, wouldn't he?
NOW - !!! Ana ...
Ana Bernardo-Gancedo joins the Amadeus Early Stage Funds team as a Healthcare Analyst from OC&C Strategy Consultants, where she conducted due diligence and strategy projects for private equity and corporate clients.
Ana is Spanish and holds a PhD in Biophysics from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Chemistry from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
And she says ...
And she says ...
And she says ...
'Boss, she ain't got nothing to say for herself!'
Well, either that or they're not letting her speak. 'Maybe we could make something up.' What?! Put words in her mouth, you mean? 'You've done it before with these characters.'
No, no, no. I'm not doing that. She might get upset. 'You've done it before.' Shut up! I know I've done it before. FFS!
ENDS
...
Anything else, kook(s)? This is a finance blog. I'll be stopping the music updates soon. Maybe this one today will be the last one ...
This World Don't Mean a Thing and Live Forever are joint second greatest songs ever written, as far as I'm concerned. It's possible my new song will match them. I made a rough recording of it yesterday with a dummy lyric, and ... it sounds very promising, man. I'm going to need a lyric that suits the tune perfectly though. You know, the vibe or feeling or whatever.
At the end of the week I'm hoping to get all three of the lyrics I need to complete my BIG TEN. Then I'll be laughing. Like this - Ha, ha, ha!
Laters!
