Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup,early-stage,and emerging companies,that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees,annual revenue,scale of operations,etc. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity,or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty,VC investments have high rates of failure. Start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and often come from high technology industries such as information technology (IT) or biotechnology.
Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises,which has diversified interests in telecom,insurance,real estate,education,malls,hospitality,Agri and food besides other ventures.
Hakainde Hichilema is a Zambian businessman,farmer,and politician who is the seventh and current president of Zambia since 24 August 2021. After having contested five previous elections in 2006,2008,2011,2015 and 2016,he won the 2021 presidential election with 59.02% of the vote. He has led the United Party for National Development since 2006 following the death of the party founder Anderson Mazoka.
Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa,as well as the Channel Islands. Currently,Airtel provides 5G,4G and LTE Advanced services throughout India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband,and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology across all Indian telecom circles. It is the second largest mobile network operator in India and the third largest mobile network operator in the world. Airtel was named India's 2nd most valuable brand in the first ever Brandz ranking by Millward Brown and WPP plc.
Alan Patricof is an American investor who founded the venture capital firm Alan Patricof Associates in 1969. For five years,starting in 2001,he stepped back from day-to-day management of his firm to foster entrepreneurship in the developing world. Patricof returned to found Greycroft in 2006,which by 2022 had $3 billion under management. He's been a member of numerous boards and commissions in three Administrations. Patricof is now co-founder and chairman of Primetime Partners.
RIT Capital Partners plc,formerly Rothschild Investment Trust,is a large British investment trust dedicated to investments in quoted securities and quoted special situations. Established in 1961,the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Sir James Leigh-Pemberton has been chairman since September 2019.
William Samson Kalema,is a Ugandan chemical engineer,business consultant and entrepreneur,who serves as the managing partner of BDO East Africa,"a professional firm that offers audit,accounting,tax and business advisory services to private and public sector clients",in the countries of the East African Community and Ethiopia.
James W. Breyer is an American venture capitalist,founder and chief executive officer of Breyer Capital,an investment and venture philanthropy firm,and a former managing partner at Accel Partners,a venture capital firm. Breyer has invested in over 40 companies that have gone public or completed a merger,with some of these investments,including Facebook,earning over 100 times cost and many others over 25 times cost. On the Forbes 2021 list of the 400 richest Americans,he was ranked #389,with a net worth of US$2.9 billion.
Klaus Hommels is a German venture capitalist. He focuses on early and growth-stage investments and has founded his own venture capital fund by the name of Lakestar,through which he has been investing mainly in digital businesses. He has been invested in Facebook,Skype and Xing;other examples are Klarna and Revolut.
Udoma Udo Udoma is a commercial lawyer and founder of the Nigeria law firm Udo Udoma &Belo-Osagie. His career spans law,business and politics,as he served as a senator in the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007,as a Federal Minister from 2015 to 2019,and on the boards of various corporations in both the private and public sectors.
Robert E. Grady is an American venture capitalist,private equity investor,and former public official. He has worked at such leading investment firms as Robertson Stephens,The Carlyle Group,and Summit Partners,and for a number of elected officials,including former President George H. W. Bush and New Jersey Governors Tom Kean and Chris Christie.
Scott Harris Lenet is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of two venture capital firms:the corporate venture capital firm Touchdown Ventures and the seed stage venture capital firm DFJ Frontier.
Jonathan Milton Nelson is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founder of Providence Equity Partners,a global private equity firm based in Providence,Rhode Island,which manages funds with over US$45 billion in commitments. As of September 2023,Nelson's net worth is estimated by Forbes at $3.4 billion.
Crowdcube is a British investment crowdfunding platform,established by Darren Westlake and Luke Lang in 2011.
Alexander B. Ellis III,formerly an executive with alternative energy companies,and now a partner in the venture-capital firm Rockport Capital Partners. He is a nephew of former President of the United States George H. W. Bush and a first cousin of former President George W. Bush and the former Governor of Florida John Ellis "Jeb" Bush.
Irwin Federman is an American businessman,philanthropist and General Partner of U.S. Venture Partners.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa is a company that was formed in 2014 from the merger of SABMiller plc,The Coca-Cola Company and Gutsche Family Investments beverage bottling operations in Southern and East Africa.
Narendra K. Gupta was an Indian-American venture capital investor and technology entrepreneur. He founded the investment company Nexus Venture Partners,as well as various other investment and software firms. He was also CEO and president of Integrated Systems Inc. (ISI) for a decade and a half. In a career spanning over three decades he was recognized for his contributions to global technology and entrepreneurial ecosystems,and for venture capital investments in India.
David Steele Bohigian is an American businessman,investor,venture capitalist,and government official. He served as the acting president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation,the former development finance institution of the United States government,from March to December 2019. Bohigian had previously served as the corporation's executive vice president. He was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote in August 2017 under the Donald Trump administration. Bohigian also served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance under President George W. Bush.
