MEET OUR TEAM
Out of our London Headquarters and our regional offices, our investment team, potfolio and investment advisory draw on a wide range of operational experience, deep local knowledge and global perspective to help entrepreneurs realize their vision. Working collaboratively with our portfolio companies, we help management teams think critically about strategic issues such as market positioning, recruiting, acquisitions and financing.
Investment Team
Ervin Luga
Ervin has extensive experience in equity investments. Previously he was heading the EBRD risk management unit covering corporate direct equity investments, including venture capital. He started his career as a banker working on equity and debt deals in a diverse range of sectors. He holds BA degrees in Computer Science and Business Administration from the American University in Bulgaria.
Aziza Zakhidova
Aziza has banking and consulting experience in tech and financial sectors. Before EBRD, she worked for a boutique strategy consultancy out of the US, advising technology, media, and telecoms clients. Aziza started her career as an investment banker with UBS in London. Aziza holds Master degrees from Oxford’s Said Business School and LSE, and bachelor degree from University of Pennsylvania Wharton Business School.
Maria Barsuk
Maria has operational, consulting and investment experience in telecom and tech sectors in Eastern Europe and North America. Previously she was CEO of Depositphotos, Inc. one of the VCIP portfolio companies, focusing on product development and strategy as well as fundraising. Having the financial background, Maria also had senior and executive roles in finance in TMT sector as well as in Private Equity in CIS. She started her career as a consultant at PwC and holds MBA from London Business School.
Yalcin Gungoren
Yalcin has over 10 years of corporate finance experience and worked across a wide range of transactions in Europe and North America. Previously, he was a Director at Arma Partners, where he provided corporate finance advise to companies and investors active in the technology sector. Prior to that, he worked at Rothschild in London and Los Angeles with a focus on technology and healthcare industries. Yalcin holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Business Administration and International Relations from Koç University in Istanbul.
Bruno Lusic
Bruno has over a decade of investment experience and has worked across a broad range of investments in financial services and technology firms in Europe. Before EBRD he was a Director at Ship2B Ventures, the leading early-stage impact venture capital firm in Spain. Prior to that, he worked at AnaCap Financial Partners, where he led a wide variety of investment processes and held several board positions. He started his career as an investment banker at JP Morgan and Nomura in London. Bruno holds a Masters from Imperial College London and has completed an executive programme at Stanford GSB.
Investment Advisory
Eddie Anderson
Eddie is founder and Partner of Pentech Ventures. Prior to founding Pentech, he was co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Objective Software Technology (OST), a software tools company, providing tools for developers worldwide. OST was sold to Wind River Systems (NASDAQ:WIND) in 1998. Prior to founding OST, he has held various roles in BT Research, building next generation telecoms infrastructure software, and real- time systems for video routing and switching. He has a B.Sc (Hons) in Applied Physics from the University of Strathclyde.
Shay Garvey
Shay has had a wide-ranging career, spanning corporates (Exxon, Corning, McKinsey), startups (Glentara Foods, Irish Seafood Producers Group), and most recently venture capital. Shay was a General Partner in Delta Partners, one of the first technology VCs in Ireland, before co-founding Frontline Ventures in 2012. These two venture partnerships have raised over €600m across 10 funds and invested in over 100 technology start-ups across Northern Europe.
Shay has engineering degrees from University College Dublin (BSc) and the University of New Brunswick Canada (M Eng). He also has an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Graham O’Keeffe
Graham is the Managing Partner at Joy Capital and Executive Chairman of DisplayLink, a technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley. He was previously a Partner at Atlas Venture in London where he focused on investments in technology companies, particularly in the mobile, communications and semiconductor sectors. Prior to joining Atlas Venture in 1998 he served as the Product Marketing Director at mobile computer specialist Psion Computers PLC. Mr. O’Keeffe previously held engineering and operational roles at Nokia Mobile Phones in Europe and Asia. Mr. O’Keeffe holds a Masters in Management from the MIT Sloan School and a B.A. degree in Engineering Science and Economics from Oxford University.
Peter Hjelt
Previously Peter was a Partner at UBS Capital, the private equity arm of UBS AG, where he was responsible for identifying, investing in, developing & exiting mid-sized MBOs in the Nordic region as well as other Western European countries. Peter's earlier work experience was in the corporate finance departments of Charterhouse Bank & Salomon Brothers. He holds an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics