Board of Directors

Mike Edwards, Executive Chairman
Mike Edwards has started and invested in technology companies for over 20 years. Mike invests in smart people with big ideas, and thrives on helping other entrepreneurs turn a napkin sketch into a prosperous business. He has invested in more than 40 technology startups including Punch’d, which was sold to Google, Summify, which was acquired by Twitter, Wander, which was acquired by Yahoo, Area Connect,which was sold to Marchex, Wylie Interactive, which was acquired by Zynga, and Password Box, which was acquired by Intel. Mike is actively involved in growing and supporting the start up community and connecting local entrepreneurs with the right investors, mentors and influencers in Silicon Valley, New York, Europe and Asia. Mike co-founded Growlab, a seed stage accelerator focussing on consumer facing digital product, which later merged with Extreme Start ups to create Canada’s Highline accelerator, and co-founded and is a board member of Creative Labs, a venture capital backed start up foundry that builds consumer technology companies by leveraging the Creative Artist Agency’s access to talent and audience. Mike was the co-founder and president of Argo Blockchain plc, a company established to provide cryptocurrency mining services and which was admitted to the Official List (by way of a Standard Listing) and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities in August2018. Mike was also the co-founder of Guild Esports plc, the first esports business to be admitted to trading on the Main Market; Cellular Goods plc, the first producer of biosynthetic cannabinoids to join the London Stock Exchange; and NFT Investments Plc, the first publicly traded vehicle for the new NFT asset class.
Nick Lyth, Finance Director
Nick Lyth is a UK based, experienced finance director and qualified accountant with extensive experience advising quoted companies including AIM listed companies Univision Engineering Ltd, Altona Energy plc and Taihua plc. For two years, Mr. Lyth was Group Finance and Purchasing Director of Belle Group, a manufacturer of engineering equipment operating across Europe, the US and Asia. He was also Head of Finance at Fothergill Group, a UK manufacturer of technical industrial fabrics, between 1996 and 2003. In his early career, Nick was a management accountant at Courtaulds plc and Rotunda plc.
Jonathan Hives, Independent Non-Executive Director
Jonathan’s passion for financial services dates back to his University days, where he studied B.A. (Hons) Finance and Investment Management. At the age of 23 he left the UK to begin his journey in International Financial Planning, and having lived and worked in three continents, he has first-hand experience when it comes to cross-border financial planning. Over the last 12 years he has built up invaluable experience by advising high net worth individuals and family estates, practising all areas of wealth and succession planning. Jonathan prides himself on the service he provides, which is highly personalised, proactive and bespoke to his clients’ objectives. He is an active member of the Chartered Insurance Institute, where he holds the Diploma in Financial Planning. In addition, he holds Certificates in i) Discretionary Investment Management, ii) Financial Services and iii) Life and Pensions. He is also qualified as an Investment Adviser in the United States (Series 65) from his time working in New York.