Mercia Technologies PLC has appointed four senior industry figures to its newly-created Software & the Internet Advisory Board. It is now the second sector-specific board to be created by Mercia, alongside the Digital Advisory Board, which was announced last week.
Eze Vidra, Shane Mitchell, Tom Ilube and Paul Lewis bring a wealth of expertise to complement the skills of the Mercia team and help shape its investment strategy.
Eze Vidra is a former general partner at Google Ventures. Previously he was the Head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe, where he set up and led Campus London, Google’s first collaborative office space for start-ups. He’s also the founder of Techbikers, a non-profit organisation supporting children’s education in the developing world.
Shane Mitchell is an authority on the ‘internet of things’ who has led global initiatives on behalf of Cisco. As a business strategist, he focuses on the future of work and learning, and ‘smart cities’. He’s also the co-founder of TechResort, a non-profit organisation enabling digital skills and the digital economy.
Tom Ilube, a former Goldman Sachs executive, was CIO of internet bank Egg and MD of Callcredit’s consumer markets arm. He also founded Garlik, a VC-backed company which was sold to Experian, and Crossword Cybersecurity plc, where he is CEO.
Paul Lewis, one of the UK’s leading authorities on cyber security, held a senior role at Cranfield University based at the UK’s Defence Academy and is a former policy advisor to government. He is now CTO of Crossword Cybersecurity.
The advisory board will meet regularly to monitor industry developments and identify emerging trends. Mercia’s investment strategy focuses on four key areas: software-as-a-service (SaaS), artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security and marketing technology.
Mercia’s existing investments include: Allinea, the leading vendor of tools for high-performance computing; Crowd Reactive, a broadcasting platform for events organisers; Intelligent Positioning, which develops real-time search intelligence and SEO analytics; and Science Warehouse, a cloud-based procurement platform.
Rob Johnson, Mercia’s Head of Software & the Internet, said:
“Technology is a fast-changing landscape with many exciting new developments, such as the increasing incorporation of artificial intelligence and block chain technology into software systems.
“With the appointment of Eze, Shane, Tom and Paul to our advisory board, we now have some of the leading authorities within the industry to help us identify new opportunities and areas for potential investment.”