Paul is a former partner at KPMG and the global head of public services and government. In his career, he has been Head of the Number 10 Policy Unit, as well as working in the media, education, transport and urban regeneration sectors. Paul is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics & Political Science and was a Director of Bethnal Green Ventures and a Non-Executive Director of the Cabinet Office.

Ella is a former Strategy Director at IPG Mediabrands, one of the world’s largest media agencies, working with global leading brands. She is the Co-Founder of NewCo UK, which connects the most successful large corporates with the most innovative start-ups in the UK. Ella started her career as an engineer in Tel Aviv’s hi tech aerospace industry, before becoming a consultant to tech firms.

Saul is a partner at LocalGlobe, a UK-based venture capital firm. His investment career includes being a partner at Index Ventures and he specialises in early-stage tech companies. Saul was co-founder of Seedcamp, the first tech accelerator in Europe.He has been closely involved in the formation of many successful businesses, including Lovefilm, MOO and Kano.

With a BA in History from the University of Exeter, Alex began his career at a travel start-up in Croatia before completing an MSc in Entrepreneurship at University College London. He went on to join the investment team at Seedrs, where he supported startups in the food and climate tech sectors to raise over £20 million in equity investment to scale their innovations.

At Zinc, Alex works closely with founders to transform ambitious ideas into scalable, commercially viable ventures that deliver real-world impact. Having previously managed Zinc’s portfolio of environment and health companies, Alex now leads the Multidisciplinary Food Systems Catalyst, bringing together deep scientific expertise and social insight to accelerate the translation of research into innovations that drive meaningful change across our food systems.

Amy specialises in deep tech investments, with expertise in climate and tech bio. She began her career as the first employee of biotech startup OxStem, where she was VP Operations and helped raise ~$20M of financing. Prior to joining Zinc, Amy was an investor at London-based VC Systemiq Capital, making Seed to Series A/B investments at the intersection of climate with various industries.

Amy has a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Oxford, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

I come to Zinc with 10 years of experience as a psychotherapist and co-founder coach in early stage startups, and prior to that a 4-year stint working on alumni engagement for Harvard University’s development office. My passion lies in building meaningful relationships and diverse communities, and connecting the right people to one another.

David is a deeptech investor, advisor, and entrepreneur with extensive global experience. As CEO of Sonosine and co-founder of Spectroma, he has led the development of pioneering medical technologies. He has worked extensively with private equity firms and venture capital investors globally, supporting entrepreneurs, scientific founders, and management teams with strategic insight, operational expertise, and mentorship. David holds an MSc in Industrial Engineering with a specialisation in Mechanical Engineering.

Diellza has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Warwick and a MSc in Global Public Health and Policy from Queen Mary University of London. She joined Zinc to combine her interest in startups with her passion for social science research and golden purpose of creating a positive social impact.

Eleanor joined Zinc in Oct 2019 to launch the new Zinc Academy. Most recently Eleanor was Director of the Good Lab, a radical innovation collaboration of 12 of the UK’s largest charities, looking to transform how they raise funds through venturing. Eleanor started her career as an anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, before landing in the world of start-ups in 2006, founding a technology company, LikeCube, which was acquired by Oakley Capital Private Equity and the Time Out Group, where she stayed for 5 years as Global Innovation Director.

Elisa brings deep expertise in medicine, biotech, and health innovation, with over a decade of industry and entrepreneurial experience leading cross-functional programs at the intersection of science, partnerships, and venture building. At ZIP, Elisa leads on health innovation partnerships, working with funders, researchers, and startups to accelerate the translation of science into solutions that improve health and wellbeing at scale. Elisa holds a joint PhD from the Karolinska Intitutet and the NIH (National Institutes of Health) in Oncology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, as well as an Executive MBA in Strategic Leadership, and a MSc and BSc in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology.

Emilie has nearly a decade of experience in building and investing in university spinouts, as part of the Investment Committee at Parkwalk Advisors and previously at Oxford University Innovation, where she worked both in Investments and leading the Startup Incubator, managing over 80 ventures from inception to exit. She moved into technology transfer after 14 years as a research scientist, directing pioneering experiments in systems neuroscience in Oxford, Bordeaux and Hamburg. Emilie holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Hamburg and an MBA from Warwick Business School, specialising in Strategy and Finance.

Julia has a MSc from SOAS and a passion for high-impact social innovation. Before joining Zinc, her career was spent in operational roles and in heading up special projects at organisations across a broad range of sectors including international development, TV, architecture and political polling & market research.

She joined Zinc in 2017 as its first employee, first leading on our operations and then going on to run the Venture Builder Programme for several years. She is now co-leading the design and delivery of several new products and programmes at Zinc.

Kate has spent the past decade working with founders of early stage B2B startups, helping them to find product market fit and to scale. Her key areas of expertise include marketing and go-to-market strategies, building thriving B2B communities, and the people & culture aspects of team building.

Prior to joining the Zinc team, Kate was a founder in Zinc’s fifth cohort, focussed on transforming the industries that have the most damaging impact on the environment. She is passionate about things climate and sustainability – and is on hand to share her experiences navigating the Zinc founder journey!

Lily started her career at Ernst & Young (‘EY’), where she qualified as an accountant. She gained a wide range of experience working across many different sectors, including working on advisory projects with sporting clients such as World Rugby, Rugby Football Union, as well as working in M&A structuring with large private equity houses.

After EY, Lily joined Entrepreneur First (‘EF’), a talent investor and venture builder, where Lily fell in love with early stage investing. During her time there, Lily was part of the fund management team, with >£160m in fund commitments.

Outside of Zinc, Lily’s main love is being outdoors, walking, running, playing sport, dog walking, and even a spot of gardening!

Lucy joined Zinc from Greenworkx, a green jobs start-up, where she worked across energy partnerships, retrofit programs, and product design to drive climate and social impact. She was part of the founding cohort at the London Interdisciplinary School, graduating with a BASc in Interdisciplinary Problems and Methods. Originally from West Yorkshire, Lucy now brings her passion for social equity, systems innovation and sustainability to help shape the next phase of Zinc’s programmes. Outside of work, you’ll find her hiking or dancing to Northern Soul music.

Luke has a PhD on Uncertainty in Climate and Energy Systems at UCL, a Masters in Sustainable Energy Futures from Imperial College and an undergrad Physics at Oxford. Luke’s broad experience spans government covid policy/science, climate finance, energy consultancy and R&D investment strategy.

At Zinc, he specialises in Deeptech and the Environment, investing in early-stage mission-driven deep tech companies and supporting their growth.

Maria has BSc in Global Health and Psychology with a minor in Immunology from University of Toronto, and an MSc in Health Psychology from UCL. Previously, she worked at a behavioural science consulting company in Canada on digital health projects for private and public sector clients. She is passionate about supporting founders building innovative health ventures.

Mark is a passionate and purpose-driven leader in life sciences and health tech, with three decades of experience building and scaling organisations that use data and innovation to improve lives. A founder, investor, and advisor, he has led businesses with revenues exceeding £1BN, raised more than £250M in capital, and delivered multiple successful exits. Known for his collaborative approach and ability to unite industry, academia, and the NHS, Mark has shaped partnerships and platforms that advance real-world data, genomics, and digital health globally. Guided by empathy, creativity, and commercial discipline, he is committed to developing purpose-led ventures and the next generation of health innovators.

Martin is a Chartered Chemical Engineer with extensive experience at bp, recognised for a passion for commercialising technology and a talent for turning ideas into action through a collaborative approach. His career reflects a strong track record in corporate venturing, digital strategy development, and technology incubation, consistently delivering results through influence.

With a curious, entrepreneurial mindset and sharp commercial instinct, Martin excels in navigating ambiguity while maintaining a strong focus on HSSE, including the promotion of mental wellbeing. He brings proven expertise in early-stage business opportunity development, commercial modelling, and stakeholder alignment, and are driven by a commitment to contributing to the energy transition.

At Zinc, Matt leads on all things portfolio. Through building our co-investor network with other health and environment venture funds, he works directly with our portfolio founders to support their fundraising efforts.

Matt brings several years experience working in the early-stage life science and climate innovation ecosystem spanning roles in corporate venture capital, university spin-outs, recruitment, lab incubator spaces and science writing.

Alongside his day jobs, Matt co-founded the Science Entrepreneur Club, a not-for-profit building communities that enable innovation in the life sciences. Here, he launched the BioCapital Network and has grown the community to over 500 life science investors from across the UK and beyond. Alongside, he has supported the BioEntrepreneur Club to grow to over 500 C-suite and has led the delivery of five cohorts of an accelerator with alumni going on to raise over £65m post-programme.

Matt holds a BSc in Biology from the University of Leeds and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.

Natalie has a PhD in medical science (ophthalmology and inflammation), then biotechnology and healthtech startup operator across Canada, UK, EU and globally, then venture building and investing, culminating in ~15 years of 360 healthcare experience. She can be found sometimes lecturing, advising and consulting for cool and impactful organisations like WHO, European Innovation Council, Hult Prize, and UK Parliament.

Polly Mackenzie is Co-Founder and CEO of Zinc Innovation Partners, where she leads investment and venture-building partnerships that help scientists and innovators turn breakthrough research into scalable, impactful businesses.

She brings two decades of experience across government, civil society and innovation including serving as Director of Policy to the Deputy Prime Minister, founding the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, and leading the think-tank Demos. She served for three years as the first Chief Social Purpose Officer in the higher education sector, at University of the Arts London. Polly also advises Family Business UK and the Future Governance Forum on purpose-driven growth and effective governance.

Rachel has a background in behavioural science and psychology. She started her career in academia at UCL, then went on to a role in Bupa, before joining Zinc in 2017. Rachel has worked with hundreds of founders, innovators and scientists to create and accelerate new innovations. Her passion is for applying and advancing science in ventures, she is particularly interested in how to conceptualise, operationalise and measure impact. Rachel is also a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, an Associate of the UCL Centre for Behaviour Change, and a Sciana Health Leaders Network Fellow.

Rosie has a passion for applying scientific knowledge and methods to the development of digital products, to make them the best they can be. She has a PhD in Health Psychology, and many years experience as a UX researcher and applied behavioural scientist within health tech startups.

Sanja heads up talent and coaching initiatives at Zinc: supporting the founders in our portfolio companies with their personal and professional development as well as the strategic development of their founding team.

Sanja has spent the last five years coaching founders of companies ranging from 100-year old family businesses to fast scaling start-ups. She is also a trained mediator specialising in working with co-founders: pre-empting issues, future-proofing relations and supporting the resolution of problems when they do arise. Prior to that she founded, grew and eventually sold London restaurant company, Salt Yard Group; growing it from a small family company to a private equity-backed group of thriving restaurants.