This week’s UKTN Podcast guest is Maria Rotilu, founder and general Partner at OpenseedVC. In this episode, Rotilu discusses the thesis behind backing operator-led startups, and how Africa’s large, youthful population – combined with decreasing barriers to innovation – is positioning the continent as a valuable investment opportunity.
Rotilu is an operator-turned-investor and founder, specialising in backing operators-turned-founders who are building tech startups from as early as ‘day zero’.
OpenseedVC focuses on tech startups operating in trade and commerce, health and wellbeing, along with learning and work.
“Our thesis is that businesses are not as digitised as we think,” Rotilu tells the UKTN Podcast. “There’s so many legacy businesses, and also processes within organisations that are still very much stuck.”
Before transitioning to investing, she spent the better part of the first decade of her career scaling multinational technology companies like Uber and Branch.co, holding leadership roles such as country manager and general manager.
Prior to OpenseedVC, Maria was a fund manager at Octopus Ventures’ First Cheque Fund. Before that, she served as the managing director of the Oxford Seed Fund.
OpenseedVC is typically the first investor, providing up to $150k and supporting tech startups in B2B software, AI, fintech, the future of work, or the future of health by leveraging an operator network to support them from start to launch.
Listen to the full episode here, along with all previous episodes of the UKTN Podcast.
The UKTN Podcast is sponsored by HSBC Innovation Banking, which offers flexible banking solutions for startups, scaleups, growth businesses, investors and those working towards IPO.
Throughout the series, the UKTN Podcast speaks to some of the key movers and shakers from UK tech. We’ll learn growth strategies from both seasoned and up-and-coming founders, hear market sentiments from investors, and question policymakers on the decisions impacting the country’s innovation economy.
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