Team
Simon Barnes - Managing Partner
Simon Barnes has a background in life sciences venture capital, first with the London office of Atlas Venture and subsequently with GIMV Venture Capital where he focused on early stage life sciences ventures. He has invested in a number of university spin outs including Renovo, the University of Manchester start up now listed on the London Stock Exchange. He has been a board director of several venture capital backed biotechnology companies and has experience of M&A transactions.
Simon was trained as a scientist and has a first class honours degree in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Plant Biochemistry from The University of Cambridge where he focused on sugar and starch production in plants. He spent two years as a NATO Research Fellow at The Rockefeller University in New York, before becoming Head of The Laboratory of Cotton Biotechnology in Singapore. He holds an MBA with Distinction from the Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, where he later taught entrepreneurship and venture capital courses on the MBA programme.
He remains an Adjunct Professor at Tanaka, having co-authored 'Raising Venture Capital' published by John Wiley and Sons in 2006.
simon.barnes@tateandlyleventures.com
David Atkinson - Managing Partner
David Atkinson has held a number of senior management positions in the City, having had 14 years' experience in equity research specifically focused on the food processing industry. David worked at SG Warburg Securities before joining NatWest Securities to head up the pan-European Food Producers research team. During his time in charge the team was consistently top-three ranked in the Extel and Institutional Investor buy-side surveys. David was appointed Managing Director and Head of European Research at NatWest Securities in 1996 and was a member of the Equities Management Committee. In 1998, David co-founded Stamford Partners, one of the leading investment banking firms providing merger & acquisition and strategic consulting services to the European food industry, where he further developed his extensive food industry network. Most recently, David has held several senior management positions in the equities operations of Banc of America Securities as well as providing consultancy services to HSBC and the VC industry.
david.atkinson@tateandlyleventures.com
John Stewart - Analyst
John Stewart joined Tate & Lyle Ventures as an Analyst in April 2008. Prior to joining, John was a Food and Drug Specialist with the Law Firm Arnold & Porter LLP working on pharmaceutical and medical device litigation (including antiepileptic drugs, hormone replacement therapy, artificial heart valves, vaccines and analgesics). He trained as a neuroscientist and holds a degree in neuroscience and PhD in neuropharmacology from University College London. John worked with the Research Defence Society developing the Case for Better Regulation of Home Office control of UK Bioscience. He has conducted research with the Behavioural Neuroscience Group at the University of Leicester and has acted as a technical consultant for the pharmaceutical industry.
john.stewart@tateandlyleventures.com