Our team

The people building Xova and Finance Nation.

Experience across finance, technology and venture building, focused on making commercial finance work better.

Directors

Craig Peterson

Director

Craig has a wealth of experience supporting businesses and large scale development projects. He acts as a strategic adviser, mentor, Non Exec and investor to a range of startups, early stage and established businesses, helping to raise finance and support growth.

His experience spans a number of sectors including; technology, alternative finance, property, housing, regeneration and management consultancy and includes raising seed/growth capital for high-growth businesses and project finance for regeneration / real estate projects.

Craig is an approved person with the Financial Conduct Authority (SMF3 / SMF16). He holds an MBA (Enterprise) and is Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and brings an entrepreneurial approach to business, strategy, finance, growth and development.

Norm Peterson

Director

Norm has held senior positions in startups, mid-sized SMEs and PLCs operating across a variety of sectors including finance, telecoms, infrastructure and property.

Throughout his career, Norman has been involved in raising finance to support business growth and large-scale infrastructure projects. His experience includes raising seed capital for startups, securing expansion capital (£60M) for a Netherlands-based Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) and development capital for infrastructure projects. At Bell CM he was responsible for developing the strategic growth plan and securing investment for new business opportunities including mergers and acquisitions.

Norm is an Approved Person with the Financial Conduct Authority (SMF1 / SMF3 / SMF17). He holds the RICS Post Graduate Diploma in Project Management, he studied his MBA at Bradford and completed the Oxford Private Equity Programme, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Technology and associates

Dave Forster

CTO

Dave joined GCV in 2017 as Chief Technology Officer and has over 20 years of experience in Software Development. As part of the GCV Labs team, Dave is responsible for supporting the development of new products and software solutions for startups created, launched and scaled by GCV Labs. With a specific focus on .NET and FinTech solutions, Dave leads GCV’s .NET software development projects.

As an experienced solutions architect, Dave helps the team assess the overall tech stack to support the delivery of highly-scalable enterprise-level software solutions. Prior to joining GCV, Dave held senior positions at Leighton and was responsible for the delivery of enterprise-level software solutions for a range of blue chip clients including Sage, Home Group and Ambassador Theatre Group.

Dan Smith

Associate

Dan joined GCV in 2017 with over a decade of experience in marketing, communications and financial promotion.

As Venture Director, Dan works closely with the Founders and project teams to create, launch and scale GCV Labs portfolio companies.

Dan also provides support to guide portfolio companies through the venture builder process, preparing them for investment and introduction to the GCV private investor network.

Prior to joining GCV, Dan worked with several financial services and technology-focused organisations to drive forward their growth strategies.

Tony Short

Associate

Tony joined GCV in 2017 as Programme Director and has over 20 years of experience in Project Management, Software Development and Digital Transformation. As part of the GCV Labs team, Tony is responsible for project managing the development of new products and software solutions as part of the GCV Labs venture builder process. Tony works closely with the GCV founders to create, launch and scale technology-enabled startups incubated by GCV Labs.

Prior to joining GCV, Tony held senior positions at Leighton where he was responsible for project management and delivery of enterprise level software solutions for multiple blue chip companies, including Sage, British Airways and Home Group. Tony is an experienced agile practitioner and qualified scrum master and brings this experience to the GCV Labs Venture Builder Team and software development division of GCV Labs.

Finance Nation

Judith Lancaster

Appointed Representative

“SME finance needs to be brought into the 21st century, digital-first world. As consumers, we take accessing finance for granted thanks to all the streamlined processes and platforms - but they're simply not available for SMEs. I want to use all my experience to help change that.”

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