London, UK –Bloc Ventures(Bloc), the venture capital company focused on early stage European deep technology investment, announces the appointment of Michael Dimelow as Chief Commercial Officer and Allan Bartlett as Senior Investment Analyst.
Michael is an experienced technology investor and corporate development executive. As co-founder of Accelerated Digital Ventures (ADV), he acted as its CIO, deploying over £85 million. During his tenure at ADV, Michael helped build a portfolio of over 30 companies which included B-secur, Push Dr, UIPath and deployed fund of fund investments in seven funds such as Entrepreneur First, IQ Capital and Seedcamp.
Before ADV, Michael spent 15 years in senior leadership positions developing two of the UK's most progressive deep technology businesses; ARM Holdings and TTP Communications. During his career, Michael has led teams responsible for deploying in excess of $500m in deep technology businesses, through acquisition and minority investment positions.
Further, Bloc has also appointed Allan Bartlett as Senior Investment Analyst. Allan, whose 20-year career in the telecoms industry includes a recent stint at GSMA and 14 years in a number of senior roles at Vodafone,including in its corporate venture unit, brings a wealth of technology, project delivery and economics expertise that supports Bloc’s active approach.
Michael and Allan’s appointment follows Bloc’s successful equity raise in July which brought the total capital raised to just under £30 million. With further equity raises expected in 2021, they join to add further expertise and bandwidth to Bloc’s already successful operational model.
Bruce Beckloff, co-Founder and CEO of Bloc said:”We are delighted to have Michael and Allan join the Bloc team. Having worked with Michael for many years at ARM, his insight and sector expertise will prove invaluable as we continue to build deep technology companies of global scale. Allan’s significant industry knowledge and strong technical background will help us find the right companies to invest in at the right time. Having both of them on the team will add further depth and skills as we deploy our hands-on, active approach to working our portfolio companies. Their joining, and our most recent Series B round completion,underpins Bloc’s continued momentum and the confidence that we and our investors have in our growth plans.”
Michael Dimelow added: “Investing in deeptech businesses is hard to get right, it helps if you understand the journey that the founders are about to go on. Bloc understands that journey and brings a wealth of product, technology and business building expertise, combined with a permanent capital structure. A patient approach to venture investing is unique within the UK and Europe and enables Bloc to take a long-term view with the founders weback. Funding the next wave of technology innovation and helping to shape Bloc Ventures long term growth was an opportunity too good to be missed.”
Allan Bartlett added: “Bloc has a unique model of internally understanding the fundamental technologies in which they invest and the impact on business economics without the use of external consultants. I am thrilled to be joining Bloc Ventures and have the opportunity to drive forward the discovery of the best early stage companies as part of a great team. The strategy of focusing on technologies that reduce the marginal cost of businesses greatly reduces the investment risk while greatly enhancing the attractiveness of a start up to a potential customer. I look forward to being part of a thorough and rigorous approach to discovering opportunities that defy some of the most technically and commercially challenging spaces.”
-ENDS-
For further enquiries:
Bloc Ventures
Andrew Griffin (CFO) +44 20 3826 7100
pr@blocventures.com
Powerscourt Group (Public Relations)
James White + 44 (0) 7855 432 699
Jessica Hodgson +44 (0) 7561 424788
bloc@powerscourt-group.com
