International Investment Afternoon (Dubai)

A showcase of international investment opportunities in conjunction with our partners at International Deal Gateway.

Proposed Schedule

Guests Arrive and Lunch   12:00   - 12:30         
Introduction/Keynote        12:30 - 13:00 
Presentation 1                      13:00 – 13:20 
Presentation 2                     13:25 - 13:45 
Presentation 3                     13:50 - 14:10 
Coffee break                       14:10 - 14:25 
Presentation 4                     14:25 - 14:45 
Presentation 5                     14:50 - 15:10
Presentation 6                     15:15 – 15:35
Presentation 7                     15:40 – 16:00
Reception                            16:00 – 16:30 

Keynote Speaker - Spike Hughes, CEO and Founder of Cohesion Investments

Spike has 30+ years investment experience and has been directly responsible for raising assets over USD 15bn. He was one of the founders of the Skandia Investment Group and personally innovated several market-leading fund ranges, including the industry popular Best Ideas funds. He was the founding Managing Director of the discretionary and multi-manager businesses at FTSE 100 giant Hargreaves Lansdown and was also Strategic Adviser to both Crispin Odey and to the CEO of AXA, where he contributed to the launch of several market-leading propositions. 

Spike has many years of experience as a director on the board of funds and also as a director of investment management businesses, with particular experience of India-focussed investments.  
 
Cohesion Investments is a specialist investment management business dedicated to growth opportunities, with a focus on India through its exclusive partnership with renowned investor Madhu Kela. In today’s world, opportunities for high and predictable growth are scarce, and we often see one without the other. Cohesion’s mission is to identify investments that are built on predictable growth themes, with big tailwinds where the outcome looks inevitable, and to provide access to that theme through a Cohesion fund in partnership with a world class investment expert who can unlock the theme’s full potential.  

Cohesion was founded by Spike Hughes and is chaired by James Caan CBE, one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs. James is best known for his appearances on the popular BBC TV show Dragons’ Den, being an author of several bestselling books, and as a sought after motivational speaker. James has provided support as an adviser to the UK Government and was Founder and Chairman of Start-Up Loans, a Government funded scheme to provide advice, business loans and mentoring to start-up businesses. To date, this company has helped launch more than 50,000 new businesses across the UK. James is also one of the top twenty most followed people in the world on LinkedIn.

Companies Featured

Francis Bellido | Quantum eMotion Corp.

Dr. Bellido has over 35 years of international experience in Cybersecurity, Healthcare and Financial industries and was appointed CEO of Quantum eMotion Corp., (QNC.V) in January of 2020. He was CEO of SoundBite Medical from 2018 to 2020, and CFO from 2015 to 2018.

He managed a $300M life science investment Fund (SGF-Santé) producing major winners: Cryocath, IDI-GeneOhm, Draxis, Medicago, Atrium, Axcan Pharma. Dr. Bellido has served as Board member and Director in more than twenty private and public companies, including at the present time Diagnos (ADK.V), Magneceuticals (USA), RegenLab (CH). He is a former member of the board of DSM Biologics Company Inc., one of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical CMOs.

The Company’s mission is to address the growing demand for affordable hardware security for connected devices. The patented solution for a Quantum Random Number Generator exploits the built-in unpredictability of quantum mechanics and promises to provide enhanced security for protecting high value assets and critical systems.

The Company intends to target the highly valued Financial Services, Healthcare, Blockchain Applications, Cloud-Based IT Security Infrastructure, Classified Government Networks and Communication Systems, Secure Device Keying (IOT, Automotive, Consumer Electronics) and Quantum Cryptography.

John Livingston | Skyfish

John Livingston has served as Skyfish’s Executive Chairman since cofounding the company with Orest Pilskalns in 2014. John brings more than 30 years’ experience both leading and advising software companies. He served as CEO of www.absolute.com for 20 years and grew the company to a $1B market cap. In 2013, John began angel investing and mentoring technology startups and their founders. John is involved in Skyfish’s day-to-day operations, marketing, sales, and hiring. 

Skyfish delivers a drone and visual data platform with advanced inspection and measurement software that improves Infrastructure management and lowers customer operating costs. The Skyfish drone platform enables precision measurement, inspection, and analysis  of critical infrastructure assets. The platform integrates and supports a variety of sensors to  capture the extremely high-quality data necessary to produce engineering-grade 3D reality models or “digital twins”. After 7 years of technology platform development, Skyfish officially launched from stealth mode in 2021 and in 2022 began to sell its fully released drone platform and services.

John Davies | Syniad Innovations

John has over two decades of experience in the field of university research strategy and research commercialization. He holds a BA in law from Oxford, an MA from McGill, and is a qualified chartered accountant. He was the Financial Director of IndexIT, a successful London-based technology advisory boutique and then went on to become a founding director, CFO and COO of IP Group plc (LSE:IPO), partnering with British universities to help commercialize their research assets. He subsequently joined the founding team of Scientific Research Capital, a business that invested in deep science origination and commercialization, primarily in Europe.

Syniad’s mission is to transform breakthrough research into globally significant companies, to address major societal and environmental challenges. The business was founded in Vancouver in 2016 on the basis of a purpose-driven investment thesis and a philosophy of proactively engaging with world-class researchers much earlier than traditional sources of capital. Today, the Syniad team works with universities and research institutes across Canada and the USA, to create exceptional returns for its stakeholders and partners.

John Eagleton | Intellabridge Technology

John started his career at the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and worked in capital markets at BNP Paribas and Bankers Trust as Vice President of Emerging Markets Fixed Income Trading. He has extensive experience in financial and blockchain technology and has been quoted and covered in dozens of leading publications including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and CNBC. At the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, John worked with the Deputy Director of the Regional Economic Division and helped write reports for former US Secretary of State, James Baker.

John Eagleton also co-founded Investars, one of the leading financial technology companies for research performance analytics on wall street.

Intellabridge is a financial technology company in the business of impact finance, with a mission to make financial transactions have a positive impact on the world. With the climate crisis and sustainability taking center stage a growing number of consumers today expect more sustainable impact solutions. Innovation in the fintech sector is helping to unlock the potential of sustainable development and social impact. Using our solutions, customers can integrate impact into everyday life, making environmental and sustainable action easy and automated with every financial transaction.

Lior Tal | Cyngn Inc.

Lior Tal has served as Cyngn’s CEO and a Chairman since 2016. Prior to joining, Lior was the director of international growth and partnerships at Facebook for five years. He also has previous executive experience as cofounder of Snaptu, which was later acquired by Facebook. Here, he helped grow the user base from launch to tens of millions of users over a two-year period. Prior, Lior was a partner at Barzam, Tal, Lerer Attorneys at law& Patent attorneys for three years, and further held leadership roles at Actimize (acquired by NICE), DiskSites (acquired by EMC), and Odigo (acquired by Comverse). 

Cyngn is a Silicon Valley-based technology company that develops and deploys scalable, differentiated autonomous vehicle solutions for industrial organizations. Cyngn’s self-driving solutions allow existing workforces to increase productivity and efficiency. The Company addresses significant challenges facing industrial organizations today, such as labor shortages, costly safety incidents, and increased consumer demand for eCommerce

Matthew Elonis | Supernatural, INC. and In a shot, INC.

Matthew previously built an online meal delivery business that he grew and successfully exited within three years. With his passion for health & nutrition still alive, he and his co-founders set out to develop a suite of products in an area of the market that hasn’t been touched in over a decade. 
 
Within In a Shot and Supernatural, Matthew’s focus is on advancing the company’s vision through product innovation, sales and design. As CEO, he will also be focused on building out the team necessary to achieve global distribution while keep everyone focused on the vision and inspired to achieve it.  

Specialty incubator focused on bringing innovative new beverages to market by finding distinct gaps in the marketplace.  “Supernatural” is a healthy soda that actually tastes like soda, taking on $120m revenue a year Zevia with a newer brand that tastes 10x better for premium customers. “Breakfast in a shot” - imagine if you could have your entire breakfast and coffee, in the convenience of a shot, that tasted like a delicious smoothie. Taking on SuperCoffee (worth $500m) and 5-Hour Energy ($1.2b) double the protein per ml compared to anything else. Trademarks and patents issued and filed.

Trung Pham | RYSE

Trung Pham, Founder & CEO of RYSE, is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded multiple technology companies. He co-founded HookUpVIP, an events management platform, that enabled local event promoters to sell tickets online and manage their sales teams. Trung oversaw business development and grew annual recurring revenues to over $100k before merging with a mobile-first competitor. Trung has a background in finance, having completed all 3 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams within 18 months, and earning a Bachelors of Business Administration from York University’s Schulich School of Business in 2009.

RYSE creates devices to motorize and automate window shades – controllable via a remote, mobile app, where schedules can be programmed, or voice speakers such as Alexa and Google Home. With over USD$7 million in online sales, RYSE is expanding into retailers BestBuy and HomeDepot, and B2B distributors into multi-family and commercial buildings. RYSE has 6 patents with 3 pending, and has been awarded an Amazon Court Judgement verdict, preventing the sales of knock-offs. RYSE received a USD$3.2 million cleantech grant to pilot in commercial buildings, automating the shades to block solar-heat gain, reducing indoor cooling loads and GHG emissions.