Elizabeth Varley is a Dealmaker for the UK government’s Global Entrepreneur Programme supporting UK expansion for tech companies to springboard their global growth. As founder and former global CEO of TechHub, Elizabeth spent 12 years leading the charge in building London’s technology ecosystem and catalysed startup ecosystems across Europe, India and the US. TechHub supported over 3,000 companies who raised over $1B and exited to giants including Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle and others. She also worked with leading tech corporates including Google, Telefonica, BT on how to access the innovation ecosystem, and develop startup programmes. She now works with founders on growth strategy, and advises Legal Geek, Lawtech UK and The Place. Elizabeth was previously founder & director of Online Content UK editorial agency, on the board of Digital City Exchange smart cities programme at Imperial College, Tech Innovation Board (Open Data Inst. & Southampton Uni), and early-stage advisory board for Silicon Valley Bank UK.
The Global Entrepreneur Programme is fully funded by the UK government and offers growth advisory support and connections from a Dealmaker - an experienced founder who has scaled a business. Alongside this your Dealmaker can connect you into sector-specialist support to better understand the market and UK opportunities, and support to help you grow into other markets from the UK. GEP also endorses the Innovator Founder visa for those who need it, as the programme supports companies that want to grow a significant UK business and use the UK as their platform for global growth, or who want to set up UK R&D.
Andrew Murphy is a Partner at Erisbeg I LP, a private Equity fund based in Dublin, Ireland as well as an active seed investor via his own investment firm, Merleview. Andrew is a renowned expert across Ireland's startup and entrepreneurial community. With a background as a Chemical Engineer, Andrew founded Slainte Healthcare in 2006. Over time, this grew into two entities. Claimsure, the central platform for Revenue Cycle Management in the Irish Health System, was successfully sold to Clanwilliam Health in 2015. The second entity, Vitro Software, an electronic medical record platform, achieved international scaling including implementation in Australia at Bendigo Health and the Calvary Healthcare network. Nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014, Andrew has been instrumental in assisting numerous companies in their international scaling efforts. Additionally, he co-founded and contributed to the growth of Robotify Labs, a rapidly growing Ed-tech and robotics simulation company, acquired by US EdTech leader Imagine Learning in 2021.
Andrew works with management teams from seed-stage to large corporations, mentoring entrepreneurs and CEOs and contributing to the growth and success of emerging leaders across industries. He has been a director at HealthXL, a leading advisory service to blue chip pharma and med-tech organisations worldwide since 2016, and is a member of the ANDHealth International Investment Advisory Committee.
*Office Hours are booked separately, please indicate if you'd like to book in for these in the check-out questions.
1pm: 20-min presentation from Elizabeth Varley followed by Q&A session with Elizabeth and Andrew Murphy
Going global: How to internationalise. Going global starts with your next market, but what do founders need to focus on when growing in a new country? Elizabeth Varley covers the four things to consider when going into a new market, drawn from her own experience as a founder expanding internationally, and from working with founders from all over the world.
2pm: Office Hours with Elizabeth Varley
Scaling in the UK. Founders of scale-ups or companies commercialising deep R&D, talk about your international growth plans and the opportunities you see in the UK with Global Entrepreneur Programme Dealmaker and strategic growth advisor Elizabeth Varley. Hear about the fully-funded support you can receive from the programme, opportunities, and find out if you're eligible.