GAS Expands Management Team
Green Angel Syndicate, the UK’s only specialist cleantech angel syndicate, has recently expanded its management team. Andrew Aldridge, who brings over 20 years experience of investing across the energy sector, first with CDC/Actis and most recently with Climate Change Capital , in China, has joined as third partner in the core team alongside Colin Rogers and Nick Lyth. GAS has also created a new Advisory Board drawn from its investor members, comprising names that will be familiar to many: Simon Acland, who ran Quester with a track record of successful investments; Andrew Hodson, from Barclays Wealth Management, who was an investor in 2014’s most successful UK angel exit; and Richard Round, whose experience of the cleantech and energy sectors spans a wide entrepreneurial range.
Nick Lyth, Director of GAS, comments: “We are finding the degree of interest and demand on our time is intensifying. The position of GAS as the only angel syndicate in the UK with a specialist focus on cleantech generally, and energy, water and sustainable transport sectors specifically, gives GAS a high profile among all those involved with innovations in these sectors requiring investment. We need more support in order to meet demand, but it must be high quality, with the right skills. We are very fortunate that Andrew Aldridge has agreed to join the executive team, and equally are delighted to have an Advisory Board of such high calibre.”
Andrew Aldridge explains why GAS is such an exciting prospect for the current investment climate: “GAS is focussed strongly on energy, water and sustainable transport sectors. These are industries that are at the forefront of the transition to cleaner environments, resource efficiency, distributed energy and smart mega-cities. GAS is the only angel syndicate in the UK committed to these sectors. This focus is precisely what appealed to me, as I looked at the potential to invest in new technologies that make a positive contribution to this transition, on a risk-adjusted basis. GAS improves investors’ risk/reward profile dramatically by investing in sectors that will benefit from this transition and leverages the experience and know-how of the team, the Advisory Board and a network of like minded co-investors. It doesn’t mean it is risk-free, obviously, but investing in a sector which you know will grow over a 5 year period is a very good starting point.”
