MEET THE TEAM

Luke has 33 years in Tech from the early days of the internet. Luke originated the concept for HIRO in 2018 and brought together the core team. Prior to HIRO, Luke was co-founder & CEO of Inspired Entertainment Inc, a now Nasdaq-listed games and virtual sports technology leader, founded in 2002 as a mobile payments disruptor. He led its IPO onto AIM in 2006 and its subsequent IPO onto Nasdaq in 2016. Luke was also a co-founding director of The Cloud, the UK’s largest public access Wi-Fi operator and served on its board alongside directors from Accel and 3i. He also co-founded Gmatica SRL, an Italian technology concession operator which was sold to Novomatic. Previously, Luke was a Case Leader at the Boston Consulting Group. 

Luke is a founding board member of the King’s College, Cambridge Entrepreneurship E-Lab and co-founded the Cambridge SPARK tech incubator. Luke earned a First Class Honours in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and was a Fulbright Scholar to the University of California, Berkeley. 

Luke has been a NED or observer at many fast growing companies including CARV, Snowprint Games, LIV, FitXR, Betvictor, Incredibuild and Frameplay. He is passionate about philosophy, culture, science, tech and scifi, and their interaction with the future of humanity. Luke is a veteran rock climber.

In his role at HIRO, Luke oversees the firm’s strategic direction and co-leads HIRO’s AI, longevity, sports and deep tech investments.

Sir Nick Clegg is the former UK Deputy Prime Minister (2010–2015) and former President of Global Affairs at Meta (2018–2025). He previously spent a decade in the EU, first as a senior Commission adviser negotiating the accession of China and Russia to the WTO, and later as a Member of the European Parliament (1999–2004).

Elected to the UK Parliament in 2005, he became leader of the Liberal Democrats two years later. He led his party into Britain’s first post-war Coalition Government, serving as Deputy Prime Minister. After leaving Parliament in 2017, he remained a prominent pro-European voice and established the think tank Open Reason.

Joining Meta in 2018, Sir Nick became the company’s chief policy decision-maker and principal liaison with world leaders. During his tenure, he shifted the company toward engagement with regulation and created an independent Oversight Board. He has authored several publications, including How to Save the Internet, Politics: Between the Extremes, and How To Stop Brexit.

Cherry Freeman is a seasoned operator-turned-investor. She co-founded the global crafts supplies marketplace LoveCrafts, which scaled through 4 rounds of venture capital and was ultimately sold to a US trade acquirer.  She began her career at the Boston Consulting Group, which is where she first worked with Luke.  After some early .com start up experience she moved to FTSE 250 Computacenter Plc as Group Strategy Director.  In this role she led the acquisition of GE’s European IT Services businesses and managed the post acquisition delivery of the business plan and synergies.  She then established a new Software Business Unit within Computacenter, which she scaled to £250m in annual revenue. With early experience in Software as a Service (SaaS) she then built a portfolio of investments and advisory roles, with particular focus on Mimecast and New Voice Media and advised Symantec (among others) on their SaaS strategy. 

Cherry was a member of the Governing Council at City University London for 9 years, and Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominations Committee.  She holds a First-Class Honours in History from Cambridge University. Cherry has been a NED or observer at many fast growing companies including Incredibuild, Machinations, Frameplay, FitXR, Keen Games and Lightfox. She was named “Britain’s Coolest Female Founder” by Business Insider.

At HIRO, Cherry leads pipeline development, due diligence, term-sheet negotiation and deal structuring, particularly for platform and technology investments. She ensures best practices in valuation, diligence, and deal execution.

Ian Livingstone is a pioneer and legend of the global video game industry and was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to the UK video games industry. He co-founded two billion-dollar games companies, Games Workshop (Warhammer) and Eidos (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) for whom, as Executive Chairman, he led the successful London IPO. He was angel investor and chairman of Playdemic, creator of the global top 10 mobile game Golf Clash and was also an investor and board member at Tonic Games (Fall Guys). Ian was Non-Executive Chairman of Sumo Group PLC, a leading London-listed cross-platform games developer, until its sale to Tencent. Ian co-created the multi-million-selling Fighting Fantasy series of role playing game books. Ian has been an angel investor and advisor to multiple leading games studios, including Mediatonic, Bossa Studios, Fusebox and many more. Ian is also co-founder of the Livingstone Academy, a next generation UK Academy School focused on a 21st century digital creative curriculum. Ian is proud of his geek heritage and admits to having over 1,000 board games in his home study and a life size statue of Lara Croft.

Ian was knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours for his impact on STEM education and was awarded a Lifetime BAFTA for services to the UK Games industry. 

Sir Ian drives HIRO’s Games investments, contributing deep domain knowledge, reputation, and deal flow.

Simon has 30 years experience in TMT and Media, as well as 12 years in VC. 

Simon spent 12 years at top deep tech European VC firm Amadeus Capital Partners, where he was a Senior Partner and sat on the Investment Committee. Simon oversaw a number of investments in technology, communications and media, and exits included two IPOs and successful sales to Samsung and Marvell. Prior to that he was the founder and CEO of Two Way TV, a pioneering company in the field of interactive TV. 

Simon is currently Founder & CEO at The Ink Factory, a leading digital film production company founded in 2010 in London and Los Angeles. The Ink Factory is best known for global television hit ‘The Night Manager’ and for 2019 feature film ‘Fighting With My Family’, starring Florence Pugh and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. The Ink Factory also co-founded LA-based games studio Giant Squid with one of the industry’s top talents, Matt Nava. Giant Squid is the creator of Abzu and The Pathless, which debuted at the core of Apple Arcade, as well as on the Epic store and PS4. 

At HIRO, Simon sits as a Non Exec member of the Investment Committee as an external advisor, providing independent review, strategic counsel, and domain knowledge.

Spike leads HIRO’s investment strategy across the Space, Defence, and Games sectors. Spike works passionately to source, secure and support high quality investments for the fund.  Spike has over a decade of deep commercial and operational expertise and seven years of experience as a venture capitalist.  As a board director he has advised companies in the spatial compute, digital-twin, blockchain and technology sectors.

Prior to joining Hiro, Spike held several key leadership positions at ESL, the world’s largest esports organisation leading up to its billion dollar exit to Savvy Gaming. He was instrumental in building the company’s esports production and business infrastructure across the UK, South America, and the United States. Spike is also the co-founder of Payment Labs, a global payment processing platform designed for sports and esports organizations.

Spike is also co-founder of Hiro Advisory, an adjacent boutique M&A advisory business with a track record of successful outcomes for first-class game studios.

Alistair Hopkins is the Technology Director at Hiro Capital.

 Alistair’s career began in the oil and fishing industries, working on seismic projects in Yemen and North Atlantic trawling governance before he designed core e-commerce architectures during the first internet boom.

 Later, as CTO at Inspired, Alistair pioneered virtualisation and cloud adoption, patent development and technology expansion into China. Leveraging this background, he now aids growing companies across the full technology stack with architecture, due diligence, and IP strategy. He has advised high-growth firms in SaaS, deep tech, games and Web3 and architected multiple platforms.

 A Cambridge University Natural Sciences graduate, Alistair is also an accomplished climber, mountain biker, and mountaineer.

 ​At Hiro Capital, Alistair evaluates the technology potential of investments and collaborates with portfolio companies on tech scaling, patent strategies, and tech team development.

Andy is the CFO at Hiro Capital, responsible for overseeing the fund’s financial planning and portfolio performance. He leads financial due diligence for potential investments and provides essential strategic and financial planning support to portfolio companies.

 Andy is a seasoned finance executive bringing over two decades of dedicated experience in Technology sectors. He is a CIMA chartered accountant. His extensive financial expertise spans a broad range of disciplines, including:

• Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
• Commercial Appraisal
• Financial Planning and Strategic Planning
• Acquisition Integration

 Throughout his career he has played pivotal roles in multiple equity and debt financing initiatives.

He has been instrumental in leading Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on both London’s AIM market and New York’s Nasdaq. His background includes leading Post-Merger Integration (PMI) synergy projects and managing venture-backed spinouts and M&A transactions.

Luca is an Investment Director at Hiro Capital, where he leads investments across the Augmentation and Longevity sector and oversees the firm’s Sports Tech & Wearables portfolio.

Prior to HIRO, Luca had over a decade of operational experience in market intelligence, business strategy, and and go-to-market planning for global games and technology businesses. At HIRO, Luca has spent seven years supporting companies across the portfolio. He works closely with founders and leadership teams, driving value creation and strategic scaling across a number of the fund’s investments. Luca leads investments end-to-end, from sourcing and evaluating opportunities to supporting portfolio companies through their growth journeys, serving as a board director, board observer, and remco member, contributing to governance, strategic guidance, and long-term value creation.

Luca holds a Master’s degree in Management from the University of Westminster and a degree in Industrial and Management Engineering from Politecnico di Bari, Italy.

At HIRO, Luca leads the firm’s investments across the Sports Tech, Augmentation and Longevity sectors and goes deep in analytical modeling, market diligence, and deal evaluation. Luca is full-time.

Samuel brings a blend of analytical and technical expertise to his role at Hiro Capital. 

Sam is deeply technical - his technical skills span a range of areas, from Cloud Computing to AI and 3D Engines, enhancing his capability in both technical and strategic aspects of product development and investment. As a user and builder of Cloud and AI technologies and an avid gamer, Samuel's passion for technology is closely tied to his interest in gaming, providing him with a deep understanding of the technologies that improve the 3D experience.

With six years of experience prior to HIRO as an Analyst in Mergers & Acquisitions and Technology Product Functions, Samuel contributed to the Nasdaq listing of Inspired and supported various innovative tech-led product development strategies, including new market entries and product launches. For HIRO, Sam has co-led strategy and technology deep dives for companies such as Incredibuild, Sidero, Keen and Player Data.

At Hiro, Samuel co-leads the firm’s Deep Tech and Cloud & AI work. Sam tracks and contributes to trends in these technologies, significantly contributing to the firm's investment strategy and decision-making. Samuel also sits on the board of Sidero Inc. and is an observer at other HIRO companies.

May Karatzenis is the Investor Relations Director at Hiro Capital, where she brings over a decade of global finance experience to the firm’s relationships with its Limited Partners. She plays a pivotal role in ensuring investors are informed, supported, and aligned with the fund’s strategy and performance. May has built a reputation for combining financial insight with an ability to connect with investors. 

May began her career in London at Bear Stearns, gaining early exposure to high-velocity investment banking.

She later specialized in Wealth Management, advising and managing relationships with High Net Worth clients at Société Générale Private Banking and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi in Geneva.

At HIRO, May is responsible for LP communication and LP events, with the goal of building trusted, long-term partnerships with Hiro Capital’s LPs.

Adam is a top-ranked graduate (First Class, Gibbs Prize) from Oxford University. 

Adam made his first mark in tech by working on a digital education product and winning first place at a hackathon with his MVP design. At HIRO, Adam supports deal sourcing, thesis research, diligence, modeling, and internal operations.

Beth draws on 22 years in consulting/strategy and cross-border tech market entry. She founded BML Consulting, to assist tech firms with expansion and fundraising in Asia. Previously, she held roles at JP Morgan as Associate and Global Strategist. She is also an angel investor across healthcare, tech, media, and education in China.

Beth supports HIRO’s portfolio in Asian market strategy, investor relations, and growth. She contributes part time on an advisory basis.

Joe Yuan serves as the Venture Director, North America at Hiro Capital, supporting the fund’s HIRO I & II US investments. Prior to HIRO, Joe has 5 years in Venture Capital and Private Equity and 5 years experience in the the video games and social media industries. His expertise spans venture capital, corporate strategy, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and performance marketing. Joe was a Director of Corporate Development & Strategy at Activision Blizzard, leading M&A activities and internal strategies for one of the world's preeminent game publishers. Before Activision, Joe played a key role in advancing TikTok’s gaming monetization initiatives, assisting free-to-play publishers in scaling their operations via the platform. Prior to TikTok, he was an early-stage investor at Greycroft.

Joe holds a B.A. in Economics, graduating Summa Cum Laude from Northwestern University, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.