British Business Bank appoints Dharmash Mistry as non-executive director
The British Business Bank has appointed Dharmash Mistry as non-executive director (NED) to the board of British Business Bank plc, effective from 1 May 2019. Dharmash Mistry is an experienced venture capitalist, entrepreneur and NED who has served on the boards of many well-known businesses and organisations.
He is currently a Partner at Lakestar VC, which makes early and growth stage investments on both sides of the Atlantic. Notable Lakestar investments include Spotify, Skype, Facebook and Airbnb. Additionally, he is co-founder and Chairman of blow LTD, a leading app-based provider of expert beauty services to people’s homes.
Previously, Dharmash was a partner at Balderton Capital, where he was involved in raising and investing two funds totalling around $1bn. Prior to this, he was Group MD of Emap Consumer Media, where he co-led the delisting of Emap plc from the FTSE 100 and sold the consumer business for £1.1bn.
Dharmash currently sits as a non-executive director on the board of BBC Commercial Holdings Ltd (BBC Worldwide, Studios and Global News). His previous NED roles include Dixons Retail plc, Hargreaves Lansdown plc and BBC Executive Board
Mr Mistry said: “I am delighted to join the British Business Bank board and act as a champion for British Patient Capital, getting capital, efficiently and effectively, to the best entrepreneurs and working hand in hand with the market. In a global, structural changing world, entrepreneurialism will continue to be the lifeblood of any economy”
Lord Smith, Chair of the British Business Bank, said: “In our role as providers of finance to the venture capital sector and ultimately, entrepreneurs, we are delighted to welcome Dharmash to the board of the British Business Bank. Dharmash’s perspective and wide experience as an investor, entrepreneur, founder and NED will be invaluable as the Bank continues to grow its operations.” Dharmash will also act as ‘British Patient Capital (BPC) champion’ on the British Business Bank plc board. This will include making sure that the interests of BPC - a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the Bank established in 2018 with funding of £2.5bn to invest into venture and growth capital funds targeting high growth potential, innovative companies across the UK - are represented in a non-executive capacity on the plc Board.
