BCG Digital Ventures [1] – the Boston Consulting Group’s incubation and investment arm, Ed, today announces the addition of three experienced entrepreneurs as partners to its London team: Charmaine Eggberry, John Kuolt and Mark Zaleski.
In just over two years, BCGDV has rapidly expanded to a team of over 400 designers, product managers, engineers, serial entrepreneurs and investors spanning four continents. By further bolstering its UK presence, BCGDV is uniquely positioned to build on the demand by large corporates to create new world-beating digital businesses in Europe.
Former ComQi executive [2] Ajay Chowdhury, now a Partner at BCGDV told us “We’ve seen huge growth in our UK business over the past two years where many of our blue chip clients are based. This expansion cements our commitment to London and the UK and having entrepreneurs with proven track records like Charmaine, John and Mark in the London partner group will allow us to continue to build powerful digital businesses for our corporate partners.”
- Charmaine Eggberry is a digital business pioneer with deep hardware and software expertise. Recognized by Management Today’s Top 35 Managers under 35 and Mobile Magazine’s Power 50, she has served as CEO of Plan B Consulting, Ltd., and held leadership positions at digital accelerator Wayra, Nokia and Research in Motion, where she led the global launch of BlackBerry Pearl and managed an $11b P&L and redesign of BlackBerry’s GTM. She currently holds seats on the boards of recently listed AI software robot provider Blue Prism PLC, identity intelligence specialist GB Group PLC, Avanti Communications PLC and is Chairperson of insuretch scaleup Buzzmove.
- John Kuolt is a computer science visionary hailing from Silicon Valley. As Cofounder of IQzone Inc., he helped raise $20MM in venture capital before going on to invent the world’s first social address book. By launching with Facebook he was able to get this software pre- embedded on nearly every major mobile handset manufacturer in the world; an unprecedented achievement. While studying at Oxford University, his Entrepreneurial Project (EP) was ‘Cosmogia,’ now Planet Labs, which has gone on to raise $183MM. He continues to play an active role in the venture capital world, sitting on the boards of Harvard Business Angels London and Granatus Ventures.
- Mark Zaleski is a proven executive and seasoned investor with broad international experience. He served as the Chairman and CEO of Dailymotion leading it to 65 million unique visitors and 1 billion video views per month. Mark also served as the CEO of QXL ricardo plc for 7 years prior to it being sold for nearly £1 billion. In 2005 it was the best performing stock on the London Stock Exchange. He has also held senior executive roles at Webvan Group, Nielsen Corporation and Federal Express Corporation. He currently sits on various boards and serves as an advisor at a number of tech companies including GoCardless, Show My Homework, Spotahome and Dynistics.
Jeff Schumacher, Founder and CEO, BCGDV, added “We are delighted to welcome three seasoned executives to our already 60 strong team in London. BCGDV has proven to be an attractive option for entrepreneurs who want to build innovative products.”
About BCG Digital Ventures
BCG Digital Ventures is a corporate innovation, incubation, and investment arm of The Boston Consulting Group. We invent, build, scale, and invest in businesses with the world’s most influential companies. BCGDV’s global network of Innovation Centers span four continents and are home to a diverse range of entrepreneurs, operators, engineers, and investors.