Chris Smith — CEO
Chris is Managing Partner at Playfair, a Kauffman Fellow (Class 25), a Contributor to Forbes and helped found our D&I initiative - Female Founder Office Hours (FFOH) - in 2019. He focuses his investing activities on pre-seed opportunities in the UK and Europe. Chris is particularly interested in robotics, autonomous transportation, business and industrial automation (especially through AI, ML and computer vision), HealthTech (except diagnostics and therapeutics) and B2B SaaS. He loves finding companies operating in unloved/overlooked sectors that are ripe for disruption. Prior to joining Playfair, Chris was an operator at plan.com where he held senior roles including Sales Director, Head of Tech/BI and Head of Product Development. He was the 8th member of the team and over a 5 year period built an award winning sales team, introduced new products (organically and through acquisition) and led the roll out of version 4 of the platform. Revenues grew to £60m in 2018 and the company ranked #1 in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100. In addition to his roles at plan.com, Chris worked on the re-launch/re-branding of Vannin Capital (another Bramden Investments' portfolio company which was acquired by Fortress Investment Group LLC in September 2019). Chris executed 15 angel investments across the UK and US from 2008 to 2018 with six exits to date including SuperAwesome (acq. Epic Games), Nearbuy Systems (acq. RetailNext), Compology (acq. RoadRunner Recycling) & Bidstack (LON:BIDS). He is passionate about investing in tech companies and supporting founders using his extensive operational and legal experience. In his previous life, Chris spent nearly a decade in the City as a transactional lawyer. He has worked with some of the world’s leading private equity and venture capital funds on predominantly international acquisitions, disposals and restructurings. At Weil, he spent time on secondment to the Silicon Valley office’s patent litigation team, UK-based food manufacturer Premier Foods and the Asset Protection Agency. He was also the founder of a telecoms business in 2001 offering discounted international calling from 14 countries which he partially exited via an MBO in 2005.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a seasoned investor and operator in the tech and telecommunications sectors.
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Experience: 20 yrs 11 mos
Career Highlights
- Led multiple successful exits in tech investments.
- Built award-winning sales teams and launched new products.
- Extensive experience in private equity and venture capital.
Work Experience
Otel AI
Observer (4 mos)
NetFabric.ai
Investor (1 yr 8 mos)
Ascento
Investor (2 yrs 6 mos)
FENKA Robotics
Investor (2 yrs 6 mos)
Qureight
Board Director (2 yrs 7 mos)
Material Evolution
Board Observer (2 yrs 7 mos)
uMed
Investor (2 yrs 8 mos)
Board Director (4 yrs 2 mos)
YASO
Board Director (3 yrs 5 mos)
Heka
Investor (3 yrs 10 mos)
Board Director (1 yr 11 mos)
Worldr
Investor (4 yrs 8 mos)
Nory
Board Observer (5 yrs)
AeroCloud Systems
Board Director (5 yrs 6 mos)
Ravelin Technology
Board Observer (2 yrs 7 mos)
Board Director (1 yr 4 mos)
Kauffman Fellows
Fellow (Class 25) (5 yrs 9 mos)
Forbes
Contributor (5 yrs 11 mos)
Continuum Industries
Board Director (6 yrs)
Sprout.ai
Investor (6 yrs 1 mo)
Orca AI
Board Observer (6 yrs 3 mos)
Vine Health
Board Director (4 yrs 6 mos)
Hullabalook
Board Observer (2 yrs 9 mos)
Thought Machine
Board Observer (7 yrs 1 mo)
Sightec
Board Observer (7 yrs 3 mos)
Playfair
Managing Partner (7 yrs 4 mos)
Bonapart
Advisory Board Member (11 mos)
Hire Space
Angel Investor (9 yrs 2 mos)
Eedi
Angel Investor (9 yrs 2 mos)
bidstack
Angel Investor (9 yrs 2 mos)
ProducePay
Angel Investor (11 yrs 2 mos)
plan.com
Head Of Product Development (4 yrs 3 mos)
Bramden Investments
Investment Manager (4 yrs 7 mos)
Vannin Capital PCC PLC
Corporate Development (4 yrs 7 mos)
SuperAwesome
Angel Investor (12 yrs 2 mos)
Enertiv
Angel Investor (12 yrs 2 mos)
Compology
Angel Investor (12 yrs 2 mos)
Olswang
Corporate Senior Associate (7 mos)
Nearbuy Systems
Angel Investor (14 yrs 2 mos)
Asset Protection Agency HMT
Legal Counsel (on secondment) (9 mos)
MOPOWERED GROUP LIMITED
Angel Investor (16 yrs 2 mos)
Premier Foods
Legal Counsel (on secondment) (3 mos)
Wrap it Up!
Angel Investor (18 yrs 2 mos)
Weil Gotshal and Manges
Private Equity Associate (5 yrs 8 mos)
Trainee Associate (on secondment) (5 mos)
Trainee Associate (1 yr 11 mos)
Creative Industry Law Group
Intern (5 mos)
Education
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) at UCL
LPC at BPP Law School
at Berkhamsted School
