Meet the team at RiverFort.
The Team
The RiverFort team have decades of unique backgrounds in Corporate Finance, Investment Management &
Professional Services along with the experience of founding and exiting venture-backed start-ups.
Our team comprises of a Chartered Accountant, CFA-qualified staff and blue-chip MBA-qualified investment
banks and operational personnel. The RiverFort team understand the challenges of scaling companies and
the optimal methodologies to achieve growth.
Gytis Martinkus
CEO
Is a chartered certified accountant (ACCA) and also has a degree in BSC in Accounting and Finance from University of East Anglia (UK). Gytis has Over 10 years’ as an experienced financial professional.
Having qualified with KPMG in Gibraltar, Gytis spent the early part of his career with KPMG focusing on high-profile banking and funds sector client audit and advisory services. Has a solid understanding of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and structured finance. Before joining RiverFort Global Capital Ltd, Gytis served as Finance Director of a regulated Fund administrator based in Gibraltar.
Brian Kinane
Chairman
Brian Kinane is an experienced investor manager, corporate finance and industry executive. Brian has extensive experience in managing/advising funds/investment vehicles across multiple industry sectors including technology and natural resources.
Brian is a director of Riverfort Global Opportunities, a specialist venture debt fund and is also a co-founder and general partner of Sure Valley Ventures, a UK/Ireland venture capital group with key investors Enterprise Ireland and the British Business Bank. Previously Brian was a partner at YA Global, a global alternative asset manager where he led its UK investment office and was also a co-founding shareholder and director of FeedHenry, a leader in mobile cloud technologies, sold to Red Hat Inc (IBM) in 2014, Brian has also held multiple industry roles at global telecoms companies such as Ericsson Group and Telenor group. Brian’s academic background includes a computer science degree from Trinity College Dublin and MBAs from London Business School and Columbia Business School.
James Lewis
Non-Executive Director
Founder & managing partner of Shard Capital
Partners and owner of Rubrics Asset Management with Group AUM of in excess of USD1.2b.
Previously James expanded a boutique Dutch brokerage firm from a handful of staff in Amsterdam to a diversified brokerage company with over 150 personnel spread across 9 countries Transacted deals covering a wide range of financial instruments including high-grade/high-yield fixed income & loans, structured products & exchanged traded equities. Grew Shard AM over the last 5 years into an operation of several high-quality executive teams in areas of fixed income, stockbroking & direct lending strategies.
Vikrant Bhargava
Non-Executive Director
Co-founder of PartyGaming Plc, where as marketing director he spearheaded the company’s growth from a start-up in 2000 to largest tech IPO on London Stock Exchange in 2005, valuing the business at over USD8b
Managing partner & founder of Veddis Ventures and anchor/founding investor of AltaVista Capital Active investor & co-founder of a number of start-ups in technology, medical products, real estate, & beauty Active philanthropist principally in the fields of education & livelihoods improvement. Founding board member of FIRST Global (inspires school children to learn robotics); founder trustee of LetzDream Foundation (helps people improve livelihoods in India) B. Tech from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Mark Wheeler
Chief Legal Officer
Qualified practicing solicitor holding a LLB in law
from University of Bristol and LPC from University of Law (Guildford branch)
Former Legal Director at Hill Dickinson LLP (London Office), a firm specialising in Capital Markets and corporate transactions Over 10 years of experience as a qualified solicitor. Mark was named as a key individual in small-cap capital markets and up to £50m M&A transactions in the Legal 500 2020 edition Worked on numerous capital markets transactions including IPOs, RTOs and secondary placings Broad experience of sectors including; resources, technology, life sciences and leisure & tourism. Also experienced in corporate finance and commercial transactions
Liam Bulmer
UK Investment Manager
CF30 qualified with over 9 years’ experience structuring bespoke debt, equity and equity-linked debt finance for listed companies
First Class BA (Hons) Degree in Business and Management. Investment Manager with a focus on UK markets and member of the Investment Committee Involved in over 100 successful fundraises to date Formerly Analyst at Darwin Strategic Limited and an analyst/Settlements at PrimaryBid Limited
James Rooke
Investment Associate
Distinction in MSc Finance from Bayes Business School and BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of Nottingham
Involved in over 40 successful fundraises to date, with a focus on UK markets & European Prior to joining RiverFort, James worked as a financial consultant
Aston Lester
Digital Marketing Officer
Over years of Marketing and Design experience, including finance startups, fintech, retail and international franchise businesses, experience across the UK, Europe, China, South Africa and the Middle East
1st-Class Honors in Graphic Design & Communication
Jacob Hoenig
Investment Analyst
BMedSc and BBus in Finance from the University of Technology, Sydney.
Prior to joining RiverFort, and concurrent to his study, Jacob worked as a Phlemotomist at Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology and has worked on over 15 transactions to date.