David French

David is Chairman and Co-Founder of Harwell Capital and a Partner of Heligan.
David has been investing into and advising early and growth stage technology companies since 2004, following a successful career in Financial Services.
David spent 30 years in Asia, by the end of which he had become one of the most important introducers of capital from the region to various technology companies based in the UK.
David is a serial entrepreneur and during his long career in Asia he built his own Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) business, MBA Group, becoming the largest IFA business in Hong Kong, before being acquired by UK listed company Inter-Alliance and subsequently becoming Group CEO of Inter-Alliance International.
David's business career in Asia started in 1991 when he joined Connaught Financial Planning Ltd, Hong Kong's largest financial planning company at the time, where he became Sales Director.
After a successful sale of Connaught to MBF (Malaysia's largest credit card company), David formed MBA Group in 1994.
David led the group through a series of international mergers and acquisitions, becoming CEO of the now MBA Berkeley Burke Group in 1999, which was sold to Inter-Alliance in 2000.
Following a successful management buy-out of MBA Berkeley Burke from Inter-Alliance International, David resumed his position as CEO in the newly reformed MBA Berkeley Burke in 2002, a position he held until retiring from Financial Services in 2004, to focus on investing his personal capital into seed and angel stage companies.
David started his career with 5 years as a police officer in the Metropolitan Police Force in London, where he received 2 commendations.