Mike Donovan

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

2024

Venture Scout

2021

Helping Check, Matt & the team @ Ada Ventures, a $50m pre-seed/seed-stage venture capital fund investing in underrepresented founders & overlooked markets, with quality deal-flow.

Senior Advisor, Strategic Partnerships

2021 - 2024

The Valkin Group is a single family office and investment holding company with presence in London, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong. The group has interests in media, fashion, real estate, private equity, film, and trading. Currently spinning out our most successful investment strategy, disrupting the $19 trillion international trade market. Raising investment to accelerate our B2B alt-finance solution, offering a unique cross-border finance solution for consumer brands.

Business Development

2021 - 2024

Ocean is a Fintech start-up which has developed an innovative operating software to help SMEs in developed markets with their imports, inventory and global supply chain from China and South East Asia. Ocean acts as a trading partner to provide businesses with international cross border supply chain capital between $10k and $10m with 0% interest and no hidden charges. It charges a flat mark up on the COGS and invoices are paid in instalments over 30, 60, 90 or 120 days. SME's can now import physical goods from manufacturers overseas on open credit just like multinationals. Ocean also includes supply chain logistics, freight forwarding, servicing and fulfilment services as bolt ons to form a comprehensive end to end cross border program.

Strategic Advisor

2018 - 2024

Providing strategic advice to the founder and senior management team of an innovative FinTech who are reinventing Ordering & Payment in hospitality, retail and other verticals with Open Banking at the core. Winner of 2020 Tech Nation’s Rising Star 3.0 Fintech Award (alumni include Monzo, Revolut, Just Eat & Deliveroo).

Founder & CEO

2017 - 2022

As the founder of Brushbox, I built the UK's first sustainable direct-to-consumer oral care brand. Our mission was to revolutionize the $40.6bn oral care sector by delivering beautiful, functional & planet-friendly products directly to our customers, based on their dentist's recommendations. Our unique "Buy 1, Give 1, Plant 1" promise meant that for every brush we sold, we donated one to a disadvantaged child and plant a tree on our customer's behalf. We committed to making products that were both great for our customers and for the environment. "Saving the Planet, Twice a Day". Exited in 2022.

Private Client & Entrepreneurial Business

2004 - 2018

As a former senior leader in Deloitte's Entrepreneurial Business team, I provided comprehensive business, tax, and commercial advice to entrepreneurs and fast-growing organizations. I am passionate about developing innovative solutions to complex business problems and am committed to meeting long-term commercial goals while managing liabilities and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders. I specialized in identifying, advising, and assisting leaders through transactional events, such as raising investment, reorganizations, trade sales, private equity deals, management buyouts, and succession planning. I also led multi-jurisdictional teams on numerous high-profile corporate transactions for some of the world's most exciting companies. In addition to my professional accomplishments, I am passionate about mentoring and coaching high-performance individuals to help them, and our organization, excel. I had the privilege of working with a talented team at Deloitte and am dedicated to fostering a positive and supportive work environment.