From a very young age Matt wanted to be a scientist…and by that he imagined being one part Albert Einstein, another part Thomas Edison, while simultaneously teaching and igniting young minds with a love for the field. Despite graduating first in his class in Chemistry at Princeton University, Matt realised that a string of Nobel Prizes might be slightly ambitious, and accidentally began a decades-long career in business.

Matt was part of the founding team at Capital One Bank, regarded as the world's first FinTech company. Matt led the initial international expansion of the business into Canada, the UK, Spain, Italy, France and South Africa, moving to London in 1998 to manage Capital One Bank Europe before leaving in 2001.

The next step in Matt’s career was as an advisor and partner to entrepreneurs in the UK, where he quickly built a reputation for integrity and value-add, allowing him to meet the very best entrepreneurs of the time. One example was Octopus Capital Group, which Matt met as it was being founded and Chaired from 2001-2023.

Matt gradually started investing in the companies he worked with, further enhancing his reputation in the market. Over the next 20 years Matt made over 250 angel investments, chaired numerous public and private company Boards, as well as advising and being on the Boards of a number of universities and not for profit organisations including Nottingham Trent University, The Mental Health Foundation, Sadler’s Wells Dance Theatre and the National Centre for Circus Arts.

In 2022, Matt co-founded Exceptional Ventures with his now partner, Paolo Pio, to continue to support entrepreneurs in this area. Now raising its second fund, EV is focused on finding, investing in, and supporting the very best and most passionate founders as they build companies that help people live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

Matt’s personal mission is to support the best companies doing the best work, and to call out those who would take advantage of the lucrative opportunities without regard to the critical positive impact that should be the driving force in such a critical and complex area.