Who We Are
Investing in the ideas that will change the world – Alliott Cole, CEO of Octopus Ventures
Alliott Cole was born into a family of lawyers and classicists. So, it was little wonder that he followed a path to Oxford to read the same, and then completed a postgraduate degree in law and joined the London office of a prestigious firm like Ashurst - right? Well…
Early career and realisations
“I remember my first day at Ashurst like it was yesterday. As I sat through the opening set of introductory sessions, I started to ask myself if I could love the law in the way you must to succeed at the highest level ,” said Alliott.
As part of Ashurst’s Private Equity, M&A and Corporate Finance group, Alliott spent four years advising a range of clients in a variety of sectors and industries working closely with the likes of Nigel Stacey, Duncan Stiles and Adrian Clark who were all generous with their time, support and mentorship. This experience led to his spending time with IBM and then Rothschild, both secondments from Ashurst. It was here that he worked for Sian Westerman, “an amazing woman who is both inspiring and terrifying in equal measure", and developed an appreciation for the work investment bankers do. That secondment, which included the unpleasantly stressful experience of working on Northern Rock (one of the first UK banks to experience a run during the lead-up to the global financial crisis), cemented his view that he knew “very little about very little” in terms of how businesses are started and built.
So, each Friday, Alliott emailed a business leader he had read about in the newspapers that week to see if someone like him could be useful in a business like theirs. “In a world before iPhones and LinkedIn, this seemed like the best way to start to understand more about the City, industry and everything in between. I think most of the people I contacted recognised a lost soul and almost invariably made time to meet me, sharing their insights and point me in the direction of someone else,” he said. “Throughout the process of being continually asked ‘who are you and what are you interested in’, I started to understand the answers to those hard questions. Then one business leader asked me a really simple question: ‘When you are in the airport and about to get on the plane, what magazine do you buy?’ I told her I always bought Inc. This was one of the few magazines at the time that covered the Silicon Valley world of start-ups. Her question made me see my true passion for entrepreneurship, ingenuity and innovation - though at the time the word ‘entrepreneur’ was not necessarily a positive attribute; it was akin to calling someone a maverick."
The timing was serendipitous all the same. Alliott was introduced to the founders of Octopus (now Octopus Group) when they started a venture capital business. He was the first member of the investment team and so with no title, and limited experience, he jumped in.
Octopus Group is now a group of companies spanning financial services, energy and education, and proudly ranks in the top 10% of B Corporations globally (businesses that meet the highest standards in terms of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose). The clear remit to invest in the people, ideas and industries that will change the world always had enormous appeal to Alliott. “We have the firm belief that entrepreneurs and start-ups can change the world for the better. We look for founders with a compelling vision of a solution to a significant, large, enduring challenge, and some kind of non-common, or non-obvious, insight that informs how they will create their product, go to market, or sustain a competitive advantage. It’s a privilege to work alongside these extraordinary people and see them move the world forward in some positive way,” Alliott said.
Over the next eight years, Alliott took the lead on investing in early-stage technology companies. The firm’s founders then asked him to set up the Octopus office in New York. Alliott spent two years in New York and loved the experience so much that he imagined staying there permanently. For that reason, he found the offer to return to London and become the CEO of Octopus Ventures a bittersweet moment.
Leadership at Octopus Ventures
As CEO since 2016, Alliott has played a key role in accelerating start-up success in the European venture market. He explained: “As Octopus Ventures has gone on its own journey from upstart new entrant to one of the most active venture investors in Europe, we have taken on a broader role in fostering and nurturing the ecosystem we rely on and participate in.” Alliott has worked actively with businesses including Tails.com (acquired by Nestle Purina), Zoopla (listed on LSE before being taken private by Silver Lake), graze.com (acquired by Unilever) and Cazoo (listed on the NYSE). He’s also taken on non-executive director roles with The Rose Review and the Invest in Women Taskforce (backed by the Department for Business and Trade) and is a member of the Scaleup Policy Group (an initiative of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology).
Today, Alliott no longer buys magazines at the airport. Instead, he is listening to podcasts like Invest Like the Best. That new indicator of his true passion heralds his next career move.
In 2025, after eight years at the helm of Octopus Ventures, Alliott will be returning to a full-time investment role to help Octopus’s portfolio of start-ups through the later stages of growth. “While it has been a huge adventure and privilege to lead this firm, it’s time to hand the baton on and return to the work that truly energises me. It gives me great joy to work with the founders day to day, invest in them and help them create category-defining businesses.”
