Kevin Simmons

General Partner at LoftyInc Capital

Panellist

Kevin Simmons is a successful Venture Capital investor who specializes in pioneering and launching early-stage risk capital vehicles in emerging markets. He has been recognized as an exception leader in VC by the UK Government and he is an active member of several investment communities, and a leading expert in The Pitch Club, a global network of investors and technology experts that started in 2020. A former Venture Partner with pan-African VC leader LoftyInc Capital Management, he is now a General Partner of the Alpha Fund, a $75m early-stage venture capital fund. Kevin has invested in over 150 technology companies including 3 of Africa’s 8 unicorns, and other companies valued over $500m.

He is an experienced angel investor and co-founded Valhalla Investment Group in Houston, TX, and helped start the Afropreneur Angel Group, the pioneering and most successful early-stage risk capital group in Africa.

Kevin Simmons is also builder of high growth technology companies and has helped run several technology startups. He serves as strategic advisor to CEOs of technology startups in the UK and Africa. As CEO of UK electric vehicle software Electric Miles, he navigated the company to a successful exit by acquisition in 2023, and he has helped launch or co-found four other technology startups, including UK award-winning and IDB-supported venture Aceleron where he was the founding Chief Finance and Operations Officer, and notably led their expansion to Barbados (Aceleron Caribbean, former Director). He also helped lead notable Barbados-led US-based disruptive company Innclusive which was featured in The Fast Company; The Washington Post; and Forbes.

He serves as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at the University of Bristol for the globally acclaimed SetSquared Incubator, a partnership formed by the UK’s six (6) leading research universities, which was ranked #1 in the UK and #3 in Europe by the Financial Times in 2024, and which was previously ranked as the world’s #1 university incubator for 3 years running. Kevin serves as an innovation and startup mentor for multiple bodies such as the global risk capital investor Techstars (both Toronto and Lagos); Foundervine (UK), and Dalhousie University (Canada).

Kevin is a writer and regularly teaches classes on innovation and business growth, raising capital, risk capital and equity investing. He teaches business, investing, and finance annually for Oxford Royale Academy at the University of Oxford.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, with service at the United States Military Academy at West Point, he excels at leadership and team dynamics in high-stress environments. He is a former project manager for global oil giant Chevron where he managed complex engineering and construction projects in six (6) countries and his work has been featured in the leading industry publication Offshore. He holds advanced management and business degrees from Stanford University, Rice University, and the University of Oxford.