Matt Cooper

Co-founder at Exceptional Ventures

Speaker

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.

After graduating first in his class in Chemistry from Princeton University, he realised that a string of Nobel Prizes might be slightly ambitious, and accidentally began a decades-long career building and backing companies instead.

Matt was part of the founding team at Capital One, often described as the world’s first FinTech, helping pioneer the use of data at scale in consumer finance. He led the company’s international expansion across Europe and beyond before moving to London in 1998 to run Capital One Bank Europe.

He later became Chairman of Octopus Group (2001–2023), helping it grow from a start-up into one of the UK’s leading multi-billion-pound investment platforms.

Over the past 20+ years, Matt has made more than 250 angel investments and worked closely with hundreds of founders. He also chaired numerous public and private company boards, universities, and non-profit organisations, including Nottingham Trent University, The Mental Health Foundation, Sadler’s Wells Dance Theatre and the National Centre for Circus Arts. His reputation has been built on supporting the very best and most passionate founders with integrity, meaningful value add, and long-term partnership.

In 2022, Matt co-founded Exceptional Ventures with Paolo Pio to focus on what he believes is the defining revolution of our time: health, wellness, and longevity. EV invests in early-stage companies helping people live longer, healthier, and happier lives - maximising what the firm calls **Joyspan**®.

Matt believes venture capital should do more than chase returns. It should help shape industries responsibly, back the best founders early, and call out bad actors when necessary. Because in sectors like health, how you build matters just as much as what you build.