Benoit Wirz
Founding Partner at Brighteye Investor
Benoit Wirz
Founding Partner at Brighteye Investor
London, England
Overview
Work Experience
Founding Partner
2017 - Current
Invest in early stage education technology companies with a market in Europe that help people learn and grow. Investments include: Epic!, Ornikar, TeachFX, IronHack, ZenEducate & YouSchool
Director / Venture Investments
2010 - 2017
-Managed $20M Knight Enterprise Fund making 40+ venture investments in early stage media, edtech, and govtech companies. Investments included: Newsela, Nearpod and Gimlet Media -Analyzed, structured and managed Knight's portfolio of program related investments, focused on early stage social enterprises. -Helped solve business issues facing both the foundation and grantees, primarily around sustainability and growth.
Partner
2006 - 2009
• Venture capital and private equity investments in energy, manufacturing, real estate and technology companies
Vice President Strategic Planning
2003 - 2006
• Structured $6 M capitalization of manufacturing company producing hurricane resistant glass in Florida. • Managed sales, customer service, IT and finance with 4 direct and 20 indirect reports. • Developed and implemented turn around strategy, increasing sales from $1 M to $15 M ($1.2 M EBITDA) in three years • Negotiated $10.7 M sale of company to Oldcastle Glass, a division of CRH, Plc.
Vice President, Business Development
1998 - 2003
• Created market demand for over $1.7 B of synfuel tax credits by marketing credits to Fortune 1000 companies. • Marketed 4 synthetic fuel projects sold to Progress Energy for $400 M+ • Developed financial analysis and modeling for $17 Million of passive investments in publicly traded companies in the synfuel industry yielding IRRs of 20-50% • Analyzed and structured $2 M in energy oriented venture capital investments involving large-scale energy storage, power plant optimization software and coal beneficiation.
Analyst
1998 - 1998
Financial analysis for the project finance team at Jefferies focused on infrastructure and transportation projects in emerging markets
News Fellow
1997 - 1998
Reported on US Congress, White House and the MRTA Hostage Crisis in partnership with correspondents from Japan's leading daily newspaper.
Education
Class 19, Venture Capital
2014 - 2016
MBA
2009 - 2009
Master's degree
1996 - 1996
Bachelor's degree
1992 - 1996