Margarita Skarkou
Investor at 2150
London, England
Overview
Work Experience
Principal
2021 - Current
- Principal in the investment team at 2150. Member of the leadership group and sustainability committee. - Board roles / investments: NatureMetrics, Nodes & Links, Blue Frontier, Mission Zero Tech.
Advisory Board Member
2023
Member of the Building a Green Future Advisory Board.
Non Executive Credit Committee Member
2021
Non executive member of the credit committee for Innovate UK’s innovation loans programme.
Angel Investor
2019
Focusing primarily on climate / sustainability, healthtech and AI. Investments include BeZero Carbon, Greenworkx, What3words, Carwow, JustPark (exited), Tala Thrive.
Vice President - Principal Investments, Sustainable Impact Capital
2021 - 2021
- VP in Sustainable Impact Capital team, which is part of Barclays' Principal Investments team, committed to investing £500m into climatetech businesses globally. - Focused on Series A and B minority equity investments.
Green Banking Council Member
2016 - 2021
- Member of this cross-departmental group led by Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas developing and launching a green finance strategy and range of green finance products at Barclays. - Worked on development on the bank's first green taxonomy, as well as green deposits and loans products for consumers and corporates.
Vice President / Founder Member - Barclays Ventures
2018 - 2021
- Co-founded new Business Unit and helped grow team from 4 to 100+ in 18months. - Involved in strategy development, spanning investments, new product development and start-up acceleration / incubation. - Developed investment thesis focused on financial wellbeing and inclusion. - Worked on 5+ minority equity investments (Seed - Series B), leading 3 of those deals.
Associate, Leveraged Finance Credit - Barclays Investment Bank
2017 - 2018
- Analyst to Associate in European Leveraged Finance Credit team - Worked on LBO transactions across industries; notable deals included Akzo Nobel Specialty Chemicals carve-out (acquired by Carlyle), Flora Foods Group carve-out (acquired by KKR), A&O Hostels & Hotels (TPG Real Estate), Clarion Events (Blackstone), Holland & Barrett (Letter One) - Member of ‘Junior Women in Banking’ committee
Analyst - Barclays Investment Bank
2015 - 2016
- Analyst in Strategic Risk Management team; focused primarily on credit and market risk.
Future Leaders Development Programme (FLDP)
2014 - 2015
Advisory Board Member - Women in Finance
2020 - 2021
Head of Strategy
2016 - 2018
The Greek Economic Forum (GEF) is a think-tank and global business network dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship, sustainable economic growth and investments in Greece. Member of the Executive Committee. Responsible for developing and implementing strategy, engaging stakeholders (sponsors, government, media, academics, etc.) and presenting / speaking at events. Awarded by the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, in December 2017 for our work. Currently operate under the auspices of the Hellenic Republic. http://greekeconomicforum.org
Assistant Project Manager
2013 - 2013
Teaching & Development Summer Placement
2012 - 2012