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29 Oct 2026
Tobacco Dock, London
Tobacco Dock, London
Who gets to decide which founders, ideas and communities receive investment? This session brings together fund managers, investors and institutions to examine what it takes to move from asking for capital to controlling and deploying it. The conversation will explore emerging fund managers, access to institutional backing and how a more representative investment ecosystem gets built.
David Houghton is Co-founder of Common Ventures, a pre-seed fund backing state-educated and immigrant founders across the UK, anchored by the British Business Bank. Common grew out of a 4,000+ strong community of state-educated founders, investors and operators, built on the belief that adversity breeds the best founders. David grew up in Leeds and attended Guiseley School, building his career in VC through determination and some Yorkshire charm.
Emily Turner is the CEO of HSBC Innovation Banking UK. Emily leads the bank and is responsible for scaling the business across the UK, Denmark and Sweden driving growth with leading innovation companies and investors. Emily is also a member of the UK Board. Over the past decade, Emily established and built-up Citi Ventures UK, led Citi’s Global Institutional Strategic Investing group, and developed multiple early-stage companies as part of Citi's internal incubator. Most recently, Emily held the position of MD and Head of Business Development, Citi’s Client Organisation. Before joining Citi, Emily worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in London. A native New Yorker, Emily is a graduate of Dartmouth College and has an MBA from Columbia University. Emily brings extensive experience of driving growth within the innovation ecosystem, both as an investor and as an operator.
