Jonathon Clark

Jonathon ‘Jonny’ Clark is currently the CEO of Capital Enterprise, the UK’s leading not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping startups - and the places they exist within - to prosper. He is a distinguished angel investor (winning Seedlegals Angel Investor of the Year 2024) and founding member of the acclaimed Baltic Ventures accelerator.

He was previously Co-founder of GDPR compliance startup GDPR Defender and a prolific adviser and investor to early stage technology companies. He started and convenes the 500+ strong Startup Grind Liverpool community, and has held a number of roles across tech startups and economic development organisations. In 2023 he brought a taste of Slush to Liverpool by curating and hosting Liverpool Slush’D, the inaugural Slush’D event in the UK.

Jonny’s professional experience spans the public and private sectors, including local government. He has a proven track record in growing successful tech startups, managing large, complex projects and working in politically sensitive environments.

Jonny began his career working in sales, marketing and operations at a social enterprise recycling business in Knowsley that employed vulnerable adults and reformed offenders. He then joined Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LCR LEP) in an economic research and business growth role. During his two and a half years at the LEP, Jonny worked alongside political heavyweights in the UK and EU, delivered a wide range of projects and presented research to the European Commission, Westminster Business Forum and multiple Government departments.

Jonny went on to lead ‘Activate’, a multi-disciplinary growth programme and microfund for early stage tech companies at Liverpool John Moores University, responsible for the creation and scaling of over 120 early stage tech businesses. Many of the companies who benefited from Activate have gone on to enjoy acclaim in the tech ecosystem, including one of Jonny’s personal investments - Supplywell (Tech Nation Rising Stars winners 2021) and most notably of recent, Parentapps (acquired in 2021 by Community Brands).

From there, Jonny began building his own ventures and has since has made several angel investments into innovative tech startups and plays a proactive role in the growth of these companies, mentoring and advising their teams - particularly at the very early stage, pre-product market founder fit. He has an illustrious consultancy portfolio under his belt, boasting local government and bluechip clients - where he advised them on how to foster successful innovation ecosystems and engage startups in an effective manner.

In his spare time, he is an avid Brazilian Jiu-jitsu brown belt, training at the prestigious Next Generation MMA team in Liverpool.