Alex Van Someren joins Amadeus Capital Partners to jump-start their early stage investing

Serial UK entrepreneur Alex van Someren has joined Amadeus Capital Partners as a Partner in the Amadeus & Angels Seed Fund. If you know the UK tech startup scene then you probably know pony-tailed van Someren and his robust and edgy commentary on the UK scene over conversation at various events. And hopefully he’ll be a shot in the arm for Amadeus, which is something of a laggard in the web startup scene, after making it’s name with legendary hardware companies out of Cambridge like Acorn.

The Amadeus & Angels Seed Fund is a £10 million fund and has so far invested £5m in six companies, including XMOS, AiHIT, Linkdex, Synature, Ambient and Onedrum.

Alex has 30 years in tech, and two of his own companies achieved exits for investors via the public markets. In 1996, he co-founded IT security company nCipher where he spent 11 years as CEO, leading the business to a public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 2000, achieving over 20x return for his investors. nCipher was acquired by Thales. In 2008, he joined the UK Trade & Investment’s Global Entrepreneur Programme, where he globe-trotted alongside UK companies promoting themselves abroad.

I’ve hung out with Alex many a time and I am really glad he’s made this move. He understands technology, geeks and business, so it’s a win for him, Amadeus and startups in Europe that he’s now a point of contact at this fund. He’ll be working with colleague Laurence John.

Unfortunately, Amadeus is more than a laggard, so van Someren may have his work cut out. The rumour is that in the last 7 years no partner has earned any “carry” (an upside when a company exits).