Investment Advisory Team

Alastair is a member of the Cibus Capital Investment Advisory Committee and Head of Venture. Prior to joining Cibus Capital, Alastair spent 18 years Investment Banking, 16 years of which were at Morgan Stanley, within the Equity Division, as a Managing Director based in London and Hong Kong. Upon leaving Morgan Stanley in 2002, Alastair attended The Royal Agricultural University and has managed his own mixed organic farm since. As an active private investor, Alastair has made numerous investments within renewable energy and agriculture. Alastair holds a BSc in Zoology from Exeter University, England.

Alex joined Cibus Capital in 2023. Prior to joining Cibus, Alex was an Associate at Ashurst, as part of the Corporate team in London. Alex trained at Ashurst and qualified as a solicitor in 2020, having studied law at the University of Law after reading Law at Durham University.

Annie Rainsford joined Cibus Capital in 2016 and is General Counsel with a focus on the Cibus funds and Cibus Managed Accounts. Annie was previously General Counsel at Motion Equity Partners (formerly Cognetas) and Bluefield Partners. Annie qualified as a lawyer at Ashurst in 2000 having studied law at Guildford Law School after reading Economics at Durham University

Archie is a Director dedicated to venture investments.  Prior to Cibus Capital, Archie was an investment banking associate at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London where he worked as part of the Industrials Group. Archie holds a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford.

Aurore Gil is an Investment Director at Cibus Capital. Prior to joining in 2019, Aurore was an Executive Director at UBS. She spent 14 years in the Investment Banking division, of which 11 years working in the Telecoms Media and Technology team, during which she advised European clients on corporate finance strategies, including M&A, sell side, buy side, IPOs, equity and debt financings. Aurore graduated from ESCP Business School in 2004 and holds French Business Law degrees from Paris X and Jean Monnet University. Aurore has a strong interest in ESG challenges and completed the Business Sustainability Management course from Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership in 2018.

Benoit joined Cibus Capital as an Investment Director in August 2021from AGIC Capital where he focussed on environmental protection technologies as well as sustainability themes. He has worked as a strategy consultant, private equity investor and M&A banker across Europe and Asia over the past 13 years. Benoit’s prior experience includes Morgan Stanley in the investment banking division focusing on Mergers & Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts and IPOs. He started his career as consultant focusing on strategic assignments and commercial due diligences for private equity firms and also speaks French, English, Mandarin and Russian and holds an MBA from the London Business School.

Damon is a Consultant Investment Director at Cibus Capital responsible for implementing the Australian and New Zealand agricultural strategy. Damon is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand and holds a Bachelor of Business from The University of New England. He has spent the last 12 years working in Audit, Financial Reporting and Taxation in both public practice and commercial enterprises, predominately in the agricultural sector. In his previous role, Damon was responsible for the formation, integration and sale of a beef supply chain, comprising of Sanger Australia and Bindaree Beef.

Prior to joining Cibus Capital in 2022, Fiamma was an Investment Banking Analyst at J.P. Morgan, as part of the Leveraged Finance team in London. She started her career in the Investment Banking division at Credit Agricole, also focusing on Leveraged and high yield debt transactions across Europe. Fiamma holds a MSc in Finance from the University of Warwick and a BSc in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Rome III. She speaks Italian, English and Spanish.

Fred is Operations Associate at Cibus Capital with focus on marketing, IT and administration. Fred joined the company in 2013 as an Intern and has been working closely with the investment team in London to manage the current portfolio, aid in raising new funds and analyse and model investment opportunities. He was previously employed at TBWA and Montier Partners.

Georgina is a Senior ESG Associate at Cibus Capital. Prior to joining, Georgina was a Senior Associate for Worthstone, an impact investment consultancy and has also developed and implemented sustainability strategies for multiple start-up businesses. Georgina has a Master’s Degree in Climate Change, Finance and Management from Imperial College London and a BSc in Geology from Durham University.

Hugo joined Cibus Capital as a Senior Investment Associate in June 2021 from Greenhill & Co. where he spent five years working in the M&A and Restructuring teams in London and New York. Hugo received a BA in MML, later promoted to an MA by seniority, from the University of Cambridge and speaks English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Imogen joined Cibus Capital in 2020. Prior to joining Cibus, Imogen was in the Global PR Team at the Maybourne Hotel Group and had other communications roles in the travel and hospitality industries.  Imogen has a Bachelors Degree in Communication, Media and Cultural Studies from Oxford Brookes University.

Jason is Head of Agriculture and a member of the Cibus Capital Investment Advisory Committee. Jason has over 20 years of experience in agribusiness investment in both developed and emerging markets throughout Australia, Brazil, China, Europe and CIS. Prior to joining Cibus, Jason was based in Moscow as Head of Agribusiness Investments and Senior Investment Director for VTB Capital Private Equity. Prior to VTB, Jason was Global Head of Operations and Division Director at Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management with AUM and commitments of AUD 1.06bn across beef, sheep, grains, dairy, forestry and horticulture assets in Australia and Brazil. Jason holds a Bachelor of Business degree from Charles Sturt University, Australia.

Jeremy Alun-Jones is Cibus Capital’s COO with oversight of operations, valuations, finance and risk management. He joined the company in March 2014 after many years as an investment analyst and hedge fund assessor. Previously he developed and sold a fund of hedge fund business, Montier Asset Management, to Stenham Asset Management where he became Group Managing Director of their Hedge Fund Division. Prior to that he spent many years as an equity research analyst following the retail and later, telecom industries. Jeremy was educated at Oxford University, England where he received a MA in Human Sciences

Katie joined Cibus Capital in 2022 following more than a decade as Head of Investor Relations and Business Development for a multi billion dollar alternative asset manager In that role she worked with a global investor universe, with a particular focus on institutional investors, supporting both their initial diligence processes as well as ongoing requirements. Previously, Katie headed the European Capital Solutions Group for Barclays Capital Katie has a Master’s in Business Administration from INSEAD and a BA in Psychology from Wellesley College.

Louis initially joined Cibus as an intern in 2022, working predominantly with the mid-market team. In 2023 he joined the Cibus team on a full-time basis as an Analyst in a generalist capacity. Prior to Cibus, Louis did a summer internship with Credit Suisse and has a graduated from UCL with BA in History.

Olga is a Consultant Senior Investment Associate at Cibus Capital.  Previously, Olga was engaged in a one-year trainee program at Robert Bosch Ltd. She holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Credit from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine. Olga is a CFA charterholder and passed the CFA UK Certificate in ESG Investing in 2020.

Priyesh is an Accounting and Finance Graduate and a Part Qualified ACCA student who has amassed experience in the industry sector. He started his career in public practice gaining experience in Accounts, Tax and Audit to later move into the industry sector and further his experience in Fund Administration. Before joining Cibus Capital, he worked for a company providing a mix of debt and equity property development investment opportunities to global institutional investors.

Robert Appleby is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Cibus Capital, a London-based private equity platform, looking for investment opportunities in the food and agricultural arena.

In the last 23 years, Robert has invested in emerging and developed economies across Oceania, Asia and Europe.  Prior to founding Cibus, Rob was a co-founder and joint-CIO of ADM Capital Hong Kong and Director of the ADM Capital Foundation, a charitable organisation established in 2006 promoting environmental conservation. Before establishing ADM Capital, Robert spent 13 years at Lehman Brothers working in Fixed Income Sales and Trading in London and New York before moving to Singapore as Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Derivatives.

Robert was educated at St Peters College, Oxford where he received a BA degree in Zoology and Anthropology (later promoted to an MA by seniority)

Susie joined Cibus Capital in 2015. She is the ‘go to’ person in the office and is responsible for all office administration, accounts and is the Executive Assistant to the Partners/ Directors. Previously she has run her own property search company and worked for a number of HNWI’s co-ordinating all aspects of their lives.

Tarquin initially joined the Cibus team as an Intern in 2019 and joined the Cibus venture team on a full time basis in 2020. Tarquin holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the University of Oxford, where he specialised in environmental technology.

Terence is an Investment Analyst focusing on investment and lending opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. Prior to joining Cibus Capital in September 2021, Terence was a Manager in EY’s Transactions and Corporate Finance team in Sydney where he worked with a broad base of institutional investors and private equity funds through the deal cycle. Prior to this, Terence was a Governance and Investor Oversight Analyst with Trustees Executors in New Zealand. Terence started his career as an Auditor with KPMG New Zealand. Terence holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from Massey University, a Graduate Diploma in Commerce from Auckland University and is due to complete his Master of Finance in 2021 with Massey University, New Zealand. Terence is a qualified Chartered Accountant with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

Tom joined Cibus Capital in September 2021 as an Investment Director.  He previously worked at Rabobank, where he gained 10 years’ experience in F&A investing, ultimately working for the Rabo Food and Agri Innovation Fund where he had a particular focus on impact investing, providing capital to disruptive food and agri start-ups.  Tom holds a BSc in Economics and Business from Exeter University.