Bio

Wale Ayeni has over 18 years of global technology experience spanning several roles including venture capital, entrepreneurship, tech investment banking, microprocessor & chip design and product development. He currently leads investments in early-growth tech companies in frontier markets with Helios Digital Ventures Advisors. Prior to that he led IFC's venture capital deals in frontier markets across Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, was a member of the management committee of the Disruptive Technologies and Funds group at IFC, and co-managed 20+ venture capital investment professionals across Africa, China, India, Latin America, Middle East, and South East Asia. He helped establish and build the Venture Capital practice of the IFC in Africa. . Prior to the IFC, Wale was part of the original founding team at Orange in Silicon Valley that led investments into disruptive startups across various sectors including Fintech, Big-Data, Mesh Networks, Blockchain and Virtual Reality. Wale started his finance career with J.P. Morgan’s Technology Investment Banking group in San Francisco where he successfully executed over US$12bn worth of closed transactions spanning M&A to IPOs for large-cap technology clients. Wale started his career as a microprocessor design Engineer with Intel Corp. where he led critical aspects of Intel's ''CSI'' chip architecture - the biggest micro-architecture change in Intel's history. He also led aspects of the very first ''Snapdragon'' chipsets working at Qualcomm Inc.’s chip design center enabling the initial smartphone designs. Wale has an MBA from Dartmouth College, and a Bachelor’s degree with distinguished “Red diploma” from Moscow University in Russia. He is a Kauffman Venture Capital Fellow, a recipient of the top global 100 Rising Stars award in Corporate Venture. He sits on the Dartmouth Tuck EMEA council, and advisory boards of several venture funds in Africa.