George Coelho

With deep management experience in Silicon Valley, Europe and Asia, George founded Agri-Foodtech Venture firm Astanor Ventures, with long-term Partner Eric Archambeau, in 2017, after more than 30 years in technology investment worldwide. He also advises part-time: Finch Capital (Fintech), Crane Venture Partners (AI SaaS), ProFounders Capital (Digital technology and commerce) and Electric Revolution Ventures (Batteries and electrification). 

He was before, Chairman of Rome/London based Octo Telematics and Senior Advisor to Quadia Impact Finance. He was previously Head of Venture Capital of Good Energies (Clean energy), board member of Aventron (Swiss based, listed renewable energy firm) and co-founder of Benchmark Capital Europe (now Balderton Capital) with Eric Archambeau in 2000.  

Prior to that, he spent 9 plus years at Intel Corporation leading a group which made over 200 investments and became Intel Capital. Intel is considered the most successful corporate investor and a model for other firms’ corporate venture programs. George also previously headed the M&A and strategic investing group in Intel's Treasury as an Assistant Treasurer. With investment skills ranging from early-stage start-ups to public companies, George has been involved in more than 100 investments worldwide. Sample transactions where he has been an early investor include Broadcom and Citrix (US), PCCW (China), Trend Micro (Japan) and Betfair, LoveFilm and ZOPA (UK). George has successfully brought companies to flotation on stock exchanges throughout the world. Today these companies represent over $200bn in market capitalization. Before Intel, George was an investment banker with Nomura Securities, working with the technology industry in Silicon Valley and Japan.  

An active philanthropist and adviser, George serves on the Zurich Committee and main board of Human Rights Watch, as well as the American Air Museum in Britain, part of the Imperial War Museum. He is a lifetime Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. He was a Trustee of George Washington University and Chair of the GW Sustainability Collaborative. George holds a B.S. from The American University, (where he is today an advisor to the Kogod Sustainability Council) and an MBA from The George Washington University.