Ian Sosso, winner of 2019 “best European business angel” award from EBAN, founded Monte Carlo Capital (MCC) in 2009, initially as an angel investor to invest his own capital.

MCC has grown into a multistage VC, starting investing at seed in disruptive technologies, and building positions over successive rounds both via a fund and SPVs. Ian is a Solo GP, hands on, and has led up to 4 successive financing rounds, while MCC has invested over $7mio in the same business over multiple rounds. MCC’s investors are currently mainly HNWI and family principals, and the team is based in Monaco, where Ian is originally from.

MCC invest in the US, Europe and the UK and looks for businesses with a strong technological edge or looking to disrupt an industry, addressing a large market, and backed by a strong entrepreneurial team. MCC has built a portfolio of exceptional companies in sectors ranging from artificial intelligence to space, Industrial IoT, medical devices, fintech and SaaS and energy distribution.

Before founding Monte Carlo Capital, Ian was, until 2009, the regional managing director and head of capital markets in Asia for Commerzbank where he was managing all capital markets activities in Asia, including equity derivatives, credit, precious metals, foreign exchange, debt capital markets, as well as the treasuries of HK, Singapore and Shanghai.

Ian started his career in 1993 and previously worked in Paris, London, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong with HSBC, UBS and JPMorgan, holding positions in trading, sales and financial engineering.

Over the years, Ian has been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences in Monaco, throughout Europe, the US, Dubai, Russia, and throughout Asia.

Until 2021, Ian was an adjunct professor for venture capital and entrepreneurial finance for MBA and finance MSc students at the International University of Monaco

Ian joined the European Business Angels Network (EBAN) in 2016 and in 2017 won the best performing new member award of EBAN. Ian was elected to the board of EBAN in June 2018 and in June 2019 won the “best European early stage investor” award, EBAN’s most prestigious award. EBAN is the pan-European trade association for the early-stage investor community, representing Europe’s 10,000+ business angels, and gathers member organisations in 59 countries. He is also a board member of the Monaco Venture Capital Association.

Ian holds an MSc in Finance from the London School of Economics (LSE).