As we turn five, we welcome Angela and Joseph to our team!
Angela Chou and Joseph (JP) Pizzolato bring us complementary expertise in product and B2B SaaS, and continue to expand the diversity of our team, increasing the number of nationalities in the team to 8
As we’re growing Felix, we have more capital to invest (we recently announced our new $300m fundraising) and a wider family, supporting 36 portfolio companies to date. As a result, we decided earlier this year to expand our team and hire a new investor, bringing new skill sets, different experiences, and ensuring that we would select someone who could fit with our culture and make us a better team.
Since we started Felix five years ago (yes we just turned five!), we have tried to stay true to our boutique ethos: we are hungry and scrappy with big ambitions. We are passionate about investing in our digital lifestyle themes. We feel very privileged to be working alongside inspiring entrepreneurs, doing our best to earn their trust by “working hard and being nice to people”. Being a small and focused investment team, each Felix investor has a direct impact on our trajectory. And, similar to every startup, culture fit is key when growing a small team!
When we started our hiring process at the beginning of the year, little did we know that most of this process would happen remotely during a global pandemic! We were impressed by the level of passion, expertise and creativity that all candidates demonstrated during this peculiar period. We had a long and thorough process and ended up choosing to add two new team members instead of one. Today, we’re excited to welcome Angela and JP as new Felix investors!
Angela joins Felix from Facebook, where she was in Product Marketing for Facebook’s first SaaS product, Workplace. Prior to Facebook, Angela was working on Marketplace Strategy at eBay UK, where she designed and implemented several trading, marketing, seller management and inventory strategies for eBay’s European businesses. She started her career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Curious about modern brands and community-driven platforms, Angela co-founded her own jewellery brand, Stephanie Grace. Born and raised in Taiwan, Angela has travelled across 38 (!) countries and speaks English, Chinese and French.
Joseph (“JP”) was previously a growth equity investor at Vitruvian, where he specialised in B2B SaaS, fintech and consumer internet businesses. He was involved in a number of high-profile investments, including Pindrop, Ebury, Standish and Farfetch. Prior to Felix Capital, he also co-founded a fashion & e-commerce marketplace start-up, where he has gained valuable experience in operations and scaling enterprises. Joseph started his career as a structural engineer in Sydney, Australia, before moving into investment banking M&A at Rothschild, where he spent several years working across the Sydney and London offices. He speaks English and Italian.
By bringing on board new personalities and cultures, we’re expanding the breadth of points of view around the Felix table and also importantly reinforcing our product and SaaS expertise.
Now over to Angela and JP to share a bit more about themselves!
About Angela
- What are you the most excited about joining Felix?
I’m most excited about getting to know and working with the Felix family. I’ve really enjoyed meeting everyone on the team, and am looking forward to meeting our advisors, portfolio companies and founders.
- What are you currently interested in / curious about?
A lot of things! Like everyone, I’m curious to see how our shared experience during COVID-19 could shape behaviours in a permanent way. For years, I’ve been interested in how languages shape our thoughts. I’m also generally a sucker for Instagram gimmicks and would buy things from ads just because I’m curious…
- Tell us something about you…
I love animals and I love water — I took my first dive in Hawaii in 2014 and have been an avid diver since! I always enjoy taking a dive or two when I’m on holiday. My favourite dive spot so far is the Red Sea.
About JP
- What are you most excited about joining Felix?
I’m really excited about joining Frederic, Antoine and the whole Felix family on this next stage of growth. The firm has an amazing track record already, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the story and helping entrepreneurs with big ideas that move the world forward.
- What are you currently interested in / curious about?
From an investing perspective, I’m really interested in the rapidly evolving e-commerce landscape, and how financial value chains are developing around the world. On a personal level, I am fascinated by how humans think and act… I read a lot of books about behavioural economics!
- Tell us something about you…
Having taken numerous trips to Japan, I draw a lot of inspiration from the country’s culture and aesthetics, I try to visit as often as I can! I also had a brief term as a professional cellist, having started playing both piano and cello at the age of 5.
