GET TO KNOW THE TEAM

People

GET TO KNOW THE TEAM

People

Scott Gunther

General Partner

Scott is the General Partner of IAG Firemark Ventures, leading and empowering the team to deliver the kind of investment and advances that can continue to make the world a safer place.

A startup and technology enthusiast, Scott is passionate about working with business leaders to understand and identify strategic opportunities, then help them deliver transformation to achieve growth.

Scott has a background in digital, tech transformation and commercial roles across the telecommunications, events management, FMGC and insurance industries. For the past 15+ years, Scott has worked for IAG, with the last 7 spent specifically in IAG Firemark Ventures. Scott also sits across a number of boards, including a number of IAGFV portfolio companies and Deakin University.

Rebecca Schot-Guppy

Partner

Rebecca is a Manager of Investments & Portfolio Management for Firemark Ventures.

Before working at Firemark Ventures, Rebecca was CEO of FinTech Australia, representing 400+ companies in Australia on key policy issues and supporting the local fintech ecosystem. She also practised as a corporate lawyer at Hall & Willcox.

Alex Guyer

Partner

Alex is a manager of Investments & Portfolio Management for Firemark Ventures. He has ten years of experience in investment banking, consulting and working within other corporate venture capital funds.

His investment experience ranges from investing in pre-seed companies through to the public markets across multiple sectors.

Ben Couston

Manager, Growth and Performance

Ben is the manager of Growth & Performance at Firemark Ventures. Having a decade of experience in Financial Services, Ben has worked across both corporates and startups. He has also held various strategy & investment roles at CommBank before scaling operations at Brighte.

Ben is responsible for shaping our overarching investment strategy, as well as managing the performance of our portfolio.

Aisling Clarke

Principal, Investments & Portfolio Management

Ash started her career in M&A and deal advisory gaining broad experience on buy-side and sell-side transactions as well as strategic growth mandates in EY’s UKI practice. Since relocating to Sydney in 2019, she has spent the last number of years in Corporate Development and strategy roles within listed Corporates.

As part of the investments team, Ash spends her time sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities and managing the end-to-end investment process.

Shen Lu

Principal, Emerging Technology

Shen received his PhD in Computer Science from University of Sydney. Shen has extensive experience in software development and data science in enterprises.

Shen leads the emerging technology theme scan, investment technical due-diligence, and provide technical advisory to the Investments & Portfolio Management teams on early/late-stage dealflow.

Simon Huber

Principal, Investments & Portfolio Management

After starting his career as an investment analyst, Simon has spent mutiple years as an operator in fast-growing technology start-ups in Germany. He has profound experience in scale-up strategies with a particular focus in business development and partnerships.

Simon is responsible for meeting founders, evaluating companies and supporting the end-to-end investment process.

Nicholas Carabine

Associate, Growth & Performance

Nick Carabine began at Firemark Ventures as an Intern in 2020, gaining broad exposure across the portfolio. He later focused on Post Investment Leverage, where he specialised in project and portfolio management, helping to drive strategic value.

Nick now works in the Growth & Performance team, bringing experience and a strategic lens to scaling initiatives and operational excellence.

Henry Forbes-Smith

Associate, Investments & Portfolio Management

Henry is an Associate in Investments & Portfolio Management at Firemark Ventures. Prior to joining Firemark, he spent several years in strategy development across management consulting and in-house roles within financial services.

Henry is responsible for meeting with founders, helping build a quality investment pipeline, supporting the end-to-end investment process, and ongoing portfolio management.

Pavel Staněk

Associate, Investments & Portfolio Management

Pavel brings over a decade of experience across Australia’s startup and innovation ecosystem, with a background spanning early-stage ventures, incubator programs, entrepreneurship, non-profits, venture capital and venture debt.

Prior to joining Firemark Ventures, he was a Portfolio Analyst at an impact-led venture debt fund. Pavel is part of the Investments & Portfolio Management team, contributing to deal sourcing, market analysis, and due diligence.