Ciaran Canavan, Finance Expert in London, United Kingdom
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Ciaran Canavan

Verified Expert  in Finance

Finance Expert

Location
London, United Kingdom
Toptal Member Since
June 7, 2022

Ciaran is a private equity and venture capital professional experienced in company creation, leveraged buyouts, infrastructure investments, and M&A processes. Throughout his career, he led startups from inception through to public listing and has closed over £500 million in funding. Ciaran is the founder of Spring Fibre, which is backed by £150 million of infrastructure investment and consults directly for several companies on funding, strategy, and M&A activity.

Due Diligence ConsultantInvestment BankingPitch Deck ConsultantDue DiligenceFinancial ModelingMergers & Acquisitions (M&A)ValuationRevenue & Expense ProjectionsEquity ResearchFinancial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)FundraisingManagement ConsultingFinancial ReportingAccountingVenture Capital

Career Highlights

Principal
Kingsley Capital Partners LLP
Consultant
RSM International

Education Highlights

Master's Degree
Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW)
Bachelor's Degree
University of Bath

Certification Highlights

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute

Case Studies

Work Experience

Principal

2019 - PRESENT
Kingsley Capital Partners LLP
  • Founder of UK electric vehicle charging company Zapgo. Developed business strategy and led seed and Series A fundraising rounds. Business closed £25m Series A in November 2023 with funds assigned to deployment of 4,000 HPC's.
  • Managed the £50 million post-money IPO of the Oxford University biotech spin-out. Worked for three years with management and institutional funders such as Imperial Brands to raise Series A funding and progress toward the 1st phase of clinical trials.
  • Founded UK fiber telecom ISP. The company raised £3 million in Series A funding before later closing a £150 million infrastructure round to support the building of wholesale fiber telecom networks.
  • Implemented the change management process and restructuring across a luxury UK florist. The business had little financial visibility on unit economics and profitability drivers. Implemented a process to establish operational and budget KPIs.
  • Took part in the deal team that acquired a UK fiber construction company. The business secured contracts with three of the UK's largest fiber telecom ISPs. Worked in an interim CEO capacity during the change management process.
  • Worked with an institutional partner, worth $17 billion in assets under management, to acquire a leading UK telecom tower build provider. The business experienced high growth related to 5G deployment.
  • Led a forecasting project for a UK agricultural science company during their Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) application. It included a full leveraged buyout (LBO), associated R&D expense forecasts, and a presentation used to gain EIS approval.
  • Spearheaded transaction processes on the acquisition of a group of German care homes. Built the project LBO and investor presentations for equity and debt funding rounds.
Focus areas: Fundraising, Investment Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Business Strategy, Operational Risk Management, Venture Debt, Pitch Decks, Education Technology (Edtech), Venture Capital, Edtech Design, Startups, COO, Chief Operations Officer (COO), Operations, Business Planning, Equity Research, Equity Research Analysis, Term Sheet Advisory, Valuation

Consultant

2017 - 2019
RSM International
  • Completed a consulting mandate for an educational service provider, looking into internal control processes to determine the efficiency of budgetary reporting systems. Developed action reports mandating performance against future KPIs.
  • Concluded an in-depth analysis of the historical financial performance, critiquing management budgetary forecasts against actual performance to assess business unit profitability and the accuracy of reporting frameworks and controls.
  • Handled a risk management consulting project for one of the UK's most prominent museums. The project focused on assessing physical and software controls and reviewing processes against competitors to determine gaps in firewalls.
Focus areas: Management Consulting, Risk Analysis, Accounting, Strategy, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Reporting, Forecasting

Civil Engineer

2010 - 2017
Various Civil Engineering Companies
  • Took part in numerous civil and structural engineering projects in the UK and Australia, managing teams on infrastructure and commercial building projects.
  • Led teams of over 20 elements across construction sites, implementing design and build processes.
  • Contributed to various notable projects, including the Zaha Hadid's Stone Towers in Cairo, the Rabat National Theatre in Rabat, and the Inner West Light Rail Project in Sydney.
Focus areas: Engineering
2015 - 2016

Master's Degree in Finance

Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW) - Sydney, Australia

2007 - 2010

Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering

University of Bath - Bath, United Kingdom

OCTOBER 2021 - PRESENT

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)

CFA Institute

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