George O'Kane Serrano

Bogotá - Bogota, Colombia

Member since July 3, 2017

George is a CFA with 9+ years' combined PE and senior executive experience. He's the current founder and managing director of Alpha IB, a boutique investment bank focused on advisory. Prior to Alpha, he was CFO of an Edtech startup where he raised c. USD $10 million to scale the company regionally and launch a ground-breaking product. George received his bachelor's degree in management and master's degree in finance from UMass Boston.

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Career Highlights

Founder and Managing Partner
Alpha Investment Banking
CFO & Board Member
Aulas Amigas SAS

Education

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute

Case studies

Financial Model of $100 Million USD Startup
- Latam
- Education Technology (Edtech)
- Private Equity
- M&A Modeling
- Financial Modeling
- Exit Strategy
Alternative Investment Portfolio Management
- Private Equity
- Venture Capital
- Latam
- Portfolio Management
- Portfolio Analytics
KPI System
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Latam
- Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
$2 Million Equity Raise for Latam Startup
- Fundraising
- Financial Modeling
- Latam
- Private Equity
- Valuation
$1 Million USD Expansion Strategy
- Financial Modeling
- International Expansion
- Latam
Proprietary Fund Scoring Model
- Private Equity
- Venture Capital
- Due Diligence
- Latam
Portfolio Performance Scenario Analysis
- Performance Analysis
- Scenario Analysis
- Financial Modeling
- Latam

Industry Expertise

Startups
Venture Capital

Other Expertise

Financial Modeling
Fundraising
Latam
Private Equity
Valuation

Employment

Founder and Managing Partner
2018 - PRESENT
Alpha Investment Banking
- Played key leadership roles in the transaction origination process, having successfully originated +25 projects in 11 months of operation.
- Led and ran a deal from beginning to end in different areas such as M&A, budgeting, sale processes, and capital raising.
- Maintained client relations during the deal origination period and building industry-specific or product-specific expertise.
- Led client meetings and pitches; and providing strategic advice and proposals.
- Developed and executed the company’s business strategies aimed at growing revenues by 300% in 2019.
Focus areas: Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Advisory, Budgeting, Spin-Offs, Financial Modeling, Valuation Analysis, Free Cash Flow (FCF), Capital Raising, Debt Structuring, Financial Structuring, Financial Engineering, Financial Management, Capital Structuring
CFO & Board Member
2015 - 2017
Aulas Amigas SAS
- Grew Aulas Amigas sales by over 300% in roughly 3 years as CFO. Aulas Amigas is a fast-growing edtech company focused on providing both software and hardware tools for K-12 LATAM educators.
- Raised approximately $10 million USD through various fundraising rounds and instruments (equity, debt, mezzanine, and convertibles).
- Structured, negotiated and closed local expansion capital to scale Aulas Amigas's business model in Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador and a small pilot in India.
- Developed a budgeting and KPI system which directly contributed to EBITDA margins growing from 14% to 31%.
- Structured and closed a third party financing partnership for a B2C commercial strategy, essentially making channel operations cash flow positive, recurring, and scalable.
Focus areas: Budgeting, Financial Strategy, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Cash Management, Fundraising, Financial Reporting, Investment Monitoring, Accounting Management, Financial Modeling, Cash Flow Forecasting, Budget Forecasting, P&L Forecasting, Corporate Finance
Senior Associate, Andean Market
2014 - 2015
Latin America Alternatives
- Developed and evaluated over 50 different private equity and venture capital investment memoranda across Latin America, and executed on 2 deals worth $10 million USD collectively (closely-held family office private equity vehicle).
- Led Andean market pipeline and screened over 30 investment opportunities.
- Developed a proprietary investment screening methodology for scoring fund-level investments.
- Produced economic-, transaction- and portfolio-level reports for family office investors.
- Supported CIO with portfolio reporting and liquidity management decisions.
Focus areas: Private Equity, Early-stage Venture Capital, Financial Modeling, Investment Memoranda, Due Dilligence, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Private Equity Valuation, Investment Portfolio Management, Portfolio Analysis, Financial Reporting
Associate & Partner
2010 - 2014
BBC Management
- Launched BBC Management (partner and co-founder), a boutique and closely-held asset management and consulting practice with a Latin American geographic focus.
- Developed and evaluated over 80 different private equity and venture capital investment memoranda in Colombia; executed on 3 deals totaling $1 million USD collectively.
- Sourced and created a local pipeline of over 150 growth capital opportunities (taking an industry generalist approach).
- Raised $2 million USD in fund commitments through multiple HNW investors.
- Led multiple market research and consulting projects for a diverse client base (nutrition, biopharma, mining, and retail).
Focus areas: Early-stage Venture Capital, Private Equity, Valuation, Financial Modeling, Due Dilligence, Investment Monitoring, Investment Memoranda, Financial Reporting, Investor Communications, Investor Decks, Market Research, Business Advisory

Education

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in Finance
2013 - 2015
CFA Institute - Remote
Master's degree in Finance
2013 - 2014
University of Massachusetts - Boston, Massachusetts
Bachelor's degree in Business Administration
2006 - 2010
University of Massachusetts - Boston, Massachusetts