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George O'Kane Serrano

George O'Kane Serrano

Bogotá - Bogota, Colombia
Member since July 3, 2017
George is a CFA with 9+ years' combined PE, VC, IB, 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 USD $10 million to scale the company regionally and launch a ground-breaking product. George received his bachelor's degree in management and a master's degree in finance from UMass Boston.
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Career Highlights
Education
Select Certifications
Industry Expertise
Other Expertise
Employment
  • Founder and Managing Partner
    2018 - PRESENT
    Alpha Investment Banking
    • Served key leadership roles in the transaction origination process, having successfully originated 25+ projects in 18 months of operation.
    • Led and closed both buy-side and sell-side mandates across the region.
    • Maintained client relations during the deal origination period and building industry-specific or product-specific expertise.
    • Served clients in industries such as logistics, tech (marketplaces, SaaS, and eCommerce), fintech, edTech, food, specialty finance, retail, petcare, biotech, and commodity-related industries.
    • Developed and executed the company’s business strategies aimed at growing revenues by 300% in 2019.
    • Executed on key responsibilities including financial modeling, market materials, market research, fundraising, and overall client delivery.
    Focus areas: Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Financial Advisory, Budgeting, Financial Modeling, Valuation Analysis, Free Cash Flow (FCF), Capital Raising, Debt Structuring, Financial Structuring, Financial Engineering, Financial Management, Capital Structuring, Fundraising, Market Research, Corporate Finance
  • 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, 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
  • 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
Certifications
  • Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
    JULY 2015 - PRESENT
    CFA Institute

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