George O'Kane Serrano
Verified Expert in Finance
Finance Expert
Bogotá - Bogota, Colombia
Toptal member since July 12, 2017
George is a CFA with 10+ 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.
Career Highlights
Education Highlights
Certification Highlights
Case Studies
M&A Deal Transportation
Car Dealership
Six Airport Concession
Seed Stage Fintech
Series A Logistics Marketplace
Chocolate Company - Minority Sale
Retail - Minority Investment
Aquafarming Investment Memo
M&A - Nutricional Supplement Co
Industry Expertise
- Accounting Services
- Education
- Finance
- Venture Capital & Private Equity
- Food & Beverage
- Real Estate
- Retail
- Transportation
Other Expertise
- Early-stage Venture Capital
- Financial Modeling
- Fundraising
- Latin America (LATAM)
- Private Equity
- Startups
- Valuation
Work Experience
Founder and Managing Partner
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.
CFO & Board Member
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.
Senior Associate, Andean Market
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.
Associate & Partner
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).
Education
Master's Degree in Finance
University of Massachusetts - Boston, Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
University of Massachusetts - Boston, Massachusetts
Certifications
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
CFA Institute
Skills
Finance
Debt Raises, Factoring, Revenue & Expense Projections, CFO, DCF Valuation, Growth Equity, Mezzanine, Convertible Debt, Financial Benchmarking, Due Diligence, Three-statement Modeling, M&A Modeling, Investment Memoranda, Financial Modeling, Valuation, Fundraising, Private Equity, Budgeting, Comparable Company Analysis, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Leveraged Buyout Modeling, Consumer Loans, Consumer Lending, Working Capital Management, Market Research, Capital Budgeting, Corporate Finance, Cash Management, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), Structuring of Funds, Financial Reporting, Zero-based Budgeting, Investment Monitoring, Accounting, Cash Flow Forecasting, Forecasting, P&L Forecasting, Investment Return Scenario Analysis, Private Equity Valuation, Investment Portfolio Management, Portfolio Analysis, Business Advisory, Financial Advisory, Valuation Analysis, Free Cash Flow (FCF), Capital Raising, Debt Structuring, Financial Engineering, Financial Management, Capital Structuring, Series A, Specialty Finance, M&A (Buy-side), Project Finance
Output Software
Excel 2010, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Consumer Finance, Venture Capital, Logistics, Education Technology (Edtech), Technology, Transportation & Shipping, Food Production, Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate, Consumer Products, Retail & Wholesale, Airport Transportation, Food
Geographic Expertise
Latin America (LATAM), Colombia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, United States, Ecuador, Argentina, Costa Rica
Data & Analysis Software
Bloomberg
Other
Investment Banking, Pitch Decks, Interim CFO, Cash Flow Management, Entrepreneurship, Scenario Analysis, Precedent Transaction Analysis, Relative Valuation, Investment Committee Advisory, Business Planning, Startups, Communication, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Finance Director, Fintech, Transaction Comparables, Early-stage Venture Capital, eCommerce, Supply Chain, SaaS, Marketplaces, Business Plan Consulting, Finance, Leveraged Finance, SME/SMB Financing, Microsoft Power BI, Training & Training Content Development, Pitch Books, Pricing Models, Training, Capital Allocation, Portfolio Analytics, Writing & Editing, Board Presentations, Last Mile of Finance (LMOF), Automated Retail, Market Research & Analysis, Strategy, Management, Budget Management, Investor Relations, Investor Presentations, Structuring, Company Building, Infrastructure, Presentations, Investment Analysis, Project Management
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