Barbara Iyayi is the Founder & Managing Partner of Unicorn Growth Capital, an early-stage FinTech & Blockchain VC fund that invests in the future of finance. The fund backs global founders leading category-defining companies and building next-generation financial infrastructure fit for fast-growing markets in Africa and emerging markets. Barbara is an experienced investor and entrepreneur with over 17 years’ experience, spanning venture capital, private equity, investment banking/M&A and technology. Barbara has invested in, founded and operated FinTech, blockchain, AI and financial services companies globally. She is an IC member of Verda Ventures, a growth stage Web3 VC fund. Previously, she served as the Chief Growth Officer of Element, Inc, an AI-powered digital identity company, operating in the US, Africa and SE Asia, and co-founded by Yann LeCun, Chief AI Scientist at Meta. Prior to that, she launched Atlas Mara, a LSE-listed financial services investment platform from start to over $3bn of assets, co-founded by Bob Diamond, ex-CEO of Barclays. Barbara also served on the board of the Web Foundation, a non-profit co-founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. She was a Vice President in Investment Banking at JPMorgan, and UBS Investment Bank in New York.
