James Downing is a Director of Venture Capital Services at Silicon Valley Bank’s UK Branch. With over 15 years of banking experience, James has a strong background in financial services for technology businesses, and has devoted much of his career to the innovation sector.

In his role with Silicon Valley Bank, James is responsible for building relationships with institutional Venture Capital funds across Europe and the US, working with them on their portfolio companies and helping them to access SVB’s global platform. He also explores interesting new markets for the Bank.

Prior to joining SVB, James served as a director at Barclays Bank where he focused on portfolio management and debt origination for businesses in the technology, media and telecommunications sector.

James is a keen cyclist, and spends many weekends whizzing around the English countryside. He's also a regular gym go-er, a keen but very average golfer, and will try his hand at more or less any sport involving a ball or racquet.

James loves to cook and has an unfilled ambition to appear on Masterchef. He also enjoys gaming, learning languages, and travelling to exotic countries. In his remaining spare time, he works as a mentor for start-ups, helping to position them as they look to grow their idea into a business.