Alice Pillar

I graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Modern Languages (French and Russian) and sought out a career where I could put my skills as an interpreter to use. I found the Law, joining US law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where I worked with clients in London and Moscow on complex cross-border M&A transactions and emerging markets public offerings, such as Mail.ru’s IPO on the LSE. I also developed a specialism in data protection and intellectual property and completed an additional qualification at the UCL Institute of Brand & Innovation Law in IP Transactions. Ultimately, I wanted to know my clients from the inside. I joined NYSE-listed Fintech, Investment Technology Group, becoming their European Head of Legal. At ITG, I worked with salespeople, engineers, accountants, and regulators across 5 companies and 3 countries to support every aspect of the business. I held board roles, delivered the global GDPR compliance program, oversaw mergers and integrations, and deployed tools to re-engineer how the legal team interacted with the business. I also sat as an advisory board member at Quorum 15, an industry forum for senior executives in financial services to drive change in global markets. I left ITG to work with a portfolio of early-stage ventures as an outsourced Head of Legal and Operations. That role enabled me to learn directly from founders tackling a wide range of challenges in the ultimate resource-lean environment. At Moonfire, I am responsible for all things Operations and Legal. Moonfire synthesises the themes of technology, data, business-building, community, and communication that I have always chased. I want to be part of building a new kind of VC that innovates in every aspect of its operations to provide maximum value to its community.