Matthew Le Merle

He is an active angel investor and a member of The Band of Angels and Keiretsu ForumKeiretsu Forum.

Le Merle is chairman of the US advisory boards of Shanshan Group and Talkweb, two of China's largest companies and is a board director or advisory board director at private companies, including 1World Online, ApplePie Capital, Concept Art House, Evertold, Holor Media, and PerkvillePerkville. He was formerly Chairman of Telltale Games and a board director of Gap, Gap International and Old Navy internal boards, UK listed company Zattikka and LesConcierges, Mindfuse and Soundwave.

Le Merle was born in Surbiton before moving to Blackheath where he grew up. He attended Brooklands Primary School, Blackheath and Eltham CollegeEltham College. His first job was as a paper delivery boy in South East London. Early summer jobs included soldering printed circuit boards, selling men's suits and mattresses at Harrods of London and working as a silver service waiter across the banqueting halls and five star hotels of London.

From 1992 to 1999 Le Merle was a consultant at AT Kearney a global management consulting firmconsulting firm. Beginning as a founding member of the firm's Financial Institutions Group in New York, he joined the San Francisco office in 1994 where he served as Western U.S. Practice Leader until his departure from the firm in 1999. As consultant Le Merle advised several of the largest companies in the world on issues of strategy, operations, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, alliances and turnarounds.

Between 1999 and 2000 Le Merle was a senior executive at Gap, Inc. with responsibilities that included worldwide strategy, and corporate development for each of Gap, Old Navy and Banana RepublicBanana Republic. He was also SVP Gap Global Marketing.

Matthew Le Merle (born January 18, 1962) is a superangel investor, board director, author, and advisor to leading companies including Alphabet, Google, PayPal, Shanshan and Talkweb. He is managing partner at Fifth Era and Keiretsu CapitalKeiretsu Capital based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The latter is the most active early stage venture investor in the US.

Matthew Le Merle (born January 18, 1962) is a superangel investor, board director, author, and advisor to leading companies including Alphabet, Google, PayPalPayPal, Shanshan and Talkweb. He is managing partner at Fifth Era and Keiretsu Capital based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The latter is the most active early stage venture investor in the US.

Between 2002 and 2006 Le Merle served as a general partner and Monitor venture partner of Monitor Group, a global consulting firm and merchant bank located in San Francisco. He was also a partner at Booz & CompanyBooz & Company between 2009 and 2012.

In 1980 he was made a management trainee at National Westminster Bank. On graduation from Oxford, he was a consultant with McKinsey & Company, Inc. in New York and London. While with McKinsey, he was a member of the Firm's Consumer, Retail, Corporate FinanceCorporate Finance and Salesforce Effectiveness practices.

Since 2006 Le Merle has also been a frequent publisher and speaker on the topic of how prospective Internet regulation may negatively impact innovation and growth in the Digital Economy. He has been invited by the governments of Korea, India, Indonesia, Israel, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, ThailandThailand, Turkey, UAE and USA among others to provide expert input and advice on how to stimulate clusters of innovation and digital economy growth.