This week’s London appointments: Featuring Raffles London, Muse Finance and Highland Europe

This week’s round-up of London appointments includes Raffles London, Muse Finance and Highland Europe. Read on to find out more…

Vincenzo Arnese, Raffles London

Raffles London at The OWO has announced the appointment of Vincenzo Arnese as director of wine. He will be responsible for developing the wine programme and training across all restaurants and bars at Raffles London as well as the offering for In-Room Dining and events spaces.

Vincenzo brings with him over two decades of experience in the hospitality industry working at hotels and restaurants in Switzerland, Australia and the UK. At The OWO Vincenzo will draw upon his “deep knowledge and experience to showcase bottles from the most acclaimed and innovative names from around the wine world”.

Originally from Naples, Vincenzo developed a keen interest in wine from a young age when his grandfather first introduced him to his family’s wine. Starting his career at three Michelin-starred The Waterside Inn, Bray, he then moved to Melbourne, where he worked at Vue de Monde, one of Australia’s top restaurants at the time.

In 2013, he returned to London, taking the position of Head Sommelier at Dinner by Heston Blumental. He was subsequently appointed Head Sommelier at the world-renowned three Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester. Vincenzo’s experience and expertise have been widely recognised.

Vincenzo commented: “I am keen to share my passion and knowledge with the talented team here and am confident that Raffles London will soon become one of the premier wine drinking destinations in the capital.”

Mark Hastings, director of F&B at Raffles London, added: “Vincenzo’s leading experience as one of the UK’s top sommeliers will be vital in developing a range of wine experiences at the hotel, including overseeing the list for Mauro Colagreco’s three restaurants as well as at our signature bars and event spaces in Raffles London at The OWO.”

Julie Ashmore, Muse Finance

Muse Finance, a working capital business finance provider, has announced the appointment of Julie Ashmore as COO, to help achieve its ambition to reach 30,000 customers and provide £1.5bn of SME financing in the next three years.

With over three decades of experience in fintech, Julie was previously CEO of NatWest Rapid Cash, where she led a 50-strong team which grew the client base more than 700x in just over two years.

Whilst at the helm, Julie developed the leading digital working capital product at NatWest to include digitising the full end-to-end process, making working capital easy for clients to access as well as operationally efficient for the bank.

Spearheading the company’s sales, operations, user experience and risk functions, Julie’s appointment comes as Muse Finance continues to grow rapidly, having just launched BNPL for businesses as part of its Working Capital suite of embedded finance products and services.

Julie said: “I’m thrilled to join the innovative team at Muse Finance at this exciting stage. I am looking forward to continuing to support small and medium sized businesses in an industry I am so passionate about. I truly believe that Ann and the team at Muse are those people who will make a huge difference in this industry and I am proud to be joining them. “

Ann Juliano, founder and CEO of Muse Finance, added: “As we have seen from her many successes, Julie knows how to execute and deliver a tech platform that benefits the client without jeopardising risk. It is very rare to find someone like Julie that has the combination of skill, experience and technical know-how.”

Abhishek Lahoti, Highland Europe

Highland Europe, the growth investor that has backed companies including ContentSquare, Featurespace and GetYourGuide is establishing a Platform function that will support its outstanding founder-led teams as they grow internationally.

Abhishek Lahoti, who has over 15 years of operational experience in the US and Europe, will lead the new function as head of platform at the London and Geneva based fund. Highland Europe wants to ensure founding teams have access to world-class support, expertise and resources as they build category-defining businesses.

In setting up the Platform function, Abhishek will create a network of C-suite advisors to Highland companies who will assist founders with key areas including hiring, business development, marketing and scaling.

Abhishek spent his time in San Francisco focused on scaling businesses with Enterprise clients before moving to Europe in 2017 to lead Business Development in the region for Dropbox, having been excited by the fast-emerging European tech sector.

The Northwestern University graduate then joined US firm Sapphire Ventures as VP of Business Development & Head of the International Centre of Excellence.

Abhishek commented: “I’m excited to be setting up Highland Europe’s Platform function and working closely with the brilliant and talented founding teams in our portfolio. Right now, Europe continues to push the frontiers of tech development and I look forward to helping Highland Europe’s portfolio companies to scale their businesses and enter new markets.”

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By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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