About us

Steve Brierley founded Riverlane in 2016 to build the error correction stack for quantum computers. Driven by his conviction that fault-tolerant quantum computers will accelerate human progress, Riverlane partners with leading quantum hardware companies to make that happen sooner.

Steve has worked in quantum for over 20 years and is an expert advisor to the UK government. He holds a PhD in quantum information, spent a decade in the intelligence community and worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge leading major research projects in quantum computing. In January 2024, Steve was awarded an OBE for his services to quantum computing.

John is a strategic CFO with 20+ years of experience building operational functions in high-growth, venture-backed businesses, raising over $1bn in capital, and scaling teams across multiple geographies and sectors, including deep tech, cleantech, and SaaS.

He joins as quantum error correction (QEC) moves from scientific challenge to engineering reality, and as Riverlane's technology is being adopted by leading quantum computing companies and national labs across the UK, US, and Europe.

Libby has nearly two decades experience working in tech - spanning a number of industries including national security and defence, climate and ad tech.

Libby gained her MPhil in American Literature in Cambridge in 2004, spending most of her time directing theatre at the ADC. From there she moved to London and worked as a theatre director and documentary maker for a while before shifting into corporate life - with her first role building out a European network of post production facilities. Gradually Libby transitioned from the media side into technology, where she enjoyed the challenge of helping businesses scale their offering.

Notably, Libby led on building Improbable Defence, evolving their product and growth strategy culminating in a £200m UK Gov contract to build out operational decision support for Strategic Command. That time saw the business grow from 40 heads to nearly 400 across the UK and US. More recently Libby has supported Supercritical, a climate tech, secure one of the biggest carbon removal contracts ever to be bought in that space to Microsoft.

Libby is passionate about how technology can address some of the mission critical problems we face - climate change, global security, healthcare development - and loves the challenge of scaling teams, cultures and strategies when you’re both building the plane and flying it at the same time.

Barry Davis is an accomplished business and technology leader with more than 30 years of experience advancing silicon, software, and systems for data center and HPC/AI markets. His career spans the rise of Wi-Fi to today’s cutting-edge HPC and AI clusters, including pioneering full-stack HPC infrastructure and fabric technologies.

In executive roles at Intel Corporation and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Barry brought transformative technologies to market, including the Intel Omni-Path Architecture, high-performance Ethernet NICs and switches, and many-core CPUs for HPC and AI workloads.

Barry is a founding member of the Ultra Ethernet and UALink consortia. He holds 11 U.S. and two international patents, has earned numerous industry accolades, and holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University.

Amelia is a Principal in the Early Stage Fund at Amadeus Capital Partners with an investment focus of autonomous systems, AI and machine learning, cloud computing, digital health and medical technology.

As well as sitting on the board of Riverlane she is Director at other technology companies including Paragraf, delivering the capabilities of graphene to the real world; Immense Simulations, an intelligent mobility enabling software company and SLAMcore, a spin-out from Imperial College, developing spatial intelligence for autonomous robotics and drones.

Amelia holds a BSc in Chemistry and Biology from Durham University and is a mentor on the Judge Business School's Accelerate Programme.

Stuart was a Director of 3i Ventures in London before he co-founded Molten Ventures. He has over 25 years of venture capital experience in Europe and the US - including founding 3i US in Menlo Park, CA. Stuart was responsible for Molten's investments in Lagan Technology (sold to Verint), Redkite (sold to Nice) and Kiadis (sold to Sanofi). Stuart serves as a director with Netronome, Aircall, Resolver, Realeyes, Riverlane and Conversocial; and as observer with Graphcore and Crate.

Before 3i, Stuart was involved in software and systems implementations for Midland Bank. He is a graduate of Loughborough University and currently serves on the Strategic Advisory Board for the Loughborough School of Business.

In 2015 Hermann was awarded an KBE for services to Engineering and Industry.

Serial Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, Dr Hermann Hauser KBE has wide experience in developing and financing companies in the information technology sector. He co-founded a number of high-tech companies including Acorn Computers which spun out ARM, E-trade UK, Virata and Cambridge Network. Subsequently Hermann became vice president of research at Olivetti. During his tenure at Olivetti, he established a global network of research laboratories. Since leaving Olivetti, Hermann has founded over 20 technology companies. In 1997, he co-founded Amadeus Capital Partners. At Amadeus he invested in CSR, Solexa, Icera, Xmos and Cambridge Broadband.

Hermann is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry and of the Royal Academy of Engineering, as well as an Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. In 2001 he was awarded an Honorary CBE for 'innovative service to the UK enterprise sector'. In 2004 he was made a member of the Government's Council for Science and Technology and in 2013 he was made a Distinguished Fellow of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

Hermann has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Loughborough, Bath, Anglia Ruskin, Strathclyde, Glasgow and York.

Andrew Williamson is the Managing Partner and specialises in technology investments. He has hands on experience of building technology businesses, coupled with a venture investing background and an understanding of Cambridge and its academic institutes.

Prior to joining CIC, he was at True North Venture Partners in Chicago where he was a partner in its $300 million venture fund. Before this Andrew spent ten years leading materials science and semiconductor research in US government research laboratories, followed by managing director positions at venture capital funds Physic Ventures in San Francisco and MalibuIQ in Los Angeles.

Andrew studied at the University of Cambridge as both an undergraduate and a graduate, receiving an MA in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Physics. He also holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Andrew manages CIC's investments in Audio Analytic, AudioTelligence, Imagen, Origami Energy, PervasID, PragmatIC, Prowler.io, Riverlane, Swim.ai and Undo.

Andreas is responsible for growth acceleration and fundraising at Riverlane. He is an investor and advisor with experience across the entire company life cycle. Andreas serves on the Board of several private and public companies. He has 12+ years' experience in R&D, business development, IP management, and product definition in segments such as IoT, robotics, cloud, AI/machine learning and cybersecurity. Andreas holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands.