Ben Clark is a Southampton alumnus and became Future Worlds Director in 2019 having previously worked with University founders as a mentor in the network for two years. Ben draws on over 20 years of leadership experience in startups. He was part of the leadership team of HIPPO in the early 2000s, raising over £12 million in equity investment and driving growth from startup to national waste management business. Following several years working with startups, a venture capital fund, and commercial development within marginalised communities in East Africa, Ben returned to the UK, bootstrapping the multi-million ARR growth of enterprise SaaS startup iPresent as Chief Operating Officer before taking portfolio positions with Southampton startups including Snowflake Software and University of Southampton spinouts Symetrica and Aquark Technologies.