Jeremy Coller

Jeremy Coller (born 17 May 1958) is a British businessman and philanthropist.

He is the founder, chief investment officer and chairman of Coller Capital.

He is chairman of the Jeremy Coller Foundation, his vehicle for philanthropic activities.

He is deputy chair of Tel Aviv University and an advisory board member of the university's Coller School of Management.

He is a member of the Advisory Council of The Elders, the international peace and human rights NGO founded by Nelson Mandela.

Coller was born in London on 17 May 1958.

He attended Carmel College and holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Sussex and a BSc (Hons) in management sciences from Manchester University School of Management.

He took the Diplome Cours de Civilisation at the Sorbonne in Paris.

In 1990, he started the first European private equity secondaries fund.

Since then, Coller Capital has become a globally recognised leader in the private equity secondaries market and Coller is recognised for leading the industrialisation of private equity secondaries.

His notable acquisitions include technology incubators formerly owned by BT, Lucent Bell Labs and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.

He is Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner of Coller Capital, which has completed some of the largest transactions in the private equity secondary market.

[citation needed] The firm employs over 220 people, and is headquartered in London, with additional offices in New York City, Hong Kong and Korea.

In January 2021, the firm closed Coller International Partners VIII, with committed capital (including co-investment vehicles) of just over $9 billion and backing from over 200 of the world's leading institutional investors.

In February 2022 the firm closed Coller Credit Opportunities I, with committed capital (including co-investment vehicles) of c.$1.4 billion and backing from over 30 institutional investors.

The Jeremy Coller Foundation is a strategic grant-making organisation, focused on two primary programme areas: ending factory farming and improving venture and management education.

The Coller Institute of Private Equity at London Business School (2008–2016) sprang from a significant donation to London Business School by the Jeremy Coller Foundation in 2008.

The Institute focused on private equity education and research.

The institute also published Private Equity Findings, a digest of international private equity-related research.

(This publication is now published directly by Coller Capital.)

After building a career in private equity, Coller was awarded an honorary fellowship by London Business School in 2011 and in 2013, received an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University.

Coller's early career was spent as head of equity research at Fidelity International.

He then joined ICI Pension Plan as a sector fund manager, before becoming a venture and buyout manager.

In this role, Coller pioneered the purchase of secondary positions in private equity and became the first investor in VCFA.

The Foundation also funds and supports the work of The Elders, where Coller has been a member of the Advisory Council since 2012.

The Coller Institute of Venture was established at Tel Aviv University in 2013, with the goal to advance the venture ecosystem globally.

The Institute pursues three objectives:

The Institute produces the Coller Venture Review (previously known as Venture Findings) – a publication aimed at deepening understanding of innovation and the venture ecosystem.

Launched by the Jeremy Coller Foundation in 2015, FAIRR believes that intensive animal agriculture and protein production poses material risks to the global financial system and hinders sustainable development.

Its goal is to build a global network of investors who are focused and engaged on the risks and opportunities linked to animal factory farming.

As of October 2023, FAIRR's membership and wider supporting network comprises institutional investors managing over $70 trillion in combined assets.

FAIRR also runs collaborative investor engagements with global food companies to improve performance on selected ESG issues in the sector.

The Foundation is supporting activities to address the human health consequences of factory farming, with a focus on antibiotic resistance.

The Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University was established in 2016, following a major donation from the Jeremy Coller Foundation.

The donation renamed, and boosted the capacities of, Israel's leading business school.

The Jeremy Coller Foundation funds the School to recruit new faculty, expand its research, and diversify and internationalise its student body.

In 2019 the Sunday Times Rich List gave Coller's net worth to be £320 million.

The School hosts the Coller Startup Competition, a $100,000 prize awarded annually to startups focused on food, specifically on replacing animals in the human food supply chain. The 2019 winner was Solutum Ltd, which develops water-soluble plastic-like bags.

The Jeremy Coller Foundation looks at the consequences of factory farming for global sustainability.

FAIRR is a collaborative investor network that raises awareness of the material ESG risks and opportunities caused by intensive animal agriculture.