Pollen Street Capital - Leading Innovation in Financial Services

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Private Equity

We back leaders

Private Credit

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Our Team

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About

We partner with and support inspirational leadership teams.

We are human and bring our expertise and knowledge to bear.

We care about the businesses and teams we invest with.

News & insights

News

Pollen Street Capital announces $100 million senior secured credit facility to CredibleX

15 Sep 2025
News

Aryza acquires Bravure

4 Sep 2025
News

Shawbrook agrees to acquire ThinCats

2 Sep 2025
News

Pollen Street agrees acquisition of Leonard Curtis

21 Aug 2025

All news and insights

Our opportunity

We seek to back inspirational leadership teams who have the passion and discipline to drive strong sustainable growth.

Private Equity

We are dedicated to buying and building great businesses serving the financial services ecosystem.

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Private Credit

We provide the funding behind the everyday credit that powers our economy and society.

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Our Values

Who we are is a huge part of how we work. Our values bring Pollen Street together and define how we do things.

We are true specialists, renowned for deep expertise and insight that gives us an edge and drives our success. We set the standard
Open and straightforward in our approach, we are as compassionate as we are committed. We are on your team
We are good at thinking of and doing new and difficult things. Creative and resourceful we work collectively to transform. We think differently
Constantly pushing in pursuit of excellence, we see beyond boundaries. Driving growth and innovation to have a real impact. We exist to empower
We have a passion for progress. We push hard together to exceed expectations. We strive for more

Our Team

Our team of talented, collaborative and committed professionals.

Meet the team

Independent Non Executive Director

James T. Gillies

Independent Non Executive Director

James T. Gillies

James T. Gillies, CFA, CAIA joined the Pollen Street board in June 2025. James is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of EverStory Partners, serving on the Audit, and Trust and Investment Committees, he is also currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Blue Owl Alternative Credit Fund, and a member of the Audit and Nominating and Governance Committees.

James retired from Wafra Inc. in 2021 as a Senior Managing Director after a 17 year career focused on all aspects of alternative investments including liquid alternatives, private equity, alternative real estate, real assets, credit, minority GP stakes, and seeding of alternative asset managers. While there he led dozens of investments and was a member of the investment committee, deeply involved with recruiting, compensation, and the annual review process, worked closely with Wafra’s non-investment departments and sat on the firm’s technology committee.

Starting in his first year at Wafra, James took an active role in Wafra’s rotational training program for recent college graduates. He sat on the Board of Jiko bank, was a Board Observer for Hamilton State bank, and was on the LPAC for funds managed by Stone Point, Towerbrook, Strategic Value Partners, Atalaya, and Henderson Park among others.

Prior to Wafra, James co-founded the largest database of hedge funds in 1997 and sold the business in 2000, remaining with the rebranded Channel Capital Group until he joined Wafra. At Channel, he held the Series 7, 63 and 24 FINRA licenses.

James graduated cum laude from Hamilton College with a degree in English and a minor in economics, holds the CAIA designation and is a CFA charterholder.

Group Financial Controller

Paul Valentine

Group Financial Controller

Paul Valentine

Paul joined Pollen Street in July 2024. He has held various roles within financial services including ANZ Banking Group, LendInvest and AnaCap Financial Partners. Prior to joining Pollen Street, Paul worked at Veld Capital, a private credit and real estate investment manager, where he was the Head of Corporate Finance following the carve-out from AnaCap Financial Partners.

Paul is a Chartered Accountant (ACA) and graduated from the University of Kent with a first-class degree in Accounting and Finance.

Investment Director

James Bailey

Investment Director

James Bailey

James joined Pollen Street in 2018 as part of the Investment Team bringing with him extensive experience in both private equity and investment banking. As well as financial services, he has been active across a number of sectors including TMT, business services and healthcare. Prior to joining the team, James spent four years at Evercore in the financial services M&A practice. Prior to that, he was at Edmond de Rothschild and began his career at Rothschild & Co. James holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.

Investment Director

Connor Marshall-Mckie

Investment Director

Connor Marshall-Mckie

Connor joined Pollen Street in 2018 as part of the Investment Team. Prior to joining Pollen Street, Connor worked at Bluestone Capital Management in both the UK & Australia. During his time at Bluestone, Connor was focused on purchasing performing & non-performing loan portfolios and the securitisation of Bluestone originated loan portfolios. Connor is a CFA Charterholder.

Investment Director

Jonathan Guest

Investment Director

Jonathan Guest

Prior to joining Pollen Street in 2018, Jonathan spent 7 years working at mid-market private equity firm Vision Capital, where he gained experience across a range of sectors including financial services, retail and industrial. He started his career at Ernst & Young and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2008, before moving to Nomura in the UK Financial Institutions Group investment banking team. Jonathan holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Warwick.

Partner

Anastasia Kovaleva

Partner

Anastasia Kovaleva

Anastasia joined the team at Pollen Street in 2016 with considerable experience in consulting and investment banking. As well as financial services, she has been active across a number of sectors including technology, business services, and consumer. Anastasia previously spent two years at Bain & Company focusing on strategy and private equity projects across a range of industries. Prior to that, she qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst and as a Chartered Accountant with PwC and spent four years in their Corporate Finance Department focusing on mid-market transactions. Anastasia holds a BA in Business from Simon Fraser University in Canada, and an MBA with Honours from IMD in Switzerland.

Operations Analyst

Tom Fitzpatrick

Operations Analyst

Tom Fitzpatrick

Tom joined Pollen Street in February 2022. Tom graduated from the University of Manchester with a BSc in Mathematics with Finance, during which he spent a year in the Energy Statistics team at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy where he was responsible for analysing domestic energy prices.

Office Administrator

Norbert Toth

Office Administrator

Norbert Toth

Norbert joined Pollen Street in February in 2025. Prior to joining Pollen Street, Norbert worked at Uncommon where he was first point of contact for members, guests, prospective members, agents & visitors, ensuring a great first impression & service.

Managing Partner

Lindsey McMurray

Managing Partner

Lindsey McMurray

Lindsey McMurray founded Pollen Street in 2013, is the Managing Partner as well as Chairman of the Investment Committee, and also serves as a non-executive director on the boards of several portfolio companies. Lindsey has been investing in private equity and credit for over 25 years, with a focus on financial and business services.

Lindsey has built Pollen Street into a fast-growing and high-performing private capital manager that invests aligned with the structural growth trends across financial and business services. Since 2013, the company has grown by delivering top-tier returns and manages over €6bn AUM across private equity and asset-backed credit with investors comprising leading pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, asset managers, banks, and family offices from around the world.

Prior to founding Pollen Street, Lindsey led the team managing the £1.1bn Special Opportunities Fund within Royal Bank of Scotland and spent six years as a Partner at Cabot Square Capital, focusing on investments across Financial Services, real estate and other asset-backed investments.

Lindsey has a First-Class Honours degree in Accounting and Finance and studied for an MPhil in Finance from Strathclyde University.

Outside of work, Lindsey is a keen runner having successfully completed the Marathon Des Sables in 2007 and 2011. She also supports several charities with a particular focus on mentoring children in state schools, including as a long-standing trustee of the charity Future First, supporting climate action initiatives through producing documentary films as well as supporting the speech and language charity, Auditory Verbal UK.

Senior Fund Accountant

Kellie Ferry

Senior Fund Accountant

Kellie Ferry

Kellie joined Pollen Street in November 2021. Prior to joining Pollen Street, Kellie spent one year at IQ EQ where she provided a mix of accounting and administrative services to a global Real Estate client and spent five years at PwC within the audit practice. During this time she specialised in working with a range of private equity, venture capital and real estate clients. Kellie graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BA (Hons) in Finance and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS).

Our latest

Responsible Investing report

Explore highlights of how we are making a difference across our portfolio , our communities and our society.

We are data-driven, with our proprietary scoring framework.

We are building better, more sustainable businesses through an emphasis on strong corporate governance, operational excellence and inclusive cultures.

The report showcases examples from around Pollen Street and our Private Equity and Private Credit portfolio, highlighting how our investments and the work that we do can drive positive change.

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Pollen Street Capital Ltd
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London
W1S 1JJ
+44 203 728 6750 info@pollencap.com
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Austin
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+1 512 703 0950 info@pollencap.com
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About

News & insights

Pollen Street Capital announces $100 million senior secured credit facility to CredibleX

Aryza acquires Bravure

Shawbrook agrees to acquire ThinCats

Pollen Street agrees acquisition of Leonard Curtis

Our opportunity

Private Equity

Private Credit

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