Former Tesco Chief Joins Tech Investment Firm Court Cavendish

LEATHERHEAD, England, Jan. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Court Cavendish, the global technology investor and former leading UK health and social care turnaround specialist, has today announced the appointment of Laurie McIlwee as a Special Advisor. As part of the role, McIlwee, who spent 14 years at Tesco including as Chief Financial Officer, becomes Chairman of Red Rickshaw, the UK's largest online Asian grocer and World Food recipe box provider.

Since 2017, Court Cavendish has primarily focused on investing in fast growing technology-based, social good and social trend businesses at various stages of development, from absolute start-ups to pre-IPO raises.

Court Cavendish's interests span the ecommerce, financial technology, health technology and environmental technology sectors, with more than 20 investments currently under management.

Court Cavendish first backed Red Rickshaw in 2017 and has supported the company to rapidly expand its consumer, wholesale and hospitality offering, and launch a recipe box subscription service, Feast Box.

As Chairman, McIlwee will support Red Rickshaw to continue developing its proprietary technology, which uses data to optimise customer acquisition and retention, right through to procurement and supply chain management, to enable rapid scaling domestically and internationally.

Dr Chai Patel FRCP CBE, Founder and Chairman of Court Cavendish, said:

"Laurie's global corporate experiences and track record in supply chain logistics and operational scaling is unrivalled, meaning Court Cavendish can provide greater strategic expertise and mentorship to a more diverse range of organisations.

"This appointment, the first of several new Special Advisory roles, marks a new era for Court Cavendish that will supercharge how we support the companies we invest in to develop, grow and ultimately succeed in delivering innovative technology-based solutions."

Laurie McIlwee, Special Advisor, Court Cavendish and Chair, Red Rickshaw and Feast Box said:

"Having spent my career at some of the biggest names in food manufacturing and retailing, I was drawn to this unique and exciting opportunity to work alongside an entrepreneur of Chai's calibre to advise such a broad range of companies.

"Leading the Board of Red Rickshaw means I can return to the UK grocery market with the opportunity to support an excellent management team to further develop their priority automated customer acquisition and supply-chain technology, which is at the forefront of how ecommerce and grocery retailing will evolve and develop over the coming years."

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