Before coming into corporate venturing, Jan Harley had a unique and powerful insight into the needs of Unilever, which has allowed him to make the right picks for the company over his 13-year career inside its venturing unit, Unilever Ventures.
Trained as an electrical engineer at Cambridge University, Harley moved quickly away from engineering and into sales when he joined Unilever after graduating in 1988. Harley went through a number of brand manager positions during his time in sales and marketing. Most notably, he was European marketing manager for Unilever’s detergent brand Persil before making his move into venturing in 2002.
As principal at Unilever Ventures, he was part of the team that helped established the unit. Now a director at the corporate venturer, Harley is based in the venturing unit’s London office and leads on European investments into digital marketing, media, consumer insight, and e-commerce.
Harley has worked on a number of deals for Unilever Ventures over the years, and sits on five of its portfolio companies’ boards. Notably, Harley has been an avid supporter of Ireland-based mobile marketing firm Brandtone, leading Unilever’s support in a venture round in 2011 worth €10m ($10.6m) and subsequent C and D rounds, held in 2014 and 2015, and worth €14m and €18.5m, respectively. Harley has also seen companies successfully exit under his watch, such as market research agency Brainjuicer, which he backed in 2003. The company would go on to hold its IPO in 2006.