Michael Laven

Michael Laven was the Chairman of FRS Global (a Kennet II portfolio company) which was acquired by Wolters Kluwer in September 2010. Most recently he became the CEO of The Currency Cloud, a London based start-up whose mission is to transform the world of cross-border payments.

Michael has had an extensive career in building and leading successful venture-backed software companies in Silicon Valley and London. For seven years he was the COO of Traiana, a financial network company, based in San Francisco and London. Traiana was backed by Sequoia and acquired by ICAP, a UK brokerage, in 2008. He has been the CEO of venture backed companies in London (Iris Financial, KWI) and Silicon Valley (Cohera, Infinity Financial & Coronet).

Michael has also assisted a number of technology companies as a Board member or Advisor including Almonde (Paris), EasySoft (Lisbon) & and Fog City Capital (San Francisco).

In his early career, Michael spent six years in Asia working for the United Nations and aid organizations. He has a B.A. in Anthropology from Wesleyan University, a M.A. in International Affairs from The School for International Training and a M.Ed. from Harvard University.