Dr Stephen Allpress

Member since 2014

Steve Allpress is a Bristol-based technology entrepreneur and investor. He started his working life as an engineering apprentice at Racal in Reading and first came to Bristol as a student, graduating from the University of Bristol with a first-class honours degree in Electronic Engineering and subsequently a Ph.D in Communication Theory. Steve then left Bristol to work in the USA for Bell Laboratories and subsequently Broadcom, before returning to the Bristol to co-found his first start-up, Icera, and become its Chief Technical Officer. Icera was eventually sold to NVIDIA and, post-acquisition, he became a Senior Vice President for the newly acquired business. Since leaving NVIDIA he has co-founded and invested in a diverse range of enterprises including autonomous car, augmented reality, edtech and fintech businesses.

He is a Visiting Industrial Professor at the University of Bristol and sits on the advisory board of the Smart Internet Lab. In July 2013, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and he has been a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology since 2003.

Outside of his work endeavours, Steve was a trustee of the Bristol Old Vic theatre for seven years, and he was also chairman of the advisory board at EngineShed, a technology start-up incubator based at Temple Meads. He continues to provide mentorship to early-stage technology startups and advises several venture capital firms.

At SMV, Steve chaired the governing body of the Venturers' Academy, a specialist school for students on the autistic spectrum, and oversaw its growth from 24 to over 240 pupils, spread across 3 sites until 2022. He also sat on the property and estates committee for Venturers Trust, advising the trust on IT issues until the trust merged with E-ACT. He is currently chair of the SMV's Finance and Investment committee and vice-chair of the Investment Strategy Group.