Sean
O'Connor
Sean is Co-Founder and executive board director at Zilch, and a highly experienced serial entrepreneur, who has a 20-year+ track record of both investing and operating companies across technology, real estate, energy markets, and financial services.
Sean brings a broad base of multi sector expertise in corporate and capital markets strategy, which alongside his execution capability has been a key contributor to the success of Zilch, the UK’s fastest growing $1bn+ fintech as published in the Financial Times and The Sunday Times.
He started his entrepreneurial career in real estate, co-founding Launchpad Homes a UK first private rent to buy product, as well accumulating a personal portfolio of 40+ properties by his mid-twenties. Sean then went on to build out his diverse portfolio of interests and is a former winner of the prestigious EY Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Clean Energy business he founded and took to c.$100m in annual revenue within four years. He was also formerly Yorkshire Young Entrepreneur of the Year and since Co-Founding Zilch it has earned over 30+ major industry accolades including UK Financial Institution of the Year and UBS UK Growth Company.
He is the founder of OCVC.com, his investor operator vehicle, through which he has co-founded and grown several technology businesses.
Sean actively engages with senior government, both directly and through the Unicorn Council, to align on key policies that enhance investor perception and unlock liquidity in capital markets, strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in financial innovation. The Unicorn Council for UK Fintech (UCFT) was co-founded by Zilch and is a market-first coalition, in collaboration with Innovate Finance, of more than 25 of the UK’s most valuable, high-growth fintech companies, collectively valued at over $100bn.
Sean graduated with a 1st Class Honours in Sports Management from Northumbria University, has attended Stanford University GSB and has studied Private Equity and Venture Capital at Harvard University.