About
Making the companies
whose products we depend
on everyday more resilient
ChAI believes raw materials are some of the most valuable assets for humanity.
The complex value chain that goes from extraction and production to the use of commodities can be affected by thousands of factors.
We work hard to help understand these key factors, and by consequence raw material prices, to make the organisations we work with more resilient and the world a better place.
The ChAI team is a powerhouse of dedicated academics, commodity experts & AI technologists.
With over 25 years of working on Artificial Intelligence, the ChAI team has developed powerful and proprietary tools that compute in real-time, hundreds of sources of information, to provide unbiased and accurate insights as well as price predictions about specific commodities.
The Team
Tristan Fletcher
CEO & Co-Founder
BioStarting out as a manufacturing / FMCG supply chain consultant after receiving an MEng in Manufacturing at Cambridge University, Tristan’s interest in the world of commodities and physical supply chains was born. He then pursued an MSc in Computer Science and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, focusing on commodity pricing. This was followed by a research fellowship at Imperial College – looking at how to apply AI to “noisy” data sets. Prior to founding ChAI, Tristan worked as an algorithmic trader at hedge fund Aspect Capital and investment bank UBS as well as leadership roles in several start ups.
Tristan loves bringing theoretical, state-of-the-art academic research to life in the real world, and ChAI is the perfect expression of that motivation.
Marcus Dixon
COO & Co-Founder
BioWith a BA in Business Management & Marketing from Bristol West of England University and an Executive MBA, Marcus has a black belt in management of global sales pipelines and technology partnerships. Prior to co-founding ChAI, he was responsible for product strategy, customer relationship and taking AI solutions to market in performance critical industries at InformedActions and Grove Group.
Marcus brings his enthusiasm in structure, connecting people and ensuring customer satisfaction with the service provided.
Michael Button
Co-Founder & CTO
BioArmed with an MSc in Computer Science from UCL, Michael has spent much of his career as a software architect and software developer – building mission-critical trading and financial services software. Prior to co-founding ChAI, he was Lead Developer at commodities-focused hedge fund Aspect Capital and consultant CTO at IoT-tech startup InformedActions.
At ChAI, he endeavours to use agile development processes to get great code in production as rapidly as possible, where it can be used to turn ChAI’s cutting-edge IP into effective business decisions for our clients.
Steve Butler
Co-Founder & Markets Director
BioStephen is ChAI’s resident commodities trading guru, having dedicated +20 years to trading multiple commodity types on every exchange in the world. In particular, prior to co-founding ChAI, he spent 12 years as Head of Commodities Trading at commodities-focused hedge fund Aspect Capital.
At ChAI, he looks to use this experience to help prospects more closely define their hedging requirements, and works in conjunction with the quant team to provide real world solutions for our clients.
Adam Knight
Advisor
BioAdam Knight is a co-founder of Social and Sustainable Capital, Chairman of Coinfloor, trustee at Drug Science and an active investor in the London finance and technology sectors. Adam started his career at Goldman Sachs and progressed to be the Managing Director and Global Head of Base and Precious Metals. He moved to the Credit Suisse-Glencore Global Commodity Alliance in 2007 where he ran the business and was a member of the Credit Suisse Global Fixed Income Operating Committee until January 2011.
Alan Hill
Advisor
Bio25+ years’ experience in Procurement and Supply Chain management predominately within the FMCG industry.
Held senior Procurement and Supply Chain roles with Coca-Cola Hellenic, Danske Bank and the SHS Group.
Focused on developing confident teams, supporting professional development and driving innovative strategies to shape & lead organisational change.
Andrew Patterson
Advisor
BioPreviously experienced and driven Commodities professional specialising in Metals for 24 years – Andrew has done metals trading and sales for leading firms such as Soc Gen International, Newedge and Barclays Capital. He's built and led market-leading teams, overseeing complex and varied client bases with aggressive targets, and was also awarded the 2013 Financial News/Dower Jones Rising Stars Top 40 Under 40 in Trading and Technology.
Brian Kearns
Advisor
BioBrian is a seed investor in Chai, having previously collaborated with Tristan on other machine learning projects. Brian has an extensive background of 30+ years in banking and financial services, having held senior management positions at a range of investment banks across corporate finance, capital markets and fixed income sales. He also has several years' experience on the buy-side, across public markets and in early stage and development capital. Brian has been a seed or early stage investor in Funding Circle, Import.io and T360 Degrees.
Edward Fuchs
Advisor
BioWith over 30yrs experience in the FMCG companies, Ed has led and shaped strategies to reduce commodity price risk for multi-national companies‘ board of director as their Chief Procurement Officer.
Leading these transformations within household name business’s, such as McVities, Ed instils a more efficient and sustainable way of dealing with commodity price and its risk to business bottom line performance.
Now as an entrepreneur Ed develops businesses shaping technology-based products that make a sustainable impact for the food and biotechnology markets.
Lisa Mandell
Advisor
BioSilvi previously held positions at Techlightenment a social media marketing and technology business where she shaped their marketing and sales functions which led to a successful exit to Experian plc in 2014. More recently she was a founding member of VC-backed content production company Quill Content, a global leader of e-commerce content production.
Silvi Wompa Sinclair
Advisor
BioSilvi is Group Head of Portfolio Underwriting at Swiss Re. With an MSc in Business and Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics, Silvi started her career as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company. Ready to discover the real world beyond slide decks, she went on to build an international executive career in the insurance industry across Life & Pension, Property & Casualty, broking and the Lloyd’s Market.
