David Hayes has been promoted to chief investment officer and managing director (Americas) for BP Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the UK-listed oil major.
Hayes had previously spent a decade at BP Ventures and has worked at the oil major since 2002. His promotion comes after a similar reorganisation elsewhere for BP Ventures over the past year with Ignacio Gimenez becoming MD for Europe and the Middle East after the internal promotion for Akira Kirton and Graham Howes having the same role in Asia from Singapore.
However, the Americas has been the largest portfolio for BP Ventures, which has invested $450m in technology companies across more than 45 entities covering digital transformation, mobility, clean energy technologies, power and carbon management, including clean-cement maker Solida Technologies, which raised $20m, and $30m for Calysta, which transforms natural gas into protein for animal feed.
From the board, Hayes has helped oversee the merger of CBL Markets and Xpansiv to form Xpansiv CBL Holding Group (XCHG), a digital commodities platform. BP co-lead Xpansiv’s series A round in January and partnered with Xpansiv to convert some of its natural gas production data into new products.