Lorrain de Silva, managing director at Best Nights VC, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2026.
Some corporate venture capitalists bring a complex technical background to their work, but Lorrain de Silva, head of the nightlife and culture-focused Best Nights VC, mixes venture capital chops with deep consumer and cultural knowledge.
“I managed to merge my passions outside of work with my work, and the result is that my work is considered fun all the time,” he says.
“I deal with very inspiring people, and the people I meet in my daily life are people I really enjoy hanging out with. Hearing them speak and understanding what they do is very inspiring to me.”
“I was more or less building my own dream job. As soon as it became big enough, I could offer that to the people in my team, who were also looking for an opportunity to merge their own passion with a career in business”
De Silva’s first taste of business came through organising nightlife events, before stints in experiential marketing and then at MTV. He then founded and exited a lifestyle consumer startup before joining KfW, where he began investing in startups, later setting up a venture fund and a funds-of-funds for the German development bank.
Having picked up experience in VC, startups and consulting, de Silva wanted to combine what he had learned with his interests in culture, nightlife and entertainment, which is how he came to set up Best Nights VC for alcoholic beverage producer Mast-Jägermeister. He launched a corporate venture unit with a mandate to fund startups that represent the future of nightlife.
De Silva says the role has helped him develop a global understanding of nightlife and the unique challenges of each market, from Europe and the US to South America and Africa.
He has built a 20-strong portfolio and a six-person team that share his passion for entertainment, lifestyle and consumer trends.
“I was more or less building my own dream job,” he says. “And as soon as it became big enough, I could offer that to the people in my team, who were also looking for an opportunity to merge their own passion with a professional career in business.”
The Emerging Leaders are mid-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Emerging Leaders here.
