Meet the Team
Andy Byrne
CEO, Mashup Ireland
After losing everything in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, Andy went back to basics in 2009: creating value without any starting capital. Over the 15 years that followed and lots of ups and downs along the way, Andy has created Mashup Group, an Irish investment group with total assets of approximately €31m and a loan-to-value ratio of 39.6%.
Highlights along this journey include acquiring Schoolbooks.ie (which has since become the largest retailer of schoolbooks in Ireland), founding Autofulfil (which provides logistics services to over 90 online retailers), assembling a development site in Dublin 8 that has the potential to accommodate a scheme of 338 apartments, acquiring a 78-acre industrial property in the centre of Ireland (that is being developed as Mashup Venture Park to support a wide range of renewables projects including a solar farm, battery farm and the conversion of waste plastic to hydrogen) and completing the acquisition of 86% of Nasdaq-listed Kollect on Demand Holding AB, which has recently been renamed Mashup Ireland.
The common elements to these entrepreneurial projects are that they require talent and capital (and very often huge effort) to convert them from potential opportunities into actual tangible value. In 2018, using some of these projects as the initial slate of opportunities, Andy founded what has since become Mashup Group that is focused on (a) attracting opportunities, (b) attracting talent and capital for each opportunity and (b) managing the ‘mashup’ of the opportunity, talent and capital…to create and enhance value.
Nasdaq-listed Mashup Ireland is a natural extension in Andy’s entrepreneurial journey: if it is possible for a few individuals to create approximately €19m of value with no starting capital whatsoever…then what could be achieved by a Nasdaq-listed group that focuses on the same activity?
An experienced entrepreneur, prior to Mashup, Andy founded an FCA-registered London-based property development group in 2002 which he grew to £75m of assets, £340m of gross development value and 75 employees before getting annihilated in the 2008 credit crunch.
Andy was a Vice President at Merrill Lynch International based in London where he spent 5 years as part of their Global Product Development Group. Prior to that, Andy worked for Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan Chase (summer internships).
He graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1997 with a degree in Management Science and Information Systems Studies. During his career, Andy has been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Investment Advisor (registration number AJB01353) and has qualified as a Trusts & Estates Practitioner and as a Qualified Financial Advisor in Ireland.
Jamie Walsh
CFO, Mashup Ireland
Jamie is a Chartered Accountant and the CFO of Mashup Ireland AB, where he leads Investor Relations, regulatory reporting, supports debt and equity fundraising for the Group, provides financial support for portfolio companies, as well as transactional support for the Company’s investments.
Jamie brings 5 years previous experience as the CFO of a Nasdaq listed company – Kollect, a Mashup Ireland portfolio company – where he remains in charge of all financial matters. Jamie has overseen significant growth at Kollect (trebling revenue within 3 years), led all M&A and fundraising activity across the UK, Ireland and the Nordics, had primary responsibility for Investor Relations as well as setting and reviewing the implementation of financial objectives across the group.
Prior to Mashup and Kollect, Jamie was the Head of Finance for a Private Family Office in Dublin, Ireland where he oversaw investments, provided financial and fundraising support for portfolio companies as well as providing strategic, operational and recruitment advice across the portfolio.
Jamie qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Ernst and Young in Dublin, where he worked with some of Ireland’s biggest technology companies. Jamie has an MSc. International Business and Management, as well as BSc. Economics and Political Science.
David Lyons
Property Advisor to Mashup Ireland
David brings a wealth of knowledge and practical experience obtained over 20 years in private practice attaining the status of equity partner and MD of an International Property Consultancy providing advice to leading property developers, investors and corporates in all aspects of real estate including development advice, asset management including acquisitions and disposals, professional services and property management.
A further 20 years was devoted to running, as MD or CEO, several Property Investment and Development Companies, most recently as CEO, Director and Shareholder of The Derwent Group which was based in the Isle of Man with assets across UK and Ireland (having been headhunted by the Group’s founder, the late Albert Gubay).
Derwent, which was controlled by a charitable trust, comprised a multimillion-pound portfolio which included retail, residential, office, and industrial properties.
A phenomenally successful 6 years saw not only a 75% increase in annual rent and the completion of numerous developments including the first phase of Liverpool Shopping Park, but also major acquisitions including a prestigious office block in central Manchester and a large Logistics unit near Dublin. This unique and in-depth knowledge of real estate and business enables David to provide an exceptional and unique service grounded in actual experience.