18 Facts About Derek Handley

Derek Handley was born on 1978 and is a New Zealand entrepreneur, speaker, and author who was born in Hong Kong.

Derek Handley is the founder and managing partner of Aera VC, and founder of Wiser Conversations, "a series of virtual conversations designed to help us reflect and respond to our new surreality", created as a response to the pandemic.

Derek Handley was born in Hong Kong, and grew up in New Zealand.

Derek Handley attended Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University, and undertook the MIT Sloan School of Management executive program.

At 22, Derek Handley founded a global online sports-betting business called Feverpitch which fizzled out, he listed on the venture-style New Capital Market of New Zealand Stock Exchange, He subsequently led a merger of several companies in the New Zealand childcare sector and formed Kidicorp Group Limited, which backed into Feverpitch.

In 2013, Derek Handley was named an adjunct executive professor for Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.

Derek Handley co-founded the global mobile technology and media company The Hyperfactory in 2001, prior to the proliferation of internet-enabled mobile handsets.

Derek Handley was later placed into voluntary administration due to financial difficulty in 2018, then later removed from liquidation in 2020.

In September 2018, Derek Handley announced that he had been offered, and had accepted, the CTO role in August.

Derek Handley said he was "deeply disappointed" by the process but the Government's decision to halt it was understandable due to the concerns raised.

Derek Handley is currently General Partner with Aera VC, a fund which invests in deep-tech ventures underpinned by social impact and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Derek Handley launched the fund at Wharton Business School, where he was named Social Innovator in Residence.

Derek Handley is the founding CEO of Richard Branson's The B Team.

Derek Handley remained with the B Team as entrepreneur-in-residence and adviser until 2015.

In September 2006, Derek Handley was a finalist in the Bayer Innovator Awards.

In November 2016, the Wharton Social Impact Initiative, at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania invited Derek Handley to join the David Nazarian Social Innovator in Residence Program, naming him the third "Innovator in Residence" to visit the school.

In November 2017, Derek Handley was granted New Zealand citizenship by the Minister for Internal Affairs, Tracey Martin, under the "exceptional circumstances" provision.

Derek Handley argued that he did not meet the requirements because he frequently travelled for business.