Motorsport’s loss has been the capital markets’ gain when it comes to Mark Beeston, who once dreamed of being a racing driver before embarking on a career in the capital markets that makes him almost uniquely well suited to his latest role, running fintech venture capital firm Illuminate Financial.

As chief operating officer for global credit trading at Deutsche Bank, he was the guy that vendors needed to impress with their technology. As president of credit default swap-processing platform T-Zero, he was the guy trying to sell his technology to banks, and as the driving force behind Euclid Opportunities, Icap's vehicle for investing in early-stage post-trade fintech companies, he was the guy start-ups needed to impress to secure funding.