The Constellation
The Constellation unites exited entrepreneurs with a shared mission to accelerate the future of space innovation.
As part of the UK Space Agency Accelerator, these trusted advisors provide unique perspective, challenge, and expertise to ventures in the Geo cohort, helping founders navigate complexity, strengthen strategy, and unlock growth opportunities.
Mark Roberts
Mark is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and board advisor. He is an experienced Board Chair, specialising in high-growth, tech-enabled businesses, often with a B2C brand.
As an Entrepreneur, Mark co-founded Beer Hawk (exited to AB InBev), an e-commerce venture which he scaled from two mates in a shed to a thriving business with over £80m in revenues and a team of over 200 beery enthusiasts.
As an Intrapreneur, Mark launched PerfectDraft globally, seeding the product in the UK before scaling it to over $200m in revenues, with a presence on 3 continents, and becoming a lead Direct-To-Consumer proposition for ABInBev.
As a Board Adviser, Mark is an Operational Partner for Praetura Ventures, an Industry Adviser at the University of Oxford and notably Chaired the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.
As an Angel Investor, Mark has backed over 10 start-ups, provides ongoing mentoring for the founding teams, and is the Chair of Leeds Angels.
Mark published his first book in 2025, “The Entrepreneur Within”, and speaks internationally about innovation and entrepreneurship.
Ian Jones
Ian Jones is a serial entrepreneur, engineer and investor specialising in space communications, AI and advanced signal processing.
Ian founded Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd, transforming the iconic UK site into a world-leading commercial deep space communications provider with NASA, ESA, SpaceX and Intuitive Machines as clients.
As CEO he secured major UK and international contracts, raised investment, and spearheaded innovation in lunar and deep space telecoms, radio astronomy and satellite internet.
He is currently Founder of Veritron Ltd, developing next-generation Space Domain Awareness and Communication Systems technologies, and of Ibbynet Ltd, focused on private AI solutions for law, defence and space.
A Chartered Engineer (CEng FIET) and OBE, Ian has worked at BT Research Labs, Ferranti, and Communications Systems Research Ltd, where he helped pioneer DSP-based Inmarsat aeronautical and maritime modems.
Ian advises UK Government and international partners on space strategy and investment, and has raised funding across grants, venture capital and strategic M&A.
Alongside his technical and entrepreneurial work, Ian is an active musician, drawing connections between music, science and communication theory.