Mangrove Capital Partners, the Luxembourg-based firm which specialises in early-stage technology investments in Europe and emerging countries such as India and Russia, has appointed Marc Ingla as a partner.

Up until recently Ingla was vice-chairman of FC Barcelona, where he managed all sponsorship, media and football affairs, but over the last decade he has also acted as a â€śbusiness angel” working with a number of venture capital firms.

Ingla is also known for having co-founded Cluster Consulting, a pan-European management consulting firm specialising in wireless technology and digital strategies which was subsequently acquired by Diamond Technology Partners (now part of PwC) in September 2000.

Mangrove, which is a sister firm to Genii Capital, was founded in 2000 and now has $500 million in assets under management. It has invested in some 50 companies and was one of the first investors in Skype, which was acquired by eBay for over $2.6 billion in 2005.