After shaking up the juice bar and online gambling industries before the age of 40, Tim Levene, one of the World Economic Forum’s 2012 list of “young global leaders” is setting his sights on his biggest challenge yet: creating a successful venture capital firm amid an increasingly tough operating environment for the asset class.

Despite being a managing partner at the Lord Rothschild-backed Augmentum Capital, and son of Lord Levene, chairman of the Lloyd's of London insurance market and founder of bank buyout vehicle NBNK, Levene cannot be accused of following a conventional City career to date.