Within the UK there are a significant number of venture capital firms, providing funding to support the growth of businesses with potential to disrupt markets and become industry leaders. British venture capital has been and continues to be at the forefront of providing financing to some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Transferwise, Revolut, Improbable, Skype and Spotify to name a few.
What is venture capital?
Venture capital is a form of private equity investment, where a business receives unsecured funding in exchange for a share of its equity. The aim of venture capital as a field is to make investments in early and mid-stage companies with an aim of profitably exiting their investment at a later stage (usually within 5-10 years).
Venture capital is seen as a high risk asset class, as the majority of VC investments fail. This high rate of failure is factored into the investment model of venture capitalists, the typical aim of a VC fund is for 1 in 10 investments to be exited profitably, with that exit/s being so profitable that it cancels losses made on the funds other investments and produces a healthy return for the venture capital firm and its investors (a VC can have multiple funds investing in different areas / stages of business).
Venture capital can be a great source of finance for businesses, however getting venture capitalists to invest in a company or startup can also be one of the biggest challenges an entrepreneur can face. With this in mind and to help you find the right potential VC investor, below we’ve put together a detailed list of active venture capital firms operating in the UK and London.
List of UK venture capital firms
London Venture Partners
LVP invests exclusively in online, social, mobile and tablet games. They’ve built their entire team and expertise specifically for this sector. In other words – they know the game industry well, and you should probably speak to them if that’s your thing.
Location / Targeting: London / London
Investment Level: Not specified, but they do everything from pre-seed funding to Series A, so we guess 50k up to a few million.
Portfolio Companies: Omnidrone, Unity, Playraven. Full Portfolio here.
SPARK Ventures
SPARK looks to invest in TMT (technology, media and telecom) and healthcare businesses in the UK with disruptive business models. They do a lot of early-stage deals but can and have invested at any stage.
Location / Targeting: London / UK
Investment Level: £500k – £2m with subsequent follow-up funding.
Portfolio Companies: Firebox, Mind Candy. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: All contacts and emails listed here.
EC1 Capital
EC1 Capital invest in mobile and web technology companies. They invest across the full spectrum including Seed, Bridging and Series A. They also have these awesome Open Office hours, where anybody can book a slot to pitch or get advice.
Location / Targeting: London / London, Dublin, Edinburgh
Investment Level: Seed & bridging – up to £200k (syndicated up to £1m). Series A – £200k to £1m.
Portfolio Companies: Lifecake, Toothpick, evvnt.
Connect ventures
Connect Ventures is an early-stage VC firm helping founders built product-centric startups, from finding the right market fit to scaling their efforts. They limit their investments on their own areas of expertise, which include mobile, Internet and digital media businesses.
Although mainly investing in European startups, they do understand that some of their companies are likely to move to the US as they grow.
Location / Targeting: London / Europe
Investment Level: £300K-£600k. They don’t mind investing alongside other VCs and generally, keep some cash in reserve so they can participate in follow-up rounds.
Portfolio Companies: Boiler Room, Soldo, Unmade. Full portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: You can find their address on the site. The team prefers if you reach out either via their network or directly to one of them.
Beacon Capital
Beacon Capital previously known as AngelLab, Beacon’s main focus is on B2B, SaaS-based business models. Typically reluctant to get invest outside of their core themes, they’ll do so only if there’s an ‘exceptionally strong reason to do so’. Interestingly enough, apart from the company’s ability to demonstrate traction, they also expect the CTO to be a significant stakeholder in the company if they are to get involved.
Location / Targeting: London / UK
Targeting: SaaS, E-commerce, Online marketplaces
Investment Level: £200k – £2m
Portfolio Companies: Adbrain, Azimo, Flypay, MOVE Guides, Seedrs, Shopa. See website for full portfolio.
Contact/Apply: You can contact Beacon Capital here.
Pentech Ventures
Pentech invests in technology companies that are disrupting social media, eCommerce, digital media, mobile, SaaS and more. In other words, they like their tech and they’re all about opportunity. If you have a rock-solid team and a technical product in an interesting space, check these guys out.
Location / Targeting: London, Edinburgh / UK, Ireland
Investment Level: £500k – £4m
Portfolio Companies: Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: You’ll find all the contact info on this link.
Episode1
Episode1 is a no-frills investor focusing on seed and early stage investment. It is one of the UK Government’s Enterprise Capital Funds – set up to support fund managers who invest in small, high-growth, software-driven businesses.
With Episode1, entrepreneurs have the chance to turn their UK-based software businesses into fast-scaling companies built to grow into significant and valuable entities.
Location / Targeting: London / UK
Investment Level: £0.25m to £1m in rounds of up to £2m.
Portfolio Companies: Touch Surgery, Global App Testing, CarWow – you can see a full list of their portfolio companies on their portfolio page here.
Contact/Apply: Episode1 has a straightforward, user-friendly form. Fill it in so you can have a chat with the team during one of their Open Office events. You can also e-mail them, or visit their contact page.
Pro founders Capital
Pro founders are a VC fund powered by entrepreneurs. Their investors and principles have built some of Europe’s most successful companies including lastminute.com, Bebo and TopTable. They’re looking for capital efficient early stage tech & digital media companies.
Location / Targeting: London / Europe
Investment Level: £500k – £2.5m with the scope to support follow-on funding.
Portfolio Companies: made.com, TweetDeck, easyCar.
Contact/Apply: All contact details can be found on their site.
Passion Capital
Passion Capital is a tech-focused investment firm with a pretty impressive portfolio. They haven’t been around long but having been set up by the first angel investor in last.fm, they’ve taken off pretty damn quickly.
Location / Targeting: London / UK
Investment Level: 250K+
Portfolio Companies: adzuna, DueDil, Thread. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: They occasionally hold Open Office hours which are announced on their Twitter page and can be contacted via individual emails (not provided on the site). However, an intro through a mutual connection is preferred.
MMC Ventures
MMC state on their website that they do not invest in startups, they also avoid capital intensive businesses so if you’re either of those things look away now. MMC want fast growing businesses with commercial traction and growing revenues particularly in media internet, financial services and software.
Location / Targeting: London / UK
Investment Level: £500k – £4m
Portfolio Companies: Bottica, LoveHomeSwap. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: All contact details can be found here.
Hoxton Ventures
Hoxton Ventures are a $40,000,000 early stage/seed investment company, investing in technology (internet and software) across any country that sings in the Eurovision contest. Investing mid-length (7-10 years), Hoxton are prepared to help back the company for a large portion of its early life.
Location / Targeting: London / Europe
Investment Level: $250,000 – $2,000,000 seed and early stage investment.
Portfolio Companies: Numerai, Andela
Contact/Apply: You could E-mail them your completed business plan, or visit the bottom of any page on their website here.
Initial Capital
Initial Capital is a seed and early-stage investment company specialising in consumer services, mobile software and games. They have offices in London and Silicon Valley, and will not just try to help you by investing money, but also by finding the best possible team for you and your product.
Location / Targeting: UK, Europe and U.S.A.
Investment Level: Amount on application
Portfolio Companies: Super Evil MegaCorp, Supercell , App Gyver – you can see a full list of their portfolio companies on their main web page.
Contact/Apply: If you have a business idea that fits one of their core themes, they’d love to hear from you. Here’s their e-mail.
Supremum Capital
Supremum Capital focuses on seed investments in FinTech, Internet and Real Estate sectors, and provides advisory services to their portfolio companies. If you’re trying to break into Europe, Supremum also boasts access to a wide network of investors and entrepreneurs within Europe.
Location / Targeting: London / Europe
Investment Level: Unspecified; the VC firm sources capital from a variety of places, including banks, high net worth individuals and private equity funds.
Contact/Apply: Their contact page provides information about where to reach them.
Ariadne Capital
Ariadne Capital act as both advisors and investors, together or independently of each other. They’ve had a hand in many successful companies including Skype and Monitise. From an investment perspective, they’re targeting B2B tech startups focused on industries like health, transportation and financial services.
Location / Targeting: London / UK
Investment Level: £250k – £1m
Portfolio Companies: Quill, Clickslide. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: Contact details here.
Anthemis Group
Anthemis Group is a venture investment and advisory firm, focused on startups trying to reinvent the financial sector for the digital world. The team has invested worldwide, most notably within UK and Europe, for a current total tally of 31 companies. They limit their investments to a variety of FinTech sectors, including retail and corporate banking, consumer finance, payments, insurance and risk management and more.
Location / Targeting: London / Global
Investment Level: Unspecified; the team participates in both seed, early and late-stage investments.
Portfolio Companies: Betterment, eShares, Seedcamp.
Contact/Apply: For the Group’s contact information, head over to their contact page.
Crescent Capital
Originally founded in 1996, the Crescent Capital focuses on empowering Northern Ireland-based companies, predominantly those operating within the IT, manufacturing and life science sectors.
One of the company’s executives typically joins the investee’s board, acting as a non-executive director.
Location / Targeting: Northern Ireland / UK
Investment Level: £450k-£1.2m initially, with a limit of £3m per company across all funding rounds. The VC fund tends to exit their investment within 5-7 years.
Portfolio Companies: Analytics Engines, Nisoft, Speech Storm. A portfolio of their current, realised and past investments can be found here.
Mercia Asset Management
Mercia is one of the most active regional investors focused on uncovering the hidden value from across the UK regions.
The team helps to scale innovative businesses across the UK by providing venture, debt and private equity using its ‘Connected Capital’. In addition to investing funds on behalf of large institutions, Mercia also raises its own EIS and VCT Funds.
The Group has more than 400 businesses in its portfolio, a strong record including 11 IPOs, and has approximately £0.7billion of assets under management.
Location / Targeting: UK / UK
Investment Level: Mercia can invest between £50,000 to £10 million, as well as provision of scale-up capital through Mercia Asset Management PLC, which can invest up to £10.0million using its balance sheet capital.
Portfolio Companies: nDreams, Oxford Genetics and The Native Antigen. More of their investees here.
Contact/Apply: The Mercia website provides contact details for both investors through its Investor Relations page and entrepreneurs can find a wealth of information across the site here.
Par Equity
Par Equity is a Scottish-based hands-on investment fund. By working with an advisory board of successful entrepreneurs and investors, they aim to bring a wealth of knowledge under the ‘Par Umbrella’, helping you unlock your entrepreneurial potential. As if they didn’t have enough on their plate, Par Equity also provide an Angel Syndicate.
Location / Targeting: Scotland / UK
Investment Level: Unspecified seed and early-stage investments for small to medium-sized businesses.
Portfolio: Covec, miiCard, KILTR – a full list can be seen here.
Contact/Apply: Par Equity have clear submission guidelines listed on the site. If your company’s shoe fits, you can submit your application for initial review. They also have a handy web form for general inquiries and other contact details here.
Ballpark Ventures
Ballpark Ventures are a small, personal London-based investment fund that invest their own money into seed and early-stage start ups. Primarily focusing on media, retail and technology, given their expertise in the field(s).
Location / Targeting: UK / UK
Investment Level: Unspecified Seed and Series A funding.
Portfolio Companies: Borro, Zopa, Bullion Vault – a full list can be found here.
Contact/Apply: The only way to pique their interest at the moment is via a trusted third-party referral. In their own words: ‘Find someone we know and respect, tell them about your company and ask them to recommend that we take a look. It’s that simple.’
JamJar Investments
JamJar Investments are the guys behind Innocent (a huge do-good, feel-good drinks company in the UK). Bringing these principles to the VC world, they aim to help bring your company up from an initial base to a major organisation, with your customers at the forefront. Backing consumer-based companies with both offline and online services.
Location / Targeting: UK / UK
Investment Level: Seed, early and later-stage funding from £150,000 – £1,000,000
Portfolio Companies: Graze, Toucan Box, Pop Chips.
Contact/Apply: The folks at JamJar were cool enough to provide you with a clear set of investment criteria and a handy guide on exactly how to pitch them. Once you read that, you can apply on their contact page here.
White Star Capital
White Star Capital (not to get confused with White Star Investments), are a seed and early-stage investment company for digital and mobile technology startups. With worldwide connections, they can help your company go global.
Location / Targeting: London / Europe & America
Investment Level: Seed and early-stage funding from $500k to $5m.
Portfolio Companies: Key Me, DICE, Dollar Shave Club – a full list can be seen here.
Contact/Apply: Their Team page has each investor’s individual as well as company contact details.
Martlet
Catering to all UK startups, with a particular bias towards Cambridge and East Anglia, Martlet provides small sums of capital to high-tech startups, typically involved with software, electronics, HealthTech and similar. The angels focus on businesses with at least some form of market defensibility, with high ambitions for growth. Other than capital, they pledge their support, expertise and valuable contacts.
Location: Cambridge Targeting: UK
Investment Level: £10K to £100K of initial seed funding; Martlet almost always co-invests with other funds and private investors, with a follow-up potential in later investment rounds.
Portfolio Companies: Converge, Repositive, Artfinder. Check out their complete portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: There’s a simple application form for startups to fill on their website.
Conduit Ventures
With offices in both London and Shanghai, Conduit Ventures manage two separate funds and sources most of their capital from industrial groups, institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds.
They specialise in high-efficiency energy generation and storage, particularly focusing on low-carbon tech, fuel cells, hydrogen and more.
Location: London Targeting: OECD and select Asian countries
Investment Level: Not specified; the fund is neutral when it comes to the investment stage, and will consider both early and late-stage investment opportunities.
Portfolio Companies: Heliocentris, Protonex, Walfuel. Check out more of their portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: They have a detailed contact page with information on both of their offices.
Walking Ventures
Walking Ventures are a seed and early stage no-nonsense investment company. Investing in technology and internet companies while differentiating with a more personalised approach to investing.
Location: London Targeting: UK | Europe
Investment Level: Target investment is £500K out of a £1m round, where they lead the financing, set the terms, find and bring in co-investors, and take a board seat.
Portfolio Companies: You can check out Walking Ventures active investments on their home page.
Contact/Apply: You can reach them via this page.
Sussex Place Ventures
Sussex place ventures are a London-based venture capital firm, focusing on information technology and businesses with patent-protected tech. With close ties to the London Business School, they ought to know the right people to put you in contact with.
Location: London, UK Targeting: UK
Investment Level: up to £1,000,000 in seed and early stage funding. They also like to follow their money and invest more over the company’s lifetime.
Portfolio Companies: Sine Wave Entertainment, Infinitesima, Skimlinks – the complete list is available here.
Contact/Apply: Their contact details are featured in the upper right corner of every page. In case you missed it, there’s also a separate contact page.
SaatchInvest
SaatchInvest are a team of 4 early-stage investors with a very simple ethos – they want to back ‘great entrepreneurs’. SaatchInvest help products get to market quicker by investing in micro VC stage.
Location: London, England Targeting: UK
Investment Level: typically £100-£300k per deal, seed and early stage investment.
Portfolio Companies: Evrythng, TouchCast, Hatch – you can see a full list of their portfolio companies on their website.
Contact/Apply: You can e-mail them, or check out the map to their HQ on the bottom of the site. If you have a prototype that you can send over, they don’t mind playing with it.
Forward Partners
Forward Partners is a relatively new VC team established in late 2013 and based in London. That being said, they’ve already invested in some pretty exciting companies. Forward partners specialise in helping eCommerce platforms dominate their niche.
Location: London Targeting: UK
Investment Level: Incubators, seed level support and funding.
Portfolio Companies: Appear Here, Lexoo, Lost My Name.
Contact/Apply: ‘Get in Touch’ form can be here.
Longwall Ventures
Based in the village of Harwell in Oxford, Longwall Venture Partners currently manage two funds – their own £40m enterprise capital fund, along with an additional £30m Oxford Technology capital fund. Focusing on healthcare, engineering and science start-ups.
Location: Oxford Targeting: UK
Investment Level: Seed and Early-stage investment.
Portfolio: Crysalin, Ibexis, MicroVisc – a full list can be seen here.
Contact/Apply: There is a contact form here, or more contact details can be found here.
Frontline Ventures
Frontline Ventures is a London and Dublin-based early-stage fund with a focus on seed and Series A internet/software companies.
Location: London Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: 100K – 2.5M EU
Portfolio Companies: CurrencyFair, Boxever, Orchestrate, Drop, Logentries, Qstream, Boxfish
Contact/Apply: All contact details can be found here.
Wellington Partners
Wellington Partners focuses on digital media and butt-based software. They have an amazing portfolio and operate all over the world.
Location: London, Munich, Zurich, Palo Alto Targeting: Worldwide
Investment Level: Not specified but they do Seed all the way through to Series A.
Portfolio Companies: HailO, Dropbox, importio. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: Send your exec summary here.
EcoMachines Ventures
EcoMachines Ventures is a London-based VC fund that makes seed and follow-on investments in innovative pan-European B2B hardware companies.
They foster the development of world-class technology in the energy, transport, circular economy, smart city and industrial high-tech sectors.
Location: London, England Targeting: UK, Europe, CIS, Israel
Investment Level: They invest up to £500K at the seed stage and up to £2m for mid/later stage investments
Portfolio Companies: Recycling Technologies, Q-Bot, NIS, Rotary EcoMachines, PDE, Autorose.
Contact/Apply: Contact the team here.
Playfair Capital
Playfair Capital are a London-based firm which backs technology and consumer based start-ups as an early stage investor. As well as running a co-working space in London, which they house more than ten early stage startups, as well as the London base of the Techstars accelerator programme.
Location: London, England Targeting: UK, Europe, USA and Africa
Investment Level: £30,00 – £300,000 seed and early stage investment with an average of £100,000.
Portfolio Companies: DueDil, Mixlr, F6S – you can see a full list of their portfolio companies on their main webpage here.
Contact/Apply: Playfair have a wonderful ‘Pitch Us’ page, which allows you to use one of the companies they’ve invested in to submit your business plan. Alternatively you could E-Mail them, or fill in a handy little webform on the bottom of any page.
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP)
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) backs the best high growth technology businesses across the UK & Ireland and beyond. It has €1 billion under management and one of the longest and strongest venture capital track records in Europe having invested in over 150 companies over the last 20 years.
Location: Glasgow, London, Edinburgh Targeting: UK
Investment Level: Up to £20m
Portfolio Companies: You can find the full portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: SEP has a user-friendly contact form that you can find here.
Notion
Notion Capital is a venture capital firm with more than $500m assets under management, investing in European SaaS and enterprise technology, with more than 60 investments to date. The Notion team founded, built and exited two highly successful SaaS businesses – Star and MessageLabs – and invests exclusively in enterprise tech and SaaS with the ambition to build global category leaders.
Location: London Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: Series A+
Portfolio Companies: Mews, GoCardless and Dixa. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: Ping an email over to info@notion.vc.
MVM Life Science Partners LLP
MVM invest in emerging healthcare companies since 1998. Managing funds totaling over $600 million. Focus on venture capital & growth equity investments. Investment team of seven people located in London and Boston. MVM has invested in biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics, drug delivery, gene therapy, healthcare IT, healthcare services, medical devices, medical imaging, OTC medicines, research tools and vaccines.
Location: London, Boston Targeting: Europe, America
Investment Level: $5-20m
Portfolio Companies: Exits include BioVex, Aegerion, Momenta, PregLem, Domantis. Active portfolio listed here.
Contact/Apply: You can contact Hugo Harrod at hh@mvm.com for UK investments.
Augmentum Capital
Augmentum Capital was formed in London in 2009 where Jacob Rothschild and family were substantial investors. They typically back early and late stage ventures, but want to stay with the business for as long as possible.
Location: London, England Targeting: UK
Investment Level: Mid and later stage, between £3,000,000 and £20,000,000
Portfolio Companies: Borro, Zopa, Bullion Vault – a full list can be found here.
Altitude Partners
Altitude is a specialist regional investor, with a limited focus on businesses thriving in Southern England. They have no stringent criteria when it comes to their investee’s current stage and success, although they do look for some level of defensibility, stable management teams and high qualities of earnings. They don’t discriminate against any particular sector, but don’t invest in start-up businesses or small management buy-ins.
Location: Southampton Targeting: Southern England
Investment Level:. Up to £3m in established businesses. Investments are typically a combination of equity and debt.
Portfolio Companies: Chameleon Worldwide Travel, The Care Division, Gradwell. No full portfolio specified.
Mosaic Ventures
Mosaic Ventures is a $140 million fund focused on Series A funding. To date, they have invested in over 70 companies across 10 different countries. They focus on several key areas, including marketplaces, SaaS for SMEs, next-gen finance and payments, analytics, education, health and bitcoins. They invest in ~10 companies a year.
Location: London Targeting: Europe, US
Investment Level: Unspecified Series A funding.
Portfolio Companies: Blockchain, Number Four, Guevara. Full portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: You can find the contact details on their website, along with the social media details of each of their team members.
Eight Roads Ventures (Formerly Fidelity Growth Partners Europe)
Eight Roads are looking for fast growing European tech businesses with aspirations of greatness. They want companies with an addressable market size in excess of €100m growing 20% year on year and they require you to have substantial revenue.
Location: London Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: €1m – €10m but they state they can exceed this for the right company.
Portfolio Companies: Seatwave, Wahanda, Innogames.
Contact/Apply: Contact page here.
Delta Partners
Delta Partners targets early stage technology and MedTech companies. They’re pretty active and have made over 90 investments since they came onto the scene in 1994. Delta is very team focused.
Location: Dublin, London Targeting: UK, Ireland
Investment Level: Not specified.
Portfolio Companies: Betapond, BlikBook, fishtree. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: Delta does awesome 30-minute 1-to-1 sessions that you can book online here.
Connection Capital
Connection Capital look to invest in UK companies with strong management teams that are already in profit. They’ve backed all sorts of companies from gyms to online businesses.
Location: London Targeting: UK
Investment Level: £2m – £7m
Portfolio Companies: PureGym, Wagamama. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: Send Connection Capital an E-mail.
Advent Venture Partners
Advent target tech & life sciences businesses in Europe. They’re looking for proven models focused on revenue growth. They’ve had some pretty chunky exits to date and really like to add value beyond just cash.
Location: London Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: Not specified.
Portfolio Companies: DailyMotion, Qype.
Google Ventures Europe
Google Ventures Europe provide seed, venture, and growth-stage funding to the companies that they deem the best, and not just worthy investments. With such an obvious company affiliate, they provide said companies unrivalled support in most aspects of running their business.
Location: London, England, Geneva CH, California & San Francisco, USA Targeting: UK, Europe, USA
Investment Level: Google Ventures have a unique way of investing, they ask you to apply to one of their individual investors personally and go from there.
Portfolio Companies: TuneIn, Buttercoin, HubSpot – you can see a full list of their portfolio companies on their portfolio page here.
Contact/Apply: Google Ventures are much like Chuck Norris, they will find you if you’re worthy.
Atomico
Atomico is a growth stage international investment firm, founded by the co-founder of Skype.
Location: London, England, Sao Paolo, Beijing, Tokyo, Istanbul, Cayman Islands
Targeting: Europe, USA, Asia
Investment Level: Seed, early stage and later stage venture as well as private equity investors.
Portfolio Companies: Last.fm, Skype, Rovio.
Contact/Apply: There are several ways to contact them on their contact page here.
Doughty Hanson Technology Fund
Daughty Hanson Technology Fund is a private equity firm, with bases all across Europe. Investing in technology, manufacturing and internet based commerce. With over 26 years of experience in the field of venture capitalism and private equity.
Location: London, UK | Frankfurt, DE | Milan, IT | Stockholm, SE | Paris, FR | Luxembourg, LU | Madrid, ES
Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: Long-term investments throughout the life of the company.
Portfolio Companies: Everbridge, MBA Polymers, Sound Butt – a list of past, and current portfolio companies can be found here.
Contact/Apply: All of the contact details, for Europe, are on this page here.
Frog Capital
Frog Capital is a London-based firm (formerly Foursome) investing in IT, Digital Media & Resource Efficiency. Only in growth-stage companies where the growth is likely to generate ≥40%, specialising in rapid growth and assisting your company to get there.
Location: London, UK Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: Later-stage ventures, between £5,000,000 and £25,000,000
Portfolio Companies: Editd, Rated People, Ostara – an entire list can be found here.
Contact/Apply: You can visit their ‘Contact US’ page here.
Index Ventures
Index are massive players in the investment world. They’ve invested in companies like Facebook, Just Eat and SoundButt so they know what they’re doing. In their own words they’re looking to support the founders of companies who are looking to be the Fortune 500 of the next 50 years.
Location: London, San Francisco, Geneva Targeting: Worldwide
Investment Level: Broad & seemingly unlimited. Everything from seed to massive VC rounds.
Portfolio Companies: Dropbox, Facebook, Skype. Full portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: You’ll find the contact details for your nearest Index offices here, just give them a call, make it count!
Accel Partners
Accel is one of the big boys in venture capital, they invest into what they call ‘category-defining technology companies’ and who can argue with that given their impressive portfolio including Spotify, Facebook & Etsy.
Location: Silicon Valley, New York, London, Bangalore Targeting: Worldwide
Investment Level: Seemingly unlimited.
Portfolio Companies: Spotify, Lynda, Etsy.
Contact/Apply: All contact details are listed on their site here.
Octopus Ventures
Octopus specialise in renewable energy, healthcare and property finance. They have a whopping £1.3b under management so invest substantial amounts. They say all of this on their website… but they’ve invested in Zoopla, yPlan, Secret Escapes & Graze, so they must be partial to a bit of tech too!
Location: London Targeting: UK
Investment Level: £250k – £100m.
Portfolio Companies: Secret Escapes, Zoopla.
Contact/Apply: You’ll find everything you need here.
DN Capital
DN capital invests in digital media, e-commerce, software and mobile applications. DN utilise the network effect and leverage their extensive global network to help catapult your business forwards.
Location: London, Palo Alto Targeting: UK, North America
Investment Level: 250,00 Euros – 10 million, later stage follow on available
Portfolio Companies: Shazam, Lovespace, Digital Chocolate. Full Portfolio here.
Balderton Capital
Balderton is one of the leading VC firms in Europe and focusses mainly on eCommerce, consumer internet and software. Since the year 2000 they’ve made over 100 investments, so are very active. They like to be the first institutional investor and then support with follow-on funding.
Location: London Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: $100k – $20m
Portfolio Companies: Housetrip, Lovefilm, carwow. Full portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: Everything you’ll need can be found here.
Dawn Capital
Dawn invests in tech companies looking to create brand new markets or be the first to disrupt existing ones. Dawn is super ‘hands on’ and bring a lot of experience to the table covering a range of different markets.
Location: London Targeting: UK
Investment Level: $250k – $10m
Portfolio Companies: iZettle, Bathrooms.com. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: Dawn like people to come via an introduction to someone in their network, but aren’t against the direct approach, see their website for more info.
DFJ Esprit
DFJ Espirit wants to invest in companies that can become leaders in an attractive market. Their main focus is across electronics, software, internet, MedTech, mobile over a massive geographical area.
Location: London, Cambridge, Dublin Targeting: UK, Nordics, Germany, France, Ireland, Spain
Investment Level: $500k – $15m
Portfolio Companies: Graze, Lyst. Full Portfolio here.
Bridges Fund Management (Formerly Bridges Ventures)
Bridges Fund Management is a privately owned investment company where all funds go into businesses looking to achieve social and/or environmental goals alongside returns for investors. They run 3 separate funds, one for property, one for social enterprises and another for sustainable growth.
Location: London Targeting:
Investment Level: Up to £15m
Portfolio Companies:
Eden Ventures
Eden invests in early stage technology companies. They solve the funding gap problem between angel and big VC rounds. Eden looks for a strong market opportunity in the UK with a solid team that can turn it into an international venture.
Location: London Targeting: UK
Investment Level: £200k – £3m with follow-on funding up to around £6m.
Portfolio Companies: huddle, UberVu, Reevoo. Full Portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: They direct everyone looking to apply via this link.
Arts Alliance
Arts Alliance is a V.C. firm that has been around since 1996, investing in film, online advertising and online marketing.
Location: London, England Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: Seed, early stage and later stage.
Portfolio Companies: Brainient, Shazam, Kebony
Business Growth Fund
Business Growth Fund is a Birmingham based business, with typical black country ideals. Investing primarily in growth and the potential of growth across the entire UK, with offices in 7 Major cities. As well as having a member of the board actively participate in your company when they invest.
Location: Aberdeen, Bristol, Birmingham, Edingburgh, Leeds, London, & Manchester, UK Targeting: UK
Investment Level: Long-term investments beginning in Early Stage venture, between £2,000,000 and £10,000,000 as well as private equity.
Portfolio Companies: Broadband Choices, Bullitt, Furniture Village – a full list can be found here.
Contact/Apply: There are several ways to contact them, including a webform on their contact page here.
Entrepreneurs Fund
Entrepreneurs Fund is a €240,000,000 fund who invest in all forms of technology and life sciences business’ at all stages of a companies life.
Location: London & Jersey, UK Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: Seed, Early Stage Venture, Later Stage Venture, and Post Ipo Equity Investments
Portfolio Companies: Fits.Me, Real Eyes, N-Tec – a full list of their portfolio can be found here.
Contact/Apply: You can visit their ‘Contact US’ page here.
Howzat Partners
Howzat Partners are a venture capital fund that has been running for more than a decade, specialising in Retail, Media, Photography and Technology. Howzat invest in what they think is the “next big thing”, so if your pitch is good enough, you should be well on your way to peaking their interest.
Location: London, UK Targeting: UK
Investment Level: Seed up to $10,000,000
Portfolio Companies: Alex and Alexa, Swapit, Fantasy 5 Live – a full list can be seen by going to their main webpage here and scrolling down or clicking the ‘Portfolio’ link.
Contact/Apply: There is a useful webform at the bottom of their site here with all other contact details.
Kennet Partners
Kennet Partners isn’t your typical venture capital or private equity investor, it’s more of a growth company.
Location: London, UK | Silicon Valley, USA Targeting: UK, Europe, USA
Investment Level: Early and Late-Stage venture
Portfolio Companies: Rivo, World One, Spread Shirt – you can view a full list of their portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: All of their contact details are on this page here.
Kreos Capital
Kreos Capital aren’t strictly a VC fund or Angel investor, they are a debt provider – in fact, they’re Europe’s largest and leading debt provider. Kreos have committed in excess of €1 billion to the automotive, finance and services industries.
Location: London Targeting: Europe, USA & Middle-east
Investment Level: Early-Stage Venture, Late-Stage Venture, Private Equity, Debt Financing Investments €1,000,000 – €10,000,000
Portfolio Companies: Borro, Codemasters, Wonga – see a full, 4-page list here.
Contact/Apply: You can find all of their details on this page here.
Summit Partners
For over 3 decades, Summit has been investing in Technology, Life Sciences and Growth Products. Based in the US, but with an office in London, Summit helps with every aspect from expanding your business globally.
Location: London Targeting: UK, USA
Investment Level: $5,000,000 – $500,000,000
Portfolio Companies: Acturis, ApoCell, Belkin – a full list of current and exited companies can be found here.
Contact/Apply: All of their contact details can be found here.
Northzone Ventures
Okay, so not strictly based in the UK, Northzone does, however, have an office in London. Investing in the technology industry, Northzone is willing to help and have a very down-to-earth outlook on running a business proving that they are about the quality of work, not just the financial gain. They mainly focus on advertising, software and curated web.
Location: London, UK | Stockholm, SE | Oslo, NO | Copenhagen, DK Targeting: Europe
Investment Level: Seed, Early-stage venture, later-stage venture, and Private Equity Investments
Portfolio: Sticky, Fishbrain, Test Freaks – a full list can be seen here.
Contact/Apply: You can find all of their contact details on this page here.
Amadeus Capital Partners
Amadeus Capital Partners are a London-based venture capital firm specialising in every form of backing; from seed to venture buyout for the technology market. They invest in all most forms of technology, including healthcare, resource efficiency and clean-tech.
Location: London Targeting: Europe, UK
Investment Level: All levels from seed, to venture buyout and everything in between.
Portfolio: Celltick, Bellco, GreenRoad – an entire list of past and present portfolio companies can be seen here.
Contact/Apply: There is an extensive, and very handy ‘Pitch Us’ type submission form here, and all other contact details can be found here.
Maven Capital Partners
Maven Capital Partners are a Glasgow based venture capital and private equity firm investing in clean technology, hardware, software and messaging services for a decade. Totalling investments of over £100,000,000 and managing over £340,000,000 in more than 20 client funds.
Location: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester – UK. Targeting: UK
Investment Level: Seed, Early-stage, Private Equity investments as well as Debt Financing and exit strategies.
Portfolio: RMEC Ltd, Vermilion, DMACK Tyres – A full list can be found here.
Contact/Apply: All of their contact details can be found on this page here.
Albion Ventures
Founded in January 2009, Albion Ventures is one of UK’s biggest independent VC investors, with about £275m across six different VC trusts. The group boasts an investment portfolio of over 90 companies, including everything from tech-centric startups to service and asset-based companies. They usually aim to go from the agreed term sheet and investment contracts to completing the process in 6 weeks.
Location: London Targeting: UK
Investment Level: From £1-10 million.
Portfolio Companies: Academia, Blackbay, Proveca. More of their portfolio here.
Contact/Apply: If you’d like to discuss investment opportunities, you can find their contact info on the website.
London Co-Investment Fund
London Co-investment fund has raised £25m from the Mayor of London’s Growing Places Fund, with a goal of co-investing in startups operating in science, technology or digital sectors. The fund invests only in rounds led by their (six) co-investment partners. The main goal is to help startups who can already raise money secure significantly more funds.
Location: London Targeting: London
Investment Level: £250,000 – £1,000,000 seed investment
Portfolio Companies: Chaser, Gojimo, Lexoo.
Contact/Apply: There’s a 2-step application form that you need to fill on their site if you’re interested in working with the LCIF.
Embryo Ventures
List of frozen/closed venture capital firms
Pond ventures
Pond is Europe’s largest early stage technology VC fund. In their own words, ‘Pond is the only team dedicated to building global companies independent of where they began.’
Location: Silicon Valley, London, Israel Targeting: North America, UK, Israel
Investment Level: Not specified.
Portfolio Companies: Swapit, Acco, LiveRail.
Contact/Apply: All details listed on their contact page. (Closed late 2016, still open for contact though.)
M8 Capital
M8 Capital is a London Based VC firm that invests in Seed (SEIS), Early and Later Stage investment as well as private equity investment for the mobile market.
Location: London, England Targeting: UK
Investment Level: Amount on application up to $4,000,000
Portfolio Companies: Evernote, Masabi – you can see the list of all companies on their website by clicking the ‘next company’ button on the left-hand side of the column.
Contact/Apply: . You can submit an E-Mail to them. (Appears to be closed, 30 March 2017)
What type of businesses should seek VC funding?
VC investment is best suited to entrepreneurs running high potential growth businesses who are happy to relinquish some control and accept a smaller piece of pie in the hope that the eventual pie will be much larger than they could have achieved on their own. Taking on a VC is not for the faint-hearted – in return for their investment they expect total dedication to the business from the entrepreneur.
Venture capitalist Jon Moulton, for example, famously refuses to invest in any business run by someone who has been divorced more than once, on the grounds that their complicated private lives will be too much of a distraction to building a successful enterprise.
It is important that you approach the growth of your company realistically, as not all businesses are suitable for VC funding. VCs look for truly game-changing ventures that show the potential to revolutionise an industry. If you see there is the potential to grow a business to be worth in excess of £100million, then VC funding is for you. But remember: very few businesses have this extraordinary potential, and there is a vast array of alternative funding routes available to suit all different types of business, including crowdfunding sites and angel investment networks.
Advantages of VC
The level of funding and expertise a venture capital firm can provide will typically help your business grow at a much faster rate than would have been possible without. Alongside this fact, most VCs can bring invaluable skills and expertise to your business and provide useful business contacts.
Disadvantages of VC
As well as giving up equity, you will have to be prepared to lose some control over your business. While the VC investment team will not be involved in the day-to-day running of your business, 99% of the time they will appoint someone to be a member of your board and will expect to be involved in the strategic direction of the business. You may sometimes feel as though you are working for the VC rather than for yourself.
What size of investment can you raise?
VC firms are generally interested in investing between £800,000 and £5 million in a business, although some early stage funds will consider investments of £250,000 and up. Different firms adopt different investment criteria, some specialising in particular stages of growth – start-up, early stage, later stage – and others in different industry sectors (our list below contains early, mid and late stage VC funds).
What do venture capitalists look for?
Advice from Julian Carter, Founding Partner and Managing Director of EC1 Capital (London VC Fund with 10+ exits to date)
I have met many entrepreneurs on my journey. It is an honour and a privilege to meet such talented people. Always, it’s a hard choice to choose which of the hundreds we will fund. There is an abundance of information on the web now about how to approach venture capital funds & venture capitalists and also what to say, there are general rules, and there are ones specific to the fund you are talking to. Do your research.
Most entrepreneurs seek the silver bullet. There is none. However, I will mention some things we look for. In an early stage start-up, there is very little ‘hard’ data to go on.
- Team. You will hear this everywhere. We back people first and foremost.
- Market size. You should be addressing a big market.
- Traction. What have you achieved so far, what does it tell you?
- Revenue Model. Time to break even.
- Ideally, you should be disruptive.
- Product. Innovative and defensible.
- Clear articulation of how you will acquire and retain customers.
- Know all your numbers.
- Enthusiasm. Something that cannot be faked.
- Honesty. Never ever lie or stretch the truth. You will be found out.
- Motivation. Why are you doing this, what have you sacrificed to do this and how long can you keep going for?
- Can you build things? Can you actively ‘do’.
For investors, it is as much about getting to know you and ‘de-risking’ you as it is about your startup.
How should you prepare, approach and pitch a VC?
It is crucial to carefully research any VC firm before approaching it for funds. You also want to make sure you’re at a pitchable stage of your business. VCs provide a support network and financial capital for early-stage businesses – typically high-risk companies but with scope for extensive growth. Investments are often made in high-technology companies specialising in pure technology or life sciences.
VC firms do not respond well to cold calling – you will need to appoint advisors to act as an intermediary and make introductions on your behalf and arrange for you to pitch for investment. And make sure you have done your homework first. A polished, detailed presentation document is crucial. Getting VC investment is by no means guaranteed – the vast majority of funding proposals put before venture capitalists are turned down.
Once you have secured the opportunity to pitch your business to VCs, this is your time to really shine. You may know exactly why your business is outstanding, but that doesn’t mean that VCs will, and there’s no reason to suggest that your business won’t seem very similar to a myriad of other companies unless you prove what makes it exceptional.
Demonstrate to investors your knowledge of your chosen market. Show them that you are familiar with your competitors and reveal how you can stand out from them to prove that you are serious about the future of your venture. To get VCs excited about the potential of your business, come armed with details of similar businesses in your market that have exited.
Alongside knowledge of your own company, it’s important to have a clear understanding of your potential investor. Show them that you are aware of how they work and what companies they have invested in. This will tell VCs that you have targeted them for a reason while taking the time to talk to portfolio companies will also give you the opportunity to find out how much value the investor can really add and what support you can expect going forward. When you get to the advanced negotiations, it is your time to ask the questions, so be prepared to challenge them on what they can bring to your business, beyond just the cash.
But it’s not all about facts and figures. Ultimately VCs will have to believe in you as a person, as they need to trust you to make good use of their money. Prove to them that you have a fantastic business plan, supported by key players in the field and a genuine passion for your company and you will start to see VCs paying attention.
What to expect after a VC investment
VCs are as much interested in the entrepreneur and management team running the business as they are in the business idea itself – which means that you the entrepreneur will be under constant scrutiny and pressure to put in the hours and the commitment expected of you.
If you end up receiving venture capital funding consider it a partnership and not simply an investment. These are people with whom you will have to work closely over a number of years, so it is vital that you do your research and establish whether you feel they will be suited to support you on your business journey.
Great entrepreneurs can attract outstanding people to join their team and support their business. This ability to convince other, credible individuals to take a risk and work with your startup will be one of the most compelling reasons investors will want to back you. If you get the team right, the money will follow, so remember that the ‘pitch’ to new board members and employees is just as important as the pitch to investors.
A case study of a successful VC deal
When Angel Springs, a Wolverhampton-based water cooler business with a turnover of £16 million, needed substantial investment, they approached several venture capital firms. They ended up agreeing on a deal with LDC, a venture capital firm, which invested £12 million in the business in return for a 60% equity share. John Dundon, Angel Springs Managing Director, explained the thinking behind the deal: “LDC give us financial resources and strength and also quite a strong framework and structure to work to. They bring real strength to a business like ours. We liked the people we were doing business with, they specialised in the SME market so we fit them like a glove, and the financial package that they put together for us was very fair. They ticked all the boxes.”
Dundon said his firm had done their homework before pitching for investment. “It is really important that the management team are well prepared when you begin a conversation with a potential VC. You have to demonstrate that there is an attractive market and that the business has the ability to add value, either through acquisition or organic growth – or in our case, a mixture of both.”
Final thoughts on pitching VC’s
Chatting with Venture capitalists you begin to hear horror stories of how entrepreneurs pitch and act around them. Ok, that’s all well and good, but how should you act?
Pitch your startup later, talk first
Put simply people are people, you need to find common ground and build a repour before you jump into a pitch. Take a little bit of time to ask questions and learn about said investor your talking and then craftily bring your startup into the conversation or ask if its ok to pitch them right now or to grab a coffee when they’re less busy. This will make you stand out from the crowd, and you’ll have begun forming a meaningful relationship (there’s a reason investors hide their badges at events such as Web Summit now, be different).
Ask questions
Again another fundamental problem is entrepreneurs generally don’t ask investors questions. If you’re blindly pursuing some investment firm or partner of said firm, ask them about how they invest, what they invest in and why. Generally said, savvy entrepreneurs will make sure the investors there pitching are just as much a fit for them as the they are for the investor, this will get you noticed
Back to basics
If you have a solid business and traction, you have nothing to worry about, there is investment money out there, you’ll have to work hard to get it but so be it, that’s the job. Don’t be fake, be calm and have a conversation and remember the majority of investment deals get done casually over a coffee or a drink!
