Venture Capital, Seed & Early Stage Funds in the UK
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
! Venture Capital, Seed & Early Stage Funds in the UK Note: This list is currently being updated and a new, larger EU list created aswell as country by country lists. This list is now purely focused on the UK. Within the UK there are a range of Venture Capital (VC) firms operating. VC has been responsible for the birth and fast growth of some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Facebook and Spotifiy. It can be a great source of finance for a start-up business, but this depends on your stage of startup and proposition. It is important to carefully research any VC firm before approaching it and to ensure that you are at a pitchable stage for your business. VCs provide an array of support and financial capital for early stage businesses, typically high-risk companies but with scope for extensive growth. Investments are typically made in high technology companies specialising in pure technology or life sciences. Venture capitalists seek to generate return by investing early in startup businesses and seeing enormous returns when the company goes for initial public offering or is privately sold. In effect the process of VC is private equity. They are prolific and well-known investors throughout the UK, accounting for a substantial amount of investment in new businesses. Venture Capital Fund List UK " Early/ Mid Stage Venture Capital Funds London Venture Partners Location: London Targeting: London Bio: LVP invest exclusively in online, social, mobile and tablet games. They never stray outside this and they’ve built their team and expertise specifically for this sector… in other words they know the games industry well and you should speak to them if that’s your thing. Investment Level: Not specified but they do everything from pre-seed to Series A so we guess 20k to a few million. Portfolio Companies: Omnidrone, Applifier, Playraven. Full Portfolio here. Contact/Apply: Fire an email over to [email protected] Pond Ventures Location: Silicon Valley, London, Israel Targeting: North America, UK, Israel Bio: 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. Investment Level: Not specified. Portfolio Companies: Swapit, 4Home, LiveRail. Full Portfolio here. Contact/Apply: All details listed on their contact page here. Pentech Ventures Location: London, Edinburgh Targeting: UK, Ireland Bio: Pentech invest in technology companies that are disrupting social media, e-commerce, 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. Investment Level: £500k – £4m Portfolio Companies: Full Portfolio here. Contact/Apply: You’ll find everything you need here. AngelLab Location: Innovation Warehouse, London Targeting: SaaS, E-commerce, Online marketplaces Bio: We are a venture capital firm that invests in exceptional tech entrepreneurs in the UK and Europe. We discover and invest in tech entrepreneurs who have bold ideas and can make these happen. Our team has been through every stage of the entrepreneur’s journey, from starting up, growing and managing a large business to selling it or taking it public. We know how to help our companies grow faster. Investment Level: £200k – £1m Portfolio Companies: Adbrain, Azimo, Flypay, MOVE Guides, Seedrs, Shopa. See website for full portfolio. Contact/Apply: You can contact Angel Lab Here. Ariadne Capital Location: London Targeting: UK Bio: 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 focussed on industries like health, transportation and financial services Investment Level: £250k – £1m Portfolio Companies: Quill, Clickslide. Full Portfolio here. Contact/Apply: Contact details here. OION Location: Oxford Targeting: UK Bio: OION stands for Oxford Investment Opportunity Network so once again doesn’t fall under the bracket of VC but we’re throwing it in for good measure. Investment Level: £150k – £2m . Portfolio Companies: Not stated. Contact/Apply: They have a simple form to fill out here. SPARK Ventures Location: London Targeting: UK Bio: SPARK looks to invest in TMT and healthcare businesses in the UK with disruptive businesses. They do a lot of early stage deals but can and have invested at any stage. Investment Level: £500k – £2m with subsequent follow on funding. Portfolio Companies: Firebox, Mind Candy. Full Portfolio here. Contact/Apply: All contacts and emails listed here. EC1 Capital Location: London Targeting: London, Dublin, Edinburgh Bio: EC1 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. Investment Level: Seed & bridging – up to £200k (syndicated up to 750k). Series A – £200k to £500k. Portfolio Companies: Lifecake, Toothpick, evvnt. View complete portfolio here. Contact/Apply: They have a handy online application form here. Par Equity Location: Edinburgh Targeting: UK Bio: Par Equity are a Scottish based hands-on investment fund. By working with an advisory board of successful entrepreneurs and investors, they can bring a wealth of knowledge under the ‘Par Umbrella’ helping you to the best of your potential. As if they didn’t have enough on their plate, Par Equity also provide an Angel Syndicate. Investment Level: 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 guidelines here for your submission – then you should go to this page here where you have to register to submit your application. They also have a handy web form here, or other contact details here. Angel CoFund Location: London, England Targeting: UK Bio: Angel CoFund are a £100.000.000 fund which will co-invest with angels in any small or medium enterprise, as long as they are of interest to the business angel syndicate, or network. Investment Level: £100,000 – £1,000,000 Portfolio Companies: Adpoints, Ezbob, Hopster – a full list can be found here. Contact/Apply: You can reach them on their contact page here. Passion Capital Location: London Targeting: UK Bio: Passion Capital is a tech focussed investment firm with a pretty impressive portfolio. They haven’t been around long but having been setup by the first angel investor in last.fm they’ve taken off pretty damn quickly. Investment Level: 250K+ Portfolio Companies: adzuna, DueDil, Future Ad Labs. Full Portfolio here. Contact/Apply: An intro through a mutual connection is best but checkout their website anyway. Ballpark Ventures Location: London, England Targeting: UK Bio: Ballpark Ventures are a small personal London based investment fund, who invest their own money into seed and early-stage start ups. Focusing on media, retail and technology – they have a wealth of knowledge. Investment Level: Seed and Series A Portfolio Companies: Borro, Zopa, Bullion Vault – a full list can be found here. Contact/Apply: There are several ways to contact them on their contact page here. JamJar Investments Location: London, UK Targeting: UK Bio: 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 can help you bring your company up from an initial base, to a major organisation with your customers at the forefront. Backing consumer-based companies for both offline, and online Investment Level: Seed, Early-Stage and Later-Stage with £150,000 – £1,000,000 Portfolio Companies: Graze, Toucan Box, Pop Chips – a full list can be seen here. Contact/Apply: First of all, you should read this list here. Then apply on their contact page here. White Star Capital Location: London Targeting: Europe | USA Bio: White Star Capital (not to get confused with White Star Investments), are a seed and early stage investment company for digital and mobile technology start-ups. With worldwide connections, they can help your company go global. Investment Level: Seed and Early-Stage venture capital. Portfolio Companies: Key Me, DICE, Dollar Shave Club – a full list can be seen here. Contact/Apply: Unfortunately, you have to go to their Team page here and contact each investor individually, or E-Mail them. Lean Investments Location: London Targeting: UK | Europe Bio: Lean Investments are a seed and early stage no-nonsense investment company. Investing in technology and internet while offering a personal approach. Investment Level: Seed and Accelerator Portfolio Companies: None thus far Contact/Apply: They have a very handy pitch form to fill in here. Sussex Place Ventures Location: London, UK Targeting: UK Bio: Sussex place ventures are a London based venture capital firm, focusing on information technology and science based companies. With close ties to the London Business School, they ought know the right people to put you in contact with. Investment Level: £100,000 – £1,000,000 seed and early stage investment. Portfolio Companies: Sine Wave Entertainment, Infinitesima, Skimlinks – a complete list is available here. Contact/Apply: The contact details are at the bottom of every page on their website here. SaatchInvest Location: London, England Targeting: UK Bio: SaatchInvest are a team of 6 investors who have a very simple ethos, they are an early-stage technology investment company who want to back ‘great entrepreneurs’. SaatchInvest help products to get to market quicker by investing in micro VC stage. Investment Level: £50,000 – £400,000 seed and early stage investment. Portfolio Companies: Evrythng, TouchCast, Hatch – you can see a full list of their portfolio companies on their website here.