Fund managers

Praetura Investments is an FCA Authorised Firm having completed its first Venture Capital transaction in 2011, the acquisition and listing of Inspired Energy plc in November of that year. Since, we have grown steadily and have made a further 24 investments on behalf of investors having invested over £100m into high growth tech or IP enabled small businesses.

We’ve built a highly experienced and reputable team within Praetura Investments who bring with them over 250 year of sector experience having raised and transacted over £8bn within the UK.

Headquartered in the North West, the Praetura team have built an enviable network across the region generating strong deal flow and opportunities. The investment strategy has been developed and refined over the previous 8 years and we’ve built a reputation for being able to identify and back high performing, entrepreneurial teams who demonstrate they can execute their plan. As important is our ability to add “more than money”. We look for ways we can add significant value through our team’s skillset, network and experience. Deciding whether we can add value and help shape a company’s growth is critical when we decide where to invest.

Vala is an investment advisory business founded by a team of serial, multi-exited entrepreneurs that over a 30+ year period has invested in more than 70 companies and generated an aggregate track record of 3.5x with an average hold period of 4.5 years.

Vala’s mission is to back, build and embolden start-ups that can have an impact in their markets and on society, supporting them on their sustainability journey at the same time.  It believes that companies that focus on operating and trading more sustainably will be more robust and valuable that those that don’t.

Vala aims to put capital to work where it’s needed most: mentoring founders, optimising products, creating go-to market strategies, and bringing together outstanding teams. A key part of the philosophy is the desire for the portfolio companies to become more sustainable, no matter what their sector.

Vala has two principle EIS strategies, focussed on venture building and impact, building diversified portfolios of 8-12 companies. It targets a fund-level return of 2.5x (excluding the tax benefits), over a 6-8 year period.

The SidebySide EIS Venture Fund invests in fast-growing technology-enabled businesses with £1-10 million in revenue. These more established companies will usually be at least several years old and typically have over 30 employees. We look for companies where there is evidence of a strong customer acceptance of the product and service offered, and where we believe we can add substantively to the knowledge and experience of the management team as the company grows.

o2h Ventures, a specialist biotech fund manager based in the heart of the thriving biotech community in Cambridge, UK. We invest in early-stage biotech companies involved in novel drug discovery, enabling service tools, and AI/ML technologies. Currently, we have two tax-efficient human health funds open for investment: the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.

To date, through our funds, we have invested over $10 million in 35+ early-stage biotech companies, empowering impactful research addressing unmet medical needs in areas such as cancer, depression, diseases of the ear and eye, psoriasis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, anti-ageing, and infectious diseases. For more details, please see – www.o2hventures.com

Founded in 2015, Velocity looks to invest in high capital appreciation digital distribution business providing value beyond the provision of capital. For the businesses that the fund looks to invest in, there is a point in time when marketing becomes their largest expense. Getting it right can be transformational for these businesses, whilst getting it wrong can be a very costly mistake. Through the significant experience of the founders of Velocity, support in and around marketing provides a cornerstone of value-add provided to investee companies, although it is by no means limited to this. Each potential fund investment goes through a rigorous six-stage selection process, which includes an assessment of market need, given that there being insufficient market need for a particular product or service is, according to CBInsights, the second most common reason why businesses fail. Velocity has a multidisciplinary team with a balance between those with entrepreneurial experience (having started, scaled and exited businesses) and professional experience including fund management, accountancy and law. Our view is that the breadth of team experience enables us to provide holistic support to the businesses we invest in, providing them with an unfair advantage and thereby a greater likelihood of success.