Member Directory

Par Equity is an Edinburgh-based venture capital boutique active across the United Kingdom. It invests in innovative small companies with high growth potential within a number of carefully selected sub-sectors, including software, medical devices, energy-efficient lighting and technical textiles. Although portfolio companies do include businesses serving consumer markets, Par Equity is particularly interested in business-to-business propositions. Investors include many individuals with directly relevant experience of the sub-sectors Par Equity invests in, providing a reserve of intellectual capital to be deployed alongside financial capital. Par Equity offers execution-only investment services to business angels as well as managing an evergreen EIS fund (the Par Syndicate EIS Fund) that invests alongside and on the same terms as business angels in SEIS and EIS-qualifying companies.

Parkwalk Advisors is one of the UK’s leading technology Enterprise Investment Scheme fund managers. Parkwalk invests in high growth, knowledge intensive companies seeking to develop and commercialise technology and innovation originating from UK universities, research intensive institutions and technology clusters.

Founded in 2009, Parkwalk has assets under management of over £160m and has backed over 85 companies. Parkwalk is now part of IP Group plc, a FTSE 250 company with a market capitalisation of £1.7bn and the UK’s leading developer of intellectual property-based businesses. IP Group has agreements with over 80% of the UK Russell Group Universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial.

The Parkwalk Opportunities EIS Fund is a growth-targeted investment fund providing investors access to a portfolio of knowledge intensive technology companies, an area the Government continues to support. Investors will get exposure to a range of investments from AIM listed to seed stage companies.

Parkwalk also manages a series of early-stage funds in conjunction with the technology transfer offices of the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Bristol.

Philip Hare & Associates LLP, a tax consultancy business which specialises in the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Seed EIS, Venture Capital Trust (VCT) and Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR).  The firm advises small and medium sized companies and their investors in respect of the tax relief available for investment and the conditions that need to be met by the company and the investor.  They are in regular contact with specialists at HMRC discussing solutions to technical and administrative issues that arise from the schemes. Please contact either Philip Hare Tel: 020 3141 9108 Mobile: 07557 349045.  Email: philip@philiphareassociates.tax  or Andrew Lennie – contact details below:

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.

Praxis is a firm of Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers based in the heart of London, specialising in supporting SMEs through their growth journeys. Praxis provides full accounting and audit compliance, together with commercial and tax advisory support, including R&D tax credits, restructuring, EIS, SEIS, VCT and SITR.

With offices in 157 countries and more than 195,000 people, PwC is among the leading professional services networks in the world. We work with many of the UK’s growing and successful private businesses and entrepreneurs. Two thirds of our clients are private business owners and individuals.

A key challenge for early stage businesses is being able to access the finance they need to grow and create value. Our Venture Capital team focuses on advising VCTs, EIS/SEIS investors and funds, as well as companies seeking investment under these regimes. The venture capital regimes can be complex and it is critical that clients receive advice they can rely on. Our team of specialists are committed to helping our clients navigate this complexity.

We help individual businesses and funds to raise money from investors while complying with their regulatory obligations. These businesses can then access alternative sources of funding such as crowdfunding and networks of sophisticated investors. We have helped to raise over £200 million for small businesses over the last 5 year and have extensive experience of EIS and SEIS. We have particular expertise in property crowdfunding, technology, green energy and media.

We can act as alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) for your fund; provide your business with regulatory permissions on a monthly basis through our authorised representative service or help your business apply to the FCA to become directly regulated. We have retail permissions and can operate unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS).

Prosper Capital is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A full list of the activities that the firm is authorised to carry out can be found on the Financial Services Register on the FCA’s website at https://register.fca.org.uk

Acquired by leading independent Chartered insurance broker Aston Lark in 2019, Protean Risk is a specialist insurance broker working with over 1,000 firms in the financial services sector across the UK and Europe.

As Protean is a Lloyd’s of London Broker, their depth of market access ensures they can offer market-leading solutions. With specialist knowledge and a highly qualified team, Protean services clients including Asset Managers, Banks & Building Societies, Corporate Financiers, Investment Managers, Independent Financial Advisers, Insurance Companies, Payment Service Providers, Authorised Payment Institutions, E-Money Institutions, Private Equity & Venture Capital, and Wealth Managers.

Tristan is the Managing Director at Protean Risk leading a team of over 25 specialist insurance brokers working with firms operating across the financial services sector. We bring the knowledge and experience derived from global insurance broking firms and combine it with a high level of personal service and attention.  We recognise the importance of the personal approach in helping clients achieve better insurance results.

Protean offers a wide range of expert insurance services with a focus on coverage for Professional Indemnity, Cyber Liability, Crime and Director & Officers Liability.

Puma Investments is an award-winning investment manager, and a leading provider of growth capital to UK SMEs. We operate across the country from our offices in London, Liverpool and Edinburgh and are part of an organisation that raised its first private equity fund in 1996. Puma has raised over £400 million in tax efficient investments to date.

We are committed to supporting the growth of small and medium-sized businesses across all sectors and regions of the UK. We deliver investment from £2 million to £10 million to help companies achieve their ambitions.

Our investment provides more than capital – it provides partnership. By using our investment insight, multi-sector experience and extensive network, we aim to help accelerate the growth of our investee companies.

Puma Alpha EIS is an evergreen fund that is open to investors throughout the year. The Fund has four closings per year, typically in at the end of each calendar quarter. The Fund seeks to support the growth of
UK SMEs through backing exceptional management teams and aims to give investors exposure to the earnings of quality operating businesses.

PushFar is the world’s leading SaaS technology startup. We focus on providing a mentoring and career progression platform, supporting hundreds of organisations to launch, run and scale mentoring programs, alongside our free and open mentoring network, supporting 100,000+ people. Named by Startups.co.uk as one of Top 100 Startups of 2023, we work with a wide variety of entrepreneurial initiatives, schemes and ventures to ensure mentoring is accessible and effective for everyone, everywhere.

Qkine manufactures high-purity, animal-free growth factors, cytokines, and other complex proteins for life science applications including stem cell and organoid culture. Based in Cambridge, UK, Qkine combines proprietary production processes with protein engineering technology to tackle fundamental biological, quality, and scale-up challenges to provide more reliable tools for research and bio-manufacturing.

As leaders in protein innovation, approximately 30% of our catalogue is formed of unique products. We have developed a portfolio of stable, tag-free growth factors for use in the most popular pluripotency media recipes, and we provide pioneering growth factor forms for scaling organoid cultures. Our product range spans a wide range of applications including hepatocyte, cardiac and neural differentiation, all aimed at increasing reproducibility in your research and manufacturing processes. We actively support and innovate for emerging fields such as cellular agriculture, regenerative medicine, synthetic hydrogels, organ-on-a-chip, and bioprinting.

Qkine is an ISO 9001:2015 certified company with an established global distribution network. With a robust manufacturing process, we can support scale-up and commercial manufacturing by offering lot reservations, bulk orders, custom vialling, and custom QA.