Meet some of the industry experts who work with Sapphire. Individuals with transformative ideas and a passion for identifying and investing in the companies of tomorrow. They make the future exciting.
John Bailye
SideBySide EIS Venture FundJohn knows how to grow companies from startup to success. He co-founded a start-up that grew to a $1 billion market cap on Nasdaq. Today he leads the SideBySide EIS Venture Fund with the sole focus of identifying, investing in and mentoring the high-growth companies of tomorrow.
Co-Founder
London
John moved to the United States in 1987 from Australia and co-founded a start-up that grew to have a $1 billion market cap (formerly on Nasdaq: DRTE) with nearly 3,000 employees. He sponsored and co-founded the New Jersey Technology Council, with circa 1,500 entrepreneurs as members, which is aimed at creating an exchange for entrepreneurs’ experiences and ideas. John has personally been investing in early-stage companies for many years.
John is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in private equity and entrepreneurship
This Fund will invest in high-growth but more established technology-enabled EIS companies, led by driven teams who dream big. SidebySide help investees enhance the value of the investment by applying our decades of experience building private, public and international businesses. The approach is modelled on past successes in this space where there is a need to have a high-touch engagement of up to two days a month mentoring and directly working with each management team on day-to-day issues.
Consequently, SidebySide intend to have a relatively small (up to ten) number of companies in the Fund, at any one time, to ensure each company has access to SidebySide for the advice they need to reach their potential. The investments will usually be held for a period longer than five years, to allow companies to complete their journey into their mainstream markets.
Damon Bonser
British Design FundsDamon is a serial entrepreneur with many years of experience in building, running and selling businesses within the creative sector. He now uses his expertise to help the British Design Fund to identify the most ambitious and scalable opportunities in the design sector today.
Co-Founder
London
Damon Bonser is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years experience of building and running product design and manufacturing businesses. The CEO, investor and mentor started out in business when he was in his mid-20s, after finishing university. Fast forward to October 2019 and the BDF has invested just under £1m into six companies, with the aim of expanding their portfolio over the coming years.
Damon is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
The Fund will seek to identify the most ambitious and scalable opportunities in the design sector today. If the Fund has the right investment approach and access to quality deals, it has the potential to deliver exceptional returns. The Fund will assist the Investee Companies to build products that people want and need. In doing this, the Fund will invest in some of the UK’s potentially most exciting design companies, helping them grow and taking them to the next level of their development.
Dr Nicola Broughton
MEDCAN FundArmed with an MBA, a PhD and a Diploma in Law, combined with many years of experience in venture capital and expertise in intellectual property, Nicola is well placed to lead the MEDCAN fund to invest in startups that exploit the therapeutic potential of the endocannabinoid system for use in global markets.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
London & Paris
Dr. Nicola Broughton has 20 years experience in venture capital, including six years as an investment director. She specialises in the life sciences and tech sectors and brings a wealth of knowledge from working with academic research groups, spinoffs and early-stage companies.
Nicola has worked as a non-executive director in life science and software companies and has strong IP expertise. She has completed an MBA, PhD and a DipLaw.
Nicola is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
The Fund will invest in start ups across the entire value chain (from molecule to patient). It will not invest in growing or producing cannabis, nor will the Fund be involved in businesses or activities related to recreational cannabis.
Dr Glenn Crocker
Pioneer Life Sciences EIS Knowledge Intensive FundGlenn is the Director of Ventures & Investment. He has a DPhil in Immunology and qualified as a Chartered Accountant, with EY. At EY he was UK Head of Biotechnology and worked in Palo Alto, CA and Cambridge, UK before becoming founder CEO of BioCity Group.
Executive Director
Nottingham — United Kingdom
Glenn is the Director of Ventures & Investment. He has a DPhil in Immunology and qualified as a Chartered Accountant, with EY. At EY he was UK Head of Biotechnology and worked in Palo Alto, CA and Cambridge, UK before becoming founder CEO of BioCity Group. As CEO, and subsequently Executive Chairman, of BioCity he was responsible for building a successful business and achieving a very good exit for shareholders. He is also co-founder/non-executive director of multiple successful life science companies. In 2014 Glenn was awarded an MBE for services to the biotechnology industry.
By doing this we will help to create and grow some exciting, innovative and potentially life changing companies. The businesses the Fund will invest in may have an impact on their local economy, providing highly skilled jobs and further increasing the overall strength of the UK life sciences sector.
Investment selection process
A team of venture builders and WAPG’s network of science infrastructure across the UK provide privileged access to a stream of validated investment opportunities. Our sites and venture development activity act as funnels, drawing in the best opportunities in the area.
WAPG will be working with opportunities from various sources including ICURe, Oxford and East Midlands AHSN Accelerators, Scottish University Accelerator, Scottish Universities Accelerator, Scottish High Growth Programme, Pharma Partners, WAPG's own network.
Andy Davidson
Nova Cofoundery SEIS & EIS FundLearning the tech business from the ground up, Andy started as a software engineer and over the last 20 years, he has co-founded more than 100 tech companies - including Lucid Games & Sentric Music. Today he focuses on identifying the companies of tomorrow for the Nova Cofoundery SEIS & EIS Fund.
Co-Founder
Liverpool
Andy Davidson is a software engineer and serial technology entrepreneur. Over the last 20 years he has co-founded numerous technology companies, he still holds directorships in many of them, including Lucid Games and Sentric Music. Along with software engineering, Andy has strong financial experience and has raised seed venture capital financing for the companies he has co-founded. In 2017 Andy was recognised by the Sunday Times as one of the UK's Top 100 Disruptive Entrepreneurs.
Andy is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
The Fund is an opportunity to invest alongside an experienced partner in Nova Cofoundery Limited ("Nova") in their portfolio of early-stage companies.
Pippa Gawley
Zero Carbon Capital 2022 LPAn engineer with a passion for investing, Pippa has spent her career at the intersection of technology, innovation and business. Previously an active investor in the Bay Area, today Pippa leads the Zero Carbon Capital 2022 fund to support entrepreneurs fighting for the future of our planet.
Co-Founder
London
Pippa Gawley has been angel investing in technologies in the US for the last four years and was an active and passionate member of the impact investing world in the Bay Area. She learnt by investing alongside experts in the field of early-stage climate innovation and impact investment and as a member of several angel networks including E8 and Investor’s Circle (now Social Venture Circle).
Pippa is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
The Fund seeks to invest in positive action on climate change, gain exposure to a sector that has huge potential, and support early-stage technology companies, with the potential to obtain EIS Reliefs. The team is small and passionate, laser focused on finding and supporting awesome, visionary entrepreneurs building innovative technologies.
Lachlan Gowrie-Smith
GameTech Ventures FundA lifelong gamer, Lachlan has developed a passion for building technology start ups, with a focus on gaming and esports. Today, Lachlan helps the GameTech Ventures Fund to discover early stage companies that are pioneering the future of our digital lives through gaming technology and the gaming audience.
Co-Founder
London
Lachlan Gowrie-Smith has 10+ years building technology start ups, with the last six years in gaming and esports, having been an early joiner at Gfinity which grew to be one of the world’s leading esports technology and operations companies. He has a first class degree in Economics and Finance from University of Bristol and a Masters from MIT. He is also a lifelong gamer putting those skills to good use.
The Fund will seek to invest in early-stage companies that are pioneering the future of our digital lives through gaming technology and the gaming audience. Primarily the Fund is looking for great founders who are building something of genuine value to people and businesses. Companies that make interactive experiences more efficient to build or use, more engaging to participate in, more economically valuable and those that open up new audiences. The Fund looks for founders who have vision and sense, with a strong preference for those that are authentically endemic to modern gaming culture, personally and professionally. The Fund prefers companies that are building proprietary technologies but will engage with those using cutting-edge technologies in novel ways.
Dr Ilian Iliev
EMVC Evergreen EIS FundWith a passion for building companies from the ground up, Ilian is an expert in industrial high-tech, energy, the circular economy, smart cities and transportation. As the CEO of NetScientfic plc and the MD of EMV Capital - Ilian helps the EMVC Evergreen EIS Fund identify, invest in and mentor the companies of tomorrow.
Co-Founder
London
Dr. Ilian Iliev is Managing Director of EMV Capital where he also leads the investment advisory team. Prior to that he co-founded and was CEO of CambridgeIP Ltd, which he built into a leading market and technology business intelligence provider in the UK. In the late 1990s, he co-founded and led a 100-person family business in Southern Africa in the electrical industry, with a focus on turnkey industrial installations.
Ilian is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
EMVC has a strong infrastructure for sourcing, evaluating, investing in and supporting companies with this profile, leveraging its network of private and institutional investors, corporate partners, and industry experts. Now, through the EMVC Evergreen EIS Fund, qualifying investors may benefit from the EMVC team's expertise and ecosystem.
Dominic Keen
British Robotics FundsDominic lives and breathes robotics. As a successful entrepreneur - having previously floated the Mporium Group plc - Dominic now helps the British Robotics Funds to invest in and mentor promising robotics ventures to maximise their growth potential.
Co-Founder
London
Dominic Keen is a successful British technology entrepreneur. Having previously floated on the London Stock Exchange mPorium Group plc, the software business that he founded, he now helps promising ventures to maximise their growth potential. In particular, Dominic looks to apply the lessons learned from his experiences gained in taking the business that he started in his garage through to becoming a public company, to other exciting early-stage companies.
Dominic is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
Britbots seeks to back high-growth robotics, artificial intelligence and automations companies delivering large scale productivity improvements through autonomous technologies at the intersection of the digital and physical world.
The last decade has seen global productivity fall, natural resources be depleted and skilled labour pools contract in the developed world, despite rising labour costs and consumption levels. Against this backdrop, Britbots believe that autonomous technologies will provide the principle avenue for companies to improve their productivity and profitability.
Marcus Love
Love Ventures FundsMarcus has a highly experienced equities background and is a successful angel investor. Previously, he backed the UK’s most valuable private company, Revolut, which now has a market value of circa $33 billion. Today, Marcus helps the Love Ventures Funds in identifying the FinTech, PropTech and ConsumerTech companies of tomorrow.
Co-Founder
London
Marcus Love has 14 years of experience as an FCA-approved financial professional in London. He worked most recently at William O’Neil+Co, the US-headquartered equity research firm between 2011-2019. He successfully built an angel network that has invested in approximately 20 early-stage businesses during the last five years.
Marcus is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
The Love Ventures Funds will invest in early-stage companies which are leveraging technology in a post-Covid world to accelerate their growth. We’re looking to partner with exceptional founders in the FinTech, PropTech and ConsumerTech sectors.
The Fund offers a unique opportunity to gain access to these fast-growing companies. The team is laser-focused on finding these opportunities, often off-market, and uncovering the next gems of tomorrow. The team have a strong background in identifying visionary founders and helping bring them from Seed stage up to Series A. This is an identified funding gap in the UK market where we can add value and assist companies with their growth up to Series A and beyond.
Brian McCaul
QUBIS Innovation FundHaving led the #1 University Spin-out in Entrepreneurial Impact Ranking for the last two years, Brian is the visionary CEO behind QUBIS. He uses his many years of experience in aerospace and innovative software to help the QUBIS Innovation Fund identify the most exciting and scalable early-stage companies.
Co-Founder
Belfast
Brian McCaul is the CEO of QUBIS and also Director of Innovation at Queen’s University Belfast. Having worked both within technology transfer environments and as an entrepreneur with his own start-up companies, Brian’s experience prior to joining QUBIS includes: co-owning an aerospace manufacturing business based in the UK and Poland; co-founding an innovative software company in the UK and Netherlands; establishing the Innovation Commons – a community and shared platform of university Technology Transfer Offices bringing entrepreneurs to work on early-stage projects, and working on numerous national knowledge transfer initiatives as Chair of the Association for University Research and Industry Links (AURIL).
Brian is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals within private equity and entrepreneurship.
The Fund presents the opportunity for alumni and qualifying investors to make an impact investment in spin-out companies formed to commercialise scientific and technological advances made at Queen’s University Belfast ("Queens"). To support the Fund’s pipeline, consideration will also be given to Queen’s Student ventures and spin-outs from partner Universities participating in the Queen’s administered NxNW ICURe Programme. The NxNW consortium encompasses Ulster University, University of Edinburgh, University of Liverpool, University of Sheffield, University of Manchester, and the University of Leeds.
Mehjabeen Patrick
Creative England FundMehjabeen is an ambitious, committed leader with an MBA and over 25 years of experience in investing. Previously, she worked as a Director of Finance for United Nations Association. Now Mehjabeen is responsible for the implementation and running of all operating functions in Creative UK.
Co-Founder
Bristol
Mehjabeen Patrick is Creative England’s Chief Financial Officer, responsible for the implementation and running of all operating functions across the company. With extensive experience as a Finance Director, Mehjabeen oversees all investment activity for the company and has a keen interest in growing its commercial activities and diversifying its income stream. Previously Mehjabeen worked as Director of Finance for United Nations Association and Stakeholder Forum.
Mehjabeen is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship
Creative England was launched in October 2011 as a government initiative and is now an independent company that invests in creative talent and businesses. Via the Fund, Creative England seeks to assist Sapphire Capital Partners LLP to unlock the power of the creative economy by investing in early-stage creative and digital businesses. It will also help the businesses grow by providing mentoring and support.
Mark Pearson
Fuel Ventures FundsMark is a serial entrepreneur, having founded and invested in numerous technology and software companies that result in some high-profile exits. Mark is the founder of the Fuel Ventures funds which are identifying, developing and scaling exciting SaaS, online marketplaces and eCommerce businesses.
Co-Founder
London
Mark Pearson is an award-winning digital entrepreneur and investor. In 2006 Mark began his career in e-commerce. From an initial investment of circa £300, Mark grew MyVoucherCodes into the second biggest voucher code brand in Europe (by revenue and audience) where the network served over two million users in eight territories across Europe and South America and the business employed circa 100 staff in the UK and India.
Mark is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
As the early-stage investors in some of the UK’s fastest-growing technology businesses, the team at Fuel Ventures are able to benefit from high volume deal flow and identify the companies that have the potential to be the next UK high-growth companies.
Daniel Rodwell
GrowthInvest Portfolio ServiceDaniel has been a successful angel investor for over ten years. Currently, he mentors scalable businesses and founded an equity derivatives boutique. He now uses his expertise and knowledge in managing the GrowthInvest platform and is passionate about increasing efficiency in the alternative investment sector.
Co-Founder
London
Daniel Rodwell is the Managing Director of GrowthInvest. Prior to co-founding GrowthInvest Daniel worked in finance for nearly 20 years, managing institutional and private funds focusing on equities and derivatives. Daniel has been an angel investor for over ten years, he mentors growth businesses and sits on numerous panels assessing such businesses. He is passionate about increasing efficiency in the alternative investment sector.
Daniel is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
GrowthInvest works closely with entrepreneurs, assisting with investment readiness, structuring of investment rounds and HMRC compliance. We aim to build strong relationships with the platform businesses, supporting them throughout their journey in order to generate the best possible outcome for the GrowthInvest investors. The platform technology provides the investors on our platform with full transparency on the underlying investments alongside efficient regular reporting at company level.
From our experience at GrowthInvest, the Fund has been designed to consist of three sub-funds, each with a separate investment policy. The first will target Investee Companies that qualify for SEIS Reliefs only. The second will target Investee Companies that qualify for EIS Reliefs only and the third will be a mixed investment policy which will target Investee Companies that qualify for SEIS Reliefs and/or EIS Reliefs. You will be able to choose how much of your subscription to allocate to each of these three sub-funds. The Fund is aiming to exit investments after three to seven years.
Paul Rous
Regenerate Ventures Fund IPaul founded eight companies with four successful exits and has over twelve years of experience within venture capital as a co-founder of Fuel Ventures and Blackfinch Ventures. Paul currently serves as the managing director of Regenerate Ventures which targets ESG focused and climate-positive agricultural innovation.
Managing Director
London
Paul Rous is the Managing Director of Regenerate Ventures and has over a decade of agricultural experience managing an arable farm in Suffolk. He has completed an MBA from Imperial College London and is at present a PhD Candidate in Agricultural Innovation. Paul has founded eight companies with four successful exits, including venture capital experience as founder of Fuel Ventures and Blackfinch Ventures, and AgTech experience from launching a global AgTech start-up alongside Yara International and Shake Climate Change.
Paul is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
Raj Saxena
Velocity Capital FundsRaj worked as Red Bull Energy Drinks, UK & Ireland’s marketing director and has completed an MBA at the Institute for Management Development in Lausanne. Raj is currently the CEO of Velocity Capital Advisors who have extensive experience in marketing and business development.
Co-Founder
London
Raj Saxena has founded a series of successful entrepreneurial businesses across a range of industries. These include MPPI, an Indian media fund, raising money and managing Indian property ventures, a 200mw wind farm development near Istanbul and Soho House Mumbai, a franchise business launching the Soho House brand in Mumbai.
Velocity Capital Advisors Limited was set up as a vehicle to facilitate participation in exciting, young companies, which have technology at the core of their offering. We look to work with companies that are innovative, can scale quickly and provide a product or service that is genuinely useful to their customers, whether B2C or B2B.
The Investment Consultant believes that the UK Consumer Technology Market currently offers attractive EIS investment opportunities and it will source opportunities to allow the Funds to invest in companies that, in the Investment Consultant’s opinion, meet the following criteria:
Have a consumer technology focus
High growth, capital appreciation potential
Have obtained advanced assurance of qualification for EIS tax relief.
Claire Smith
Beyond Impact FundAn inspirational vegan entrepreneur, Claire invests in plant-based and cruelty-free companies. Additionally, she founded 100 Women in Finance in Switzerland. With more than 35 years of experience in the financial industry, she now helps the Beyond Impact Fund to identify ethical early-stage companies which promote the vegan lifestyle.
Founder
Ireland & Switzerland
Claire is a vegan entrepreneur and impact investor who currently splits her time between Ireland and Switzerland. She created the humane investment platform Beyond Investing, which designs cruelty-free programs in public equity markets and undertakes venture capital investment in vegan, plant-based and cruelty-free businesses through Beyond Impact. Beyond Investing is the architect of the US Vegan Climate Index, a stock index which screens out all animal exploitation and fossil fuel from a US market benchmark, listed as a tracker fund on the NYSE as the US Vegan Climate ETF (ticker: VEGN) in September 2019. Further indexes created are the Europe Vegan Climate Index and the Vegan World Index of small to midcap high growth stocks targeted to the vegan theme. She is a co-founder of Beyond Animal, an online platform to accelerate the growth of a thriving vegan economy, through networking and funding services, and President of Beyond Cruelty Foundation, formed to campaign for zero animal exploitation and to fund safe havens for animals.
Previously, Claire was a research analyst, partner and shareholder at alternatives advisory firm Albourne Partners, covering managers globally across systematic quantitative equity, convertible and volatility and hedging strategies. Prior to joining Albourne in 2004, Claire provided bespoke hedge fund research to London funds of funds and published well over 100 articles in the financial press. From 1986 to 1998 Claire was employed at various UBS group companies as a derivatives broker, marketer and structurer. Claire started her career in 1985 as a credit analyst at Chase Manhattan Bank after completing a Masters program in Chemical Engineering and Management at Imperial College, London.
Beyond Impact seeks to accelerate our transition towards a compassionate, cleaner and more healthy world by investing in fast-growing, scalable businesses that facilitate and promote a vegan lifestyle, and in technologies that allow us to replace the products that have traditionally come from animals with new, cleaner versions that avoid animal suffering and reduce environmental damage and risks to health. These investments will have a positive impact on animals, people and the planet, but also present compelling investment opportunities as a result of rapidly increasing consumer demand for cruelty-free, more sustainable products and healthier and higher nutritional content plant-based food options.
Jasper Smith
Vala Capital FundsJasper, a passionate environmentalist and successful entrepreneur, has founded and invested in many companies in the technology sector. He co-founded PlayJam, one of the largest tv and mobile games networks. Currently, Jasper helps Vala Capital to identify innovative startups, transforming them into profitable, sustainable companies.
Co-Founder
London
Jasper Smith runs Vala Capital and has overall responsibility for the Vala EIS Portfolio’s deal flow and mentoring services. He is an entrepreneur who has founded and invested in many companies in the media, technology and engineering sectors. He has achieved a number of successful exits, creating significant shareholder value along the way.
Jasper is supported by a team of experienced investment professionals with backgrounds in venture capital, private equity and entrepreneurship.
The Vala EIS Portfolio builds on the expertise of a group of serial entrepreneurs, who over many years have given blood, sweat and tears to create, build and sell businesses across various industries. We have invested more than £30m of our own money into early-stage businesses and raised more than £75m from other investors for those companies.