Built for deeptech companies that are ready to win.
We only take on companies we believe in. That means when we work together, we are fully in: our team, our capital, and our commercial capability. We look for three signals that tell us we can turn your technology into real revenue.
Why we are this strict
For companies we believe in we can invest part of our own fee, sometimes all of it, instead of invoicing it. When we do that and the programme does not produce revenue, we lose money with you. That is the whole reason this list is three items long instead of twenty. A longer scorecard would let us talk ourselves into companies we should not take.
All three have to be present at the same time. A strong team with technology that is still two years from a test has nothing for a buyer to evaluate. Excellent technology in a market where nobody owns the problem produces good meetings and no orders. A real market with a team that cannot join customer calls stalls the first time a buyer asks something technical.
When two are strong and one is weak, the answer is usually no, and sometimes not yet. Not yet is a real answer. Plenty of companies we turn down are good companies at the wrong moment, and we would rather say that in the first conversation than in month nine.
We also get this wrong sometimes. We have been too cautious about markets that turned out to be ready and too optimistic about teams that could not free up the hours. The three criteria are how we make the judgement, not a guarantee that the judgement is right.
Frequently asked
How is the investment priced?
What we invest converts into equity at the next qualified funding round, at the price that round sets, with an agreed discount for coming in earlier. If there is no round yet, we agree the mechanism up front rather than a fixed percentage. It is the same mechanic accelerators use: the round prices the company, and we come in just below it.
What happens after I apply?
You tell us what you have built and where you are commercially. If it is clearly not a fit, we say so quickly and tell you why. If it might be, we talk, and we ask the questions on these three pages. Nobody is sold anything in that conversation. If we both want to go ahead, we agree the scope, the split and the stake, and start.
How do you handle a no?
We say no plainly and early, and we say why. Sometimes the answer is not yet: the technology is too far from something a buyer can evaluate, or the team cannot free up the hours yet. That is a real answer. We would rather give it in the first conversation than in month nine.