Top 15 Most Active VC Firms In Manchester

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Updated: January 4th, 2022

Are you looking for a VC firm for your Manchester-based startup?

According to Business Live, Manchester region has been ranked among the top 10 global emerging startup ecosystems. Famous for outstanding industrial roots, rich musical heritage and sporting activities, the City of Manchester is one of the leading cities to invest in the UK.

The city’s startup ecosystem has a digital turnover of €2.9 Billion and registers almost 900 new startups annually. Manchester’s civic and business leaders have demonstrated a desire to ensure that the city has the opportunity to reach its true startup potential.

The City of Manchester has also been home to some of the most influential thinkers and investors. More important, the city is also gaining more attention from Venture Capitalists who recognize that investing in new businesses in Manchester can deliver short and long terms results.

There are a number of successful venture capital firms in Manchester and we've curated a list of the best local firms in the area. Additionally, we provide you with:

Investment size
Funding stages
Typical industries the firm works with
Well known companies the VC firm has invested in

Here's the list:

1. DSW Ventures

Location: Manchester, Liverpool, Cheshire and Lancashire.
Industries: Technology
Investment Range: £300,000 to over £1 million
Stage: Seed and Growth Stages
Companies invested in: ACAI, Avanite, Poptop, Shopblocks, Oneutilitybill.co, 4D Biomaterials, Stress free car rental.

DSW Ventures seed-stage and growth-stage VC firm investing in innovative technology businesses led by talented founders. The VC firms typical investments fall in the range of £300,000 to over £1 million. Their highly experienced investors are passionate about providing entrepreneurial talent with the right funding and the right people to enable them to flourish. Therefore, they go beyond investing their money, to focusing on providing an extensive network of commercial, finance, and technology professionals. Ideally, their overall focus is helping founders create healthy corporate environments with a scalable platform for growth.

Learn more about DSW Ventures ➜

2. Equistone Partners Europe

Location: Amsterdam, Birmingham, London, Manchester, Munich, Paris, and Zurich.
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: €25m and €200m
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: ADM Group, Gardengate, Wealth at Work, GSCM Groupe, Access Industrie, Franke Water Systems, Ligentia.

Equistone Partners Europe is an early-stage VC firm providing capital to support management buyouts. The VC firm also supports buy-ins, equity release, expansion capital, and public-to-private deals. They seek to invest equity of between €25m and €200m or more.

Equistone Partners works closely with the existing management teams, helping them to understand business drivers and the ways in which they can grow business.

Learn more about Equistone Partners Europe ➜

3. LDC

Location: Manchester, Cumbria, Merseyside, Lancashire, and Cheshire.
Industries: Travel & Leisure, Technology, Support Services, Retail & Consumer, Financial Services, Construction, Healthcare, Industrials.
Investment Range: £10 million to £50 million.
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: SRL Traffic Systems, IEG4, Paladone, Mandata, Marmalade Game Studio, Aker Systems, SMH Fleet Solutions, Wifinity, Real Digital, Kingswood.

LDC is a private equity firm investing in some of the fastest-growing companies across diverse sectors ranging from Food & Drink to Healthcare, travel, technology, and support services. LDC has invested more than £850 Million and backed more than 65 management teams.

The VC firm is a private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group and they specialize in offering patient and long-term support helping entrepreneurs achieve their growth ambitions and to build great businesses.

Their typical investments fall in the range of between £10 million and £50 million.

Learn more about LDC ➜

4. Maven Capital Partners

Location: Birmingham, Durham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, London, Newcastle, Nottingham, Reading
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: $100K - $20 million
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: Access Systems, Adimo, Airtime Rewards, Air tube Technologies, Atlantic Foods, Aero Commerce, Attraction World, BioAscent, BioRelate, Atterley.

Maven Capital Partners is leading private equity and property manager seeking to invest in ambitious, entrepreneurial management teams, with the goal of accelerating business growth.

The VC firm backs firms that have shown high-growth potential, providing capital investments in the range of $100K - $20 million. The VC firm enables investors to access attractive, highly curated private equity and commercial real estate transactions.

Learn more about Maven Capital Partners ➜

5. Praetura Ventures

Location: Manchester.
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: £1m - £3m
Stage: Early Stage Venture, Seed, Venture
Companies invested in: Enthuse, FeedStock, Futr, Inotec AMD LTD, LCC, Maxwellia.

Praetura Ventures is a VC firm investing in exceptional founders, advisers, and investors. The VC firm exists to give more than money to exceptional founders, advisers, and founders.

Therefore, they do everything possible to support founders in building the best business they can, while maximizing value provided to investors and freeing up more time for advisers. Praetura ventures investments range is £1m - £3m.

Learn more about Praetura Ventures ➜

6. NorthEdge Capital LLP

Location: Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham.
Industries: Technology, Healthcare, Business Services and Specialised Industrials sectors.
Investment Range: £2m – £50m
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Phoebus, Distology, The Belfield Group, IC Map, Orbis, Future, Platinum, Cloud Technology Solutions.

Northedge Capital invests in startups venturing into Technology, Healthcare, Business Services, and Specialized industrial sectors. The VC firm targets entrepreneurs who recognize the value of having an experienced business partner alongside them to build a better business together.

The professionals at Northedge Capital understand the ups and the downs of growing a business, and so they keep the focus on supporting portfolio companies in every way.

Apart from providing venture capital, the VC firm backs ambitious management teams that recognize the value in having an experienced business partner, providing the expertise needed to run a successful business. They look to invest between £2m – £50m in every business.

Learn more about NorthEdge Capital LLP ➜

7. YFM Equity Partners

Location: Manchester, Leeds, London, Reading.
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: £2 - £6m
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Callstream, Checkmate Fire, Cozart, CPMS, Displayplan, DeepSecure, Eikon, Elucidat, Ferrabyrne, Fishawack Communications.

YFM Equity Partners invests £2Million to £6Million in growth-stage companies, helping them to grow faster. The VC firm has been backing teams and investing in small businesses, helping entrepreneurs grow faster and navigate through an ownership change.

Learn more about YFM Equity Partners ➜

8. KM Capital

Location: Manchester, London.
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: £50k and £300k
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: So Syncd, Qube, Banquist, Humanity, Dash Water, BrandLab.

KM Capital focuses on bringing together its wealth of experience to help support and guide growing businesses as well as to personalize investor-investee relationships. The VC firm invests between £50k and £300k into pre-series A businesses. They endeavour to support and invest in as many entrepreneurs while helping them to drive growth and scale.

The firm aims to work side-by-side with the companies they are investing in, in order to help them grow every aspect of their potential and existing foundations.

Learn more about KM Capital ➜

9. BGF Growth Capital

Location: London, Dublin
Industries: Multi-sectors
Investment Range: £1M - £15M
Stage: Seed Stage
Companies invested in: Paintbox, eflex, Prodrive, Agile Spray Response, BF1systems, Orbex.
No. of Investments made : 370
No. of Portfolio Exits: 65

BGF Growth Capital supports entrepreneurs and innovators who are powering the future of the economy. The VC firm funds early-stage startups with investments of between £1M and £15M. BGF exists to help businesses grow.

The firm also provides access to expertise and knowledge, ensuring the success of beneficiary companies.

BGF invests in advanced technology, artificial intelligence, automotive & aerospace, business services, E-Commerce, Education, and other sectors.

Learn more about BGF Growth Capital ➜

10. Livingbridge EP LLP

Location: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Melbourne, and Boston.
Industries: Services, technology, consumer, healthcare and education sectors
Investment Range: £5M and £100M
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Audiotonix, Better Medical, AJM Healthcare, Adarma, Absolute Collagen, Active Assistance.

Livingbridge is a mid-market VC firm targeting startups within the services, technology, consumer, healthcare, and education sectors.

The VC firm seeks to equip its investees with the tools and the expertise they need at the critical points in their journey and devotes meaningful time and resources to empower entrepreneurs and management teams in order to drive success. Livingbridge invests in established growing businesses. They invest between £5M and £100M.

Learn more about Livingbridge EP LLP ➜

11. Epiphany Capital

Location: Manchester
Industries: Technology, Mediatech, Adtech, SaaS, E-Commerce and healthcare ventures
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: PPC Protect, AeroCloud, TapTrip, CG Hero, R.O.Eye, SingleView, JustUs, PausTV, Ignite Data.

Epiphany Capital invests in excellent entrepreneurs and investors, supporting technology, Mediatech, Adtech, SaaS, E-Commerce and healthcare ventures. The VC firm targets firms that are the early stage, venture and seed stage.

Learn more about Epiphany Capital ➜

12. ECI Partners

Location: London, Manchester, New York.
Industries: Healthcare, marketplaces, insurance, data & analytics, SaaS, EdTech, and SME
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: 4Ways, Auction Technology Group, Avantia, Bionic, CIPHR, Clear Group, Imagesound.

ECI Partners invest in exceptional businesses with an ambition to accelerate every opportunity. The VC firm partners with inspiring people, helping the entrepreneurs overcome the challenges of an ever-changing business world. The VC firm has built a network that seeks to unlock business opportunities all over the world. They target businesses that venture into healthcare, marketplaces, insurance, data & analytics, SaaS, EdTech, and SME Services.

Learn more about ECI Partners ➜

13. Zeus Capital

Location: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh.
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Likewise Capital LLc, LBG Media PLC, Setfords Solicitors.

Zeus Capital is a VC firm that invests resources in facilitating management buy-outs and buy-ins. The VC firm works with both management teams and private equity investors to facilitate their investments, the VC firm offers both sell & buy side support.

The VC firm offers portfolio companies support across their lifecycles, providing early-stage funding, to partial and ultimate exit funding.

Learn more about Zeus Capital ➜

14. Beechbrook Capital

Location: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cork, Frankfurt,
Industries: Sector Agnostic
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage

Beechbrook Capital provides debt capital to privately-owned companies. The VC firm supports acquisitions, shareholder realignments, management buyouts, and roll-out strategies.

Beechbrook has a highly experienced international team of investment professionals committed to helping portfolio companies through their growth journey.

Learn more about Beechbrook Capital ➜

15. Palatine

Location: Manchester, London, Birmingham.
Industries: Consumer & Leisure, Business Services, Technology, Financial Services, Health and Education.
Investment Range: Not Disclosed
Stage: Early Stage
Companies invested in: Cyberfort, Acora, Edays, Electra-Net, FourNet, XLN.

Palatine invests in businesses led by dynamic and visionary management teams looking to drive their businesses through their next phase of sustainable growth. The VC firm also targets commercially driven businesses with the mission to impact society and the environment positively.

Learn more about Palatine ➜

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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