A transatlantic venture capital fund has revealed its plan to deploy 拢80 million in UK businesses, with potentially 拢50m earmarked for the regions.
Marc Shirman is investment director at Beringea, which manages $500m in funds in the UK and the United States with over 60 portfolio companies including Manchester-based marketing software business ResponseTap and TH_NK, a digital agency based in Newcastle and Liverpool which was recently sold to global software firm EPAM.
He told 老九品茶Cloud that the landmark 拢9m investment round in Manchester-based FinTech AccessPay 鈥� led by Beringea and including US investors True Ventures and Route 66聽鈥� is a sign of further deals to come.
鈥淚n the regions there are some really strong opportunities to take companies either straight to the US market or, via London, into Europe and then the US,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e plan to deploy a large amount of growth investment in the next two-to-three years by doing more AccessPay-style deals. We are talking 拢2-10m cheques.
鈥淚f we do five deals聽like that over the next two years in the regions, we could potentially invest 拢50m in Series A- and Series B-style rounds.鈥�
Shirman says Beringea may invest around 50 per cent of its available UK funds into the regions, with the other 50 per cent heading into London-based companies, but it depends on the opportunities that arise.
鈥淯ltimately we look to back strong teams with scalable propositions,鈥� he explained. 鈥淲e see 1,100 opportunities a year as a firm and fund between five and ten. I’d expect that to creep up.
鈥淎s a growth investor we also look to add value. By being on the ground in the regions we’re showing a commitment to the North. We don鈥檛 expect our businesses to get on a train and come to London to see us because that’s where our office is and has been for the last 30 years.
鈥淲e recognise that if we want to be taken seriously, we need to establish a permanent presence and have proximity to the decision-makers in our businesses.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know whether you’ve had long-distance relationships, but I have 鈥� and they don鈥檛 work. You need to spend time with people and see them face-to-face.
鈥淓ven with WhatsApp video and group video on iPhone, it鈥檚 not the same as being accessible on a regular basis.鈥�
Shirman, a former co-head of Muzinich & Co.鈥檚 UK private capital fund, is heading up Beringea鈥檚 new Manchester office at WeWork in St Peter鈥檚 Square. He will be supported by Steven Tuckley and Anne O鈥橪oughlin, who have longstanding connections with the firm鈥檚 portfolio of Northern companies and the wider investment community.
Beringea鈥檚 proposition of helping companies take their products to new markets fits well with the essentially borderless nature of software such as that created by AccessPay and ResponseTap, which has a base in the US.
鈥淚鈥檝e picked FinTech as one to push forward,鈥� said Shirman. 鈥淲e’re starting to see quite clever start-up/scale-up companies that are servicing the larger financial services landscape popping up in the regions.
鈥淟ondon is the financial capital of the world but that’s largely reported based on volume of assets and transactions and the scale of the enterprises that service those deals and companies, whereas a lot of FinTech is automating back-office processes and enabling the front office to do their job more effectively.
鈥淲hile London has聽a huge amount of front-office representation within the regions, for example with State Street in Manchester, there’s a lot of back-office representation too.
鈥淭he FinTech opportunity is in understanding how those processes work and what tech stacks needs to be built around them to automate manual processes and make them more efficient.鈥�