£85m close of £95m fund announced by high tech venture capital firm

A tech focused venture capital firm, with offices in London, has announced the completion of an £85m close of a £95m UK software tech fund.

Sure Valley is a seed capital investor in software companies that are focused on bringing a disruptive innovation to market. It plans to invest into 25 software companies from across the UK through its new fund.

The British Business Bank also invested £50m through its Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF) programme, aiming to increase the supply of equity capital to high-potential, early-stage UK companies.

Currently based in London, Dublin, and Cambridge, the Sure Valley team will also be opening an office in Manchester to help access deals in innovation hubs developed around creative technologies in the North of England and in the Metaverse and AI opportunities in cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle.

The first investment from the Fund will be into a Belfast-based company, and the new office is expected to allow better access for Sure Valley’s team to proactively reach out to the creative and innovation clusters in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Sure Valley Ventures managing partner and co-founder, Barry Downes, said: “We are delighted to partner with the British Business Bank and existing and new investors on this new £95m UK software technology Fund. We are excited to expand on our existing London and Cambridge hubs, by opening a new office in Manchester.

“Many cities, including Manchester, as well as Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle, have become dynamic tech hubs for start-ups. As entrepreneurs and founders ourselves, we have been on the other end of the table and therefore understand the challenges that start-ups face for funding.

“A local presence will ideally position us to execute on exciting deals in this region and we are always willing to travel across the UK to meet exceptional leaders, to invest in their businesses and help them scale and grow in international markets.”