Website: www.techstart.vc
Contact email(s): NorthernIreland@techstart.vc or Scotland@techstart.vc
About Techstart Ventures
Techstart Ventures is a seed stage venture capital investor for the best and most ambitious entrepreneurial founding teams in Scotland and Northern Ireland. We seek to be trusted peers who help founders realise their vision through experienced and timely support. With our capital and backing, founders can focus on customer development, validating their business model and growing sales. Techstart provides support for early stage, innovative SMEs and univeristy spin-outs through its equity funds.
Our investment strategy and operating model have been developed by investment and operational staff with decades of directly applicable experience.
Our proven combination of high volume deal flow sources, commercial founder friendly terms, speed of operation, and highly developed Series A networks mean that we are uniquely placed to deliver a high-volume added value seed investment strategy. Our strategy involves seeking to syndicate at the seed stage followed by a move towards external Series A.
Our interest in immersive technologies
Techstart invests in a wide range of innovative technology companies addressing large market opportunities. We are more interested in the problems that immersive technology is addressing than the specific type of technology (AR/VR/MR). With the diverse use cases for immersive technology we expect it to impact numerous sectors in the future. We currently have 4 portfolio companies which could be classified as immersive.
Our preference would be to engage with opportunities which include, but are not limited too immersive: devices, products, platforms, software and/or hardware.
The value we can add to your company beyond capital
Techstart has taken the time to develop a unique strategy and operating model developed by investment and operational staff with decades of directly applicable experience. Our team’s credentials include experience gained in high growth export orientated companies that have raised local and international investments, created high value jobs and gone on to exit. This underpins our ability to provide support around common early stage challenges including:
- Organisational development, including issues around growth, leadership and focus;
- Hiring and board building, especially the “sleeves rolled up” mentors who can help less experienced founders;
- Achieving product/market fit, refining business and revenue models;
- Strategy development; and
- Funding strategy development.
Specifically, in the area of immersive technology, 3 of our team currently sit on boards of immersive companies and are well versed in helping these companies identify and tackle start up issues. Also, one of our team is a Director of UK Games Talent and Finance CIC which runs the UK Games Fund and Tranzfuser programmes. In this role Mark Hogarth has been involved in reviewing close to 1,000 video game projects, of which c.150 have gone on to receive support or funding from one of these programmes. Many of these projects include immersive elements and several companies that have gone through these programmes have successfully developed and sold immersive projects into both creative and enterprise sectors. Mark’s relevant network includes contacts that span investors, developers, publishers and platform owners.
Our investment would complement Innovate UK Grant funding to help companies grow and scale with a particular focus on those looking to further develop their product offerings and grow their teams