Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Manchester based Director operating in the Venture Capital space. If you think a Director is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Nick Horrocks
Director of GP Bullhound
Nick is a Director at GP Bullhound. He has broad experience in general corporate finance across a range of sectors. Prior to joining GP Bullhound, Nick spent 9 years at Clearwater International in Manchester where he undertook numerous M&A and corporate finance projects working in private equity, debt and corporate transactions both in the UK and overseas. He began his career at HSBC Investment Bank and has also spent time as a strategy consultant. Nick holds a BA in Economics from Durham University and an MBA (with Distinction) from Manchester Business School.
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About GP Bullhound: GP Bullhound is a technology advisory and investment firm that provides transaction advice and capital to entrepreneurs and founders.
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Ged Gould
Senior Director, North West of LDC
A graduate from Manchester University, Ged qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1991. Ged has over 20 years of experience from the advisory arena (with KPMG Corporate Finance), private equity (with Bridgepoint Capital), as well as being the Finance Director of two private equity backed businesses. He has experience of a wide range of sectors including support services, manufacturing and retail. Ged currently sits on the board of four investments, namely ATG Access, Bifold, Independent Group and Antler.
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About LDC: LDC is a private equity company which provides funds for buyouts and development capital transactions in UK unquoted companies.
Simon Braham
Investment Director of LDC
Simon has over 16 years experience in advisory, banking, restructuring and private equity. He graduated from UCL before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in Manchester where he specialised in due diligence for private equity transactions. He joined JP Morgan Cazenove’s Equity Capital Markets team in 2004 covering the small/mid-cap space before joining Bank of Scotland where he provided acquisition finance to support private equity transactions. More latterly Simon was a Director in Lloyd’s Banking Group’s restructuring team leading the restructure/workout of a portfolio of private equity assets. Simon joined LDC at the start of 2011, transactions to date include WRG, Kirona, Metronet and Angus Fire, in addition to a number of bolt-on acquisitions for portfolio companies.
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About LDC: LDC is a private equity company which provides funds for buyouts and development capital transactions in UK unquoted companies.
Craig Hopwood
Investment Director of Maven Capital Partners
Based in our Manchester office, Craig is responsible for new private equity investments across the North of England and also works with portfolio companies in the region. He joined Maven in 2017 from HSBC‘s Leverage Portfolio Management team where he was a Relationship Director responsible for a portfolio of larger private equity-backed businesses across the region. Prior to this, Craig worked at Northstar Equity Investors where he set up and ran the Leeds office with overall responsibility for a new £48m Equity Investment Fund. Craig also previously worked with Aberdeen Asset Managements’ Private Equity team, where he was a colleague to a number of current Maven executives, prior to that Aberdeen team leading a buy-out to form Spirit Capital Partners LLP. Craig has a degree in Business Management from Bradford University and trained as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand before working within the Audit, Transaction Services and Corporate Finance practices at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, based in Leeds, Denver and London.
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About Maven Capital Partners: Maven Capital Partners is a private equity firm that provides a range of funding options to SMEs and investment opportunities.
Dave Furlong
Investment Director of Maven Capital Partners
Based in our Manchester office, Dave is responsible for the execution of new investments for the NPIF Equity Finance fund, and also works with portfolio companies across the region. He joined Maven in 2017 from Infinity Debt Capital Management LLP, where he oversaw the launch and overall management of a new SME/mid-market regional debt fund and originated new private equity opportunities. Previously, Dave held senior positions at HSBC across London and the UK regions, and ultimately ran the Leveraged Finance business in the North West, responsible for the origination, execution and monitoring of a £500m portfolio of leveraged facilities across a wide range of transaction sizes and types. He also held a similar role at Lloyds Banking Group in Manchester. Dave completed an MBA at the University of Liverpool in 2013.
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About Maven Capital Partners: Maven Capital Partners is a private equity firm that provides a range of funding options to SMEs and investment opportunities.
Ryan Bevington
Investment Director of Maven Capital Partners
Ryan is responsible for new investments in the north of England. He joined Aberdeen Asset Management in January 2007 having previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Manchester where he spent over 8 years in their Corporate Finance Private Equity team working as an Assistant Director on a wide range of transactions. Ryan qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers having graduated from Leeds University with an LLB (Hons) Law degree in 1998.
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About Healthpoint, Maven Capital Partners: Maven Capital Partners is a private equity firm that provides a range of funding options to SMEs and investment opportunities.
Ashwin Kumaraswamy
Investment Director of Mercia Asset Management PLC
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About Enterprise Ventures, Mercia Asset Management PLC, South Yorkshire Investment Fund: Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional businesses to achieve their growth aspirations.
Mark Wyatt
Investment Director of Mercia Asset Management PLC
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About Mercia Asset Management PLC: Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional businesses to achieve their growth aspirations.
Claire Alvarez
Director of Foresight Group
Claire joined Foresight’s Manchester office in 2016 from Deloitte’s Manchester practice where she spent six years advising banks and company directors and returning value from distressed SMEs. In this time Claire also completed an 18 month secondment to Barclays Bank Plc. Since graduating from Lancaster University with a 1st class degree in Management, Claire has worked extensively in the North West, initially for KPMG and subsequently at Altium Capital. In this time Claire also completed an MBA for Financial Professionals (with Distinction) through Manchester Business School.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Peter Carway
Investment Director of Praetura Ventures
Pete joined Praetura Ventures as an Investment Director six years ago and remains integral to the investment and fundraising strategies that have seen Praetura raise £100m since 2019. He has led investments into 14 early-stage businesses, including the seed funding for global Decision Intelligence business Peak.AI, which has gone on to raise $50m from SoftBank and become one of Manchester’s most instantly recognisable tech companies. In addition to working on the deal, Pete served on the board and supported Peak’s founders as they grew their business. More recently, Pete completed an investment into Orka Technology Ltd, which is currently ranked as Manchester’s number one early-stage business by Beauhurst. In addition to his investment CV, Pete is a qualified accountant who has held senior finance roles in larger businesses. His passion for supporting SMEs comes from having the chance to start his own venture with a local entrepreneur and old friend, prior to joining Praetura.
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About Praetura Ventures: Praetura have been supporting SMEs since 2011, raising capital and investing in the early stages of business life cycles.
Mark Lyons
Director of Praetura Ventures
Mark Lyons is a Director at Praetura Ventures.
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About Praetura Ventures: Praetura have been supporting SMEs since 2011, raising capital and investing in the early stages of business life cycles.
Liam May
Investment Director of NVM Private Equity
Liam May joins NVM from Altium Capital where he worked for two years as a Corporate Finance Associate, with responsibility for advising clients on deal structuring, execution and negotiation strategy. In 2013, he worked closely with NVM’s Andy Leach to complete the management buy-out of North West based Buoyant Holdings. Prior to Altium, Liam spent three years at Ernst & Young LLP where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He then undertook a number of due-diligence assignments in both M&A and Transactions Services, including GlaxoSmithKline’s successful acquisition of Maximuscle.
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About NVM Private Equity: NVM Private Equity Limited is an independently-owned firm of venture capital managers with over 20 years experience of investing in UK.
Karl Cockwill
Portfolio Director of NVM Private Equity
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About NVM Private Equity, NVM Private Equity: NVM Private Equity Limited is an independently-owned firm of venture capital managers with over 20 years experience of investing in UK.
