Deepbridge Capital is a world away from millennial venture capitalists drinking flat whites in East London. For a start, it’s based in unfashionable Cheshire city of Chester. Second, founder and managing partner Ian Warwick is an ex Royal Navy officer who has a no-nonsense northern attitude when it comes to raising money for tech-start-ups.
Given his oil rig engineer background, Warwick likes to roll his sleeves up and get under the bonnet of companies he invests in.
In that, it’s different from most EIS fund managers, who come purely from financial services.
“There’s an argument that you just invest in as many companies as possible and cross your fingers,” Warwick shrugs. “We don’t see ourselves as a typical fund manager per se but are more hands on, assisting management to build their companies. It was about helping companies commercialise.”