Investment company name: Praetura Ventures

No. of Portfolio companies: 60

No. of Portfolio companies in the North of England: 45+

Team size: 45

Website: https://www.praeturaventures.com/

Locations: Manchester

Name three notable portfolio companies:

• Street Group
• Seat Frog
• Modern Milkman

Why founders choose you as an investor?🔗

Praetura Ventures is an award-winning focused VC, born-and-bred in the North of England.

Praised for its early backing of northern success stories such as Peak, Modern Milkman and Culture Shift, the Manchester-based VC has now become known for its ‘more than money’ approach to supporting early-stage founders post investment.

Praetura’s portfolio companies benefit from active mentorship from the company’s operational partners, who are industry-heavyweights that have led businesses such as AO, ANS, Apple, Beerhawk, Dr Martens, OSTC, PA Consulting and MPP Global.

In addition to this, founder get access to their portfolio toolkit which offers significant discounts off central business suppliers. This programme has now saved their portfolio over £7.6m.

Praetura is rated one of the top 20 seed investors in Europe based on anonymous reviews from founders they’ve invested in and not invested in. Their support is known to lead to success, with 54% of their portfolio going on to raise another round at a higher valuation within 2 years.

Their team deliver EIS and VCT funds, alongside NPIFII North West Equity Fund for the British Business Bank and the GMC Life Sciences Fund By Praetura for GMCA, Cheshire & Warrington LEP and Bruntwood SciTech. In 2023, Praetura also launched a cohort investment programme called PraeSeed to help early-stage start-ups in the North.

As one of the fastest growing venture capital businesses in the region, they have a portfolio of over 60 companies with £350m assets under management.

Fund Criteria🔗

GMC Life Sciences Fund By Praetura Investment Criteria🔗

• Based in or relocating to the Greater Manchester, Cheshire or Warrington region.
• The business must have under 250 employees, less than £50m revenue per annum, less than £43m of balance sheet assets.
• The business must have either not made a sale, be within 7 years of their first sale or entering a new product or geography that will increase turnover by more than 50% of average turnover of the last 5 years

The business must be in one of the following sectors

• Pharmaceuticals
• Biotechnology
• Diagnostics
• Life Science Contract Research Organisations
• Healthcare technologies
• Medical devices
• Digital Technologies for Healthcare
• Other relevant sectors agreed by the Fund Manager that align to the Funds’ objectives.

Minimum investment per company is £50k, Maximum investment per company is £2m

Praetura EIS Growth Fund Investment Criteria.🔗

• Based in the UK – Northern focus but invests across the UK
• The funds must be used for growth objectives
• EIS Qualifying (more information on EIS can be found via the Gov.uk website.)
• Sector agnostic but with a preference to B2B businesses
• Proven market fit
• The business must have fewer than 250 employees and can’t have been trading for more than seven years. For knowledge intensive companies, they must have fewer than 500 employees and can’t have been trading for more than ten.
• Gross assets must not exceed £15m before investment and £16m after investment
• Investments between £1m-£3m

Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund 2 (NPIFII)🔗

• Based in the Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire or Merseyside.
• The funds must be used for growth objectives
• Sector agnostic
• Fundraising up to £5m

PraeSeed – yearly cohort investment programme🔗

• Based in the Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire or Merseyside.
• The funds must be used for growth objectives
• Sector agnostic
• Looking for equity investment of up to £200k
• Preseed stage business (under £250k annual revenue)