• Pronto Technology

  Participated · Seed · Aug 2015

  Pronto is a London-based, full-stack food delivery startup that owns and operates every step of the value chain—from ingredient procurement and in-house kitchens to its bow-tie-wearing delivery drivers. The company focuses on healthier takes on popular British dishes, committing to low salt, no added sugar, and providing at least two of the recommended five daily fruit-and-vegetable portions in each meal. By limiting its menu and pre-preparing about 80% of each dish, Pronto can maintain an average delivery time of 20 minutes and eliminate minimum order or delivery fees, with meals priced from £8. Containers are 100% recyclable and 70% compostable, reinforcing the firm’s sustainability positioning. Pronto currently serves roughly 1,000 core customers, some of whom order more than once daily and average over five orders per month, suggesting strong repeat usage. Management claims the model drives higher margins than marketplace delivery competitors because Pronto captures the entire transaction value instead of paying a 23% commission fee. Longer term, the founders describe their ambition as building the “food infrastructure of the future,” potentially replacing traditional kitchens and supermarkets.

• UNMADE

  Participated · Seed · Jun 2015

  Knyttan turns industrial knitting machines into something approaching 3D printers, using "revisualisation technology" to simplify programming and enable designers to produce knitwear on demand. The platform lets customers co-create and significantly tweak designs, enabling customized scarves and jumpers with zero inventory because stock is held digitally. By removing the need for expert machine programmers, Knyttan aims to shorten production lead times from days or weeks to hours and accelerate go-to-market speed. The approach supports a zero-stock, on-demand production and distribution model where items are only made after a customer has paid. Knyttan is a Techstars London graduate and raised seed funding to help disrupt garment production and scale its offering. The company emphasizes reducing the complexity of knitwear manufacturing and enabling more designs that have never been made before.

• Adludio

  Participated · Equity · Feb 2014

  Adludio is an AI-driven technology company that delivers premium mobile advertising focused on attention-led, data-driven and privacy-compliant campaigns. Its platform combines data-driven creativity, proprietary technology, automation and AI to design and optimize interactive mobile creative for major brands including Ford, Land Rover Jaguar, Estée Lauder, Nike, Adidas and Microsoft. The company has offices in London and five US cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Detroit) and also delivers services via resellers in Hong Kong and Singapore. Adludio reported 50% growth in the US in 2022 and has continued to increase revenues globally. With new senior hires including Ian Liddicoat as CTO and Dave Ramsay as CPO, the company plans to launch a fully automated, self-service SaaS version of its platform in 2024 to allow customers to manage campaigns directly. Adludio is working with the IAB to develop attention as a metric and aims to help marketers drive engagement without relying on personal data. Adludio is a mobile adtech company that delivers creative campaigns leveraging mobile phone features and its proprietary technology to ensure ads are delivered in the best place at the best time. The company analyzes data from previous campaigns to understand how mobile users engage with advertising and to inform creative decisions. Clients include blue-chip brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Nike, Microsoft, Chanel and LVMH. Founded in 2015 and led by CEO Paul Coggins, Adludio employs around 60 staff worldwide. It maintains offices in London, Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, New York and Los Angeles and has also established presences in US cities including Chicago, Atlanta and Detroit. The company raised funding to accelerate growth in the US and internationally. Future Ad Labs is a UK-based ad tech company that replaces traditional CAPTCHAs with PlayCaptcha, a branded mini-game verification unit. PlayCaptcha presents simple game-like challenges—such as sliding to unwrap a virtual chocolate bar—that verify users while exposing them to branded content. The company sells the ad-facing unit to publishers and brands and positions it as a revenue-generating alternative that does not harm user experience. Future Ad Labs reports a 92% success rate for PlayCaptchas (23% higher than standard CAPTCHAs) and 90% brand recall. It has launched with the National TV Awards and the BBC (via BBC Labs) and has secured campaigns from Heinz, Reckitt Benckiser, and Nestle. The company raised $1M in funding and said it was on track to hit "7-digit revenues" in 2014; it also recently hired a VP of sales from a legacy online gaming company.

• Appear Here

  Participated · Equity · Nov 2013

  Appear Here operates an online marketplace to connect brands, retailers, designers and entrepreneurs with short-term retail space, originally launched to serve the pop-up shop market. Founded in London in 2013 by Ross Bailey, the company launched first in the U.K. and has since expanded to France and New York. It operates offices in London, Paris and New York and aims to make booking temporary brick-and-mortar space as frictionless as possible. The platform says more than 80,000 brands have used its marketplace and over 4,000 exclusive spaces have been listed. The startup raised $12 million in a Series B led by Octopus Ventures, bringing total funding to $21.4 million according to CrunchBase. Management says it will continue to scale internationally, launch more tools and open new locations for its growing community. Appear Here is a marketplace for retail space that connects brands with short-term 'pop-up' shops across the UK. Founded in 2012 by Ross Bailey after he launched his own pop-up on Carnaby Street in London, the platform lists over 600 properties available to hire in the UK. In the last 18 months the company says it has transacted over 500 short-term lets and that some 10,000 brands regularly search its database. It has signed eight of the UK's ten biggest retail landlords, including British Land, Land Securities and Hammerson, and has a deal with Transport for London to market space in Underground stations. The new $7.5M funding will be used to expand customer service and a concierge offering, and to develop online contracts and payments. The company previously raised £1M in November 2013. Appear Here operates an online marketplace that lets commercial landlords list short-term retail spaces and enables brands and entrepreneurs to book pop-up shops, product launches and brand showcases. Founded last year by 21-year-old Ross Bailey out of Forward Labs, the startup aims to make renting short-term retail space as easy as booking a hotel room. The company says it has signed up over 3,000 brands and retailers and offers access to a database of 250 spaces nationwide. Appear Here works with property firms such as British Land, Legal & General and Capital & Regional, and tenant customers including Google, Microsoft, American Apparel and Diageo. It currently employs 12 people and competes in the UK with We Are Pop Up and in the U.S. with Storefront. The company says it will use the new capital to scale operations and continue strengthening its technology team to meet increasing demand.

• EyeQuant

  Participated · Equity · Oct 2013

  EyeQuant is a predictive eye‑tracking SaaS provider co‑founded in 2009 as a spinout of the University of Osnabrück by Professor Dr. Peter König and Fabian Stelzer (co‑founder and CEO). The company offers an AI platform that analyzes webpages to instantly show what users see so clients can create higher‑performing landing pages. Its technology has been used by Google, Groupon, T‑Mobile and Barnes & Noble, among others. EyeQuant raised €500k in funding, according to the article. Backers included Ballpark Ventures, Robin McIlvenny and other unnamed investors. The company intends to use the funds to expand its solution into the mobile sector.

No current team members are available.