The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Jun 2026

Seat Unique operates a premium ticketing and hospitality platform that markets original ticketing inventory and provides hospitality and travel packages for rights-holders, venues, artists, sports teams and fans. The company has expanded via acquisitions including P1 Travel and Circuit Hospitality to broaden its capabilities and relationships, notably with venues such as Wembley Stadium, Manchester's Co-op Live and the 16 racecourses run by Arena Racing. Circuit Hospitality strengthened its foothold in Premier League football through agreements with Arsenal and Everton, and Seat Unique has been involved in high-profile events such as former US President Barack Obama's speaking tour. The business is run by co-founder Robin Sherry and chaired by Richard Flint. Seat Unique said it is on course to record £175m in sales this year and aims to double that over the next three years. It is pursuing further acquisitions and international expansion as part of a strategy to scale toward an ambition of a £500m-plus business valuation.

Led · Equity · Dec 2025

Ray Studios runs a growing network of medical tattoo-removal studios across France, Spain, and Belgium, delivering treatments under doctor supervision with picosecond lasers such as the PicoWay. Its proprietary Ray Studios Advanced Performance (RsAP) methodology aims to shorten treatment time, improve outcomes, and boost safety. Over the past 12 months the company more than doubled both its revenue and its physical footprint, now operating 20 studios. Ray Studios has also launched an AI-powered medical decision-support agent and the first dedicated tattoo-removal follow-up app to enhance diagnostic precision and patient engagement. The firm plans to use new capital to more than double its studio network again within the next two years. Additional funds will be directed toward further clinical research, medical leadership, and technology upgrades that optimize treatment protocols and patient experience.

Led · Seed · May 2023

MediShout provides a one-stop app that aggregates suppliers, help desks and operational departments to replace paper, faxes and disparate systems, allowing staff to report issues and receive real-time status updates. The platform is sold mainly to medical device and facilities management companies on a monthly subscription and is also sold directly to hospitals, including NHS trusts. The company says the app can cut repair coordination time roughly in half and notes one supplier is scaling MediShout to more than 100 hospitals in the U.K. and abroad. MediShout has 22 employees and is currently operational in the U.K. and Ireland. The startup has AI work in R&D to predict equipment failures from historical usage and repair data and plans to commercialize that capability. With its latest funding, MediShout is aiming to expand further into mainland Europe and expects to be profitable next year. MediShout is a London-based digital platform and app, founded by NHS surgeon Ash Kalraiya, that enables frontline hospital staff to report and resolve operational issues. The app connects staff, equipment suppliers and service maintenance teams and uses data and AI to predict and prioritise facilities and equipment issues. It is currently being used in six NHS hospitals. Independent research conducted by health economists suggests MediShout could save NHS hospitals £1 million every year. With a new £1 million seed round led by Episode 1 Ventures, the team plans to expand to over 20 hospitals within 18 months. The product was inspired by the founder's experience of procedure delays caused by faulty equipment or missing stock and aims to transform hospitals into smart buildings that run more smoothly.

Participated · Series A · Jan 2022

Vertical Future is a British vertical farming company. It develops agricultural technologies for controlled-environment crop production. The company was awarded a £1.5m grant from the UK Space Agency to design a system for growing crops in a commercial space station. The project aims to develop a prototype for growing crops in space and explore agricultural technologies for potential use beyond Earth. The award represents the company's move into space-focused agriculture, described in the article as something no British vertical farming company has done before. The excerpt does not provide further operational or financial details beyond the grant. Vertical Future develops vertical farming hardware and software technologies and offers operational support and consulting services. The company runs an active R&D programme with the University of Cambridge, Loughborough University, and NIAB, researching yield, nutritional profile improvements, and phytopharmaceutical applications. It has a pipeline of projects in the UK, Ireland, Italy, and Singapore and is pursuing partnerships with major UK retail and logistics brands to accelerate growth. The business aims to produce affordable, higher-quality everyday produce rather than only premium salad and microgreens. The Series A funds will be used to deploy farms, integrate specific manufacturing capabilities, and expand the team, with headcount expected to exceed 60 by the end of Q2 2022. To date, Vertical Future has raised £26.1 million, including the recent £21 million Series A. Vertical Future develops vertical-farming technology and operates indoor 'ethical plant factories', selling produce direct-to-consumer under the MiniCrops brand and to B2B restaurant customers. Its current operations are in Deptford, with a site planned to open in London Fields in November and plans for an additional plant factory in Mayfair. The company supplies more than 100 dining establishments across London, including Quaglino’s, Tom’s Kitchen, Mindful Chef, Chop’d, Kaleido, Sartoria and Lahpet. Vertical Future says it has three years of work and proof of concept behind it and aims to scale both its B2B and direct-to-customer channels. Management includes co-founder and CEO Jamie Burrows and co-founder Marie-Alexandrine, with Lord Nigel Crisp serving as a non-executive board member.

Participated · Series A · May 2021

Impress is a Barcelona-based orthodontic chain that provides invisible aligners and medically supervised orthodontic care. Its product combines proprietary software with rigorous clinical oversight to differentiate from D2C aligner competitors. The company emphasizes clinical excellence and scalable, patient-centred treatment plans supported by in-house R&D. Impress recently acquired DrSmile from the Straumann Group, expanding its operations in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The business is described as Europe’s largest orthodontic chain and aims to be one of Europe’s largest health tech companies by revenue. With the new capital, Impress plans to open over 20 flagship clinics by 2025 and pursue additional market entries to broaden access to orthodontic care. Impress operates a chain of orthodontic clinics and a proprietary digital platform that uses 3D scans, panoramic X-rays and telehealth apps to monitor patient progress and support treatment. The company emphasizes fully digitalized processes enabled by its own product and software, integrating close contact between patients and medical teams. Impress currently has a presence in 130+ European cities across eight countries and runs clinics in southern Europe. It was founded in 2019 by orthodontist Dr. Khaled Kasem and entrepreneurs Diliara and Vladimir Lupenko. The company plans international expansion beyond its current southern European footprint. Financially, Impress has been raising growth capital to support expansion and product development, most recently pursuing a large Series B round. Impress operates a chain of doctor‑led orthodontic clinics that combine 3D scans and panoramic X‑rays with a digitally enabled patient experience. The company emphasizes a design‑forward, modern clinic model and automation of key parts of the value chain to optimize costs. Impress says its doctor‑led digital approach has delivered better conversion rates and treatment quality. It currently operates 75 clinics across Spain, Italy, the U.K., France and Portugal. The company reports it is approaching €50 million in annual run‑rate and projects €150 million of revenue in the next 12 months. Impress was founded in 2019 in Barcelona by orthodontist Dr. Khaled Kasem and entrepreneurs Diliara and Vladimir Lupenko. Impress is a healthcare startup that offers a new generation of invisible orthodontic aligners via a direct-to-consumer model rather than through medical staff. The company combines an in-clinic experience and its own team of orthodontic experts with a professional mobile app that monitors treatment on any mobile OS. It began operations with transparent aligners in mid-2019 and says it has scaled rapidly, reaching more than 40 cities across Spain, Portugal and Italy within its first year. Co-founded by Dr. Khaled Kasem and entrepreneurs Diliara and Vladimir Lupenko and headquartered in Barcelona, Impress plans to expand internationally and add complementary medical services that fit its business model. Impress closed a €5M seed round to continue expanding its DTC model and to democratize the European invisible orthodontics market. The team emphasizes a scalable business and has prioritized rapid clinical and geographic growth in its early operating months.