Participated · Equity · Jul 2022

Raylo, founded by Karl Gilbert, Richard Fulton, and Jinden Badesha in London, builds proprietary infrastructure that blends AI-based credit underwriting, embedded financing, and end-to-end device lifecycle management so brands can sell phones, TVs, and other hardware on a subscription basis rather than through one-off purchases. The platform supports leading electronics makers—including Apple, PlayStation, Dyson, and a newly announced partnership with LG—for premium TV and audio subscriptions. Raylo’s model handles risk assessment, asset financing, refurbishment, and resale, allowing partners to launch subscription programs quickly and capture recurring revenue. The company has attracted more than £180 million in total capital to date and counts NatWest among its long-standing backers. With fresh funding, Raylo plans to deepen UK market penetration, expand globally, and gear up for a U.S. debut in the second half of 2026. While no revenue or user numbers were disclosed, the sizable capital base and marquee partnerships underscore momentum toward international scale.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2019

We Are Digital delivers digital and financial training as a service to housing associations, councils, corporates and central government, using a UK-wide network of outreach tutors and delivery partners controlled from a Midlands head office. The company offers in-home and community-based personal training and has provided community investment support to over 100 clients, including national and regional programmes through a managing-agent model. Management says the business is growing at 100% per year and is positioning its services amid a broader social-housing shift to digitisation (the sector comprises roughly 2,000 providers and 4.6 million homes). Proceeds from the recent raise will be used to hire key staff and make technology upgrades to scale operations and impact. Leadership plans to scale further over the next six years and to expand impact in the UK and beyond. Early angels and investor Midven were exited as part of the transaction.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2019

GUURU provides a SaaS platform that combines AI with human support, letting companies leverage a community of experienced product users to help customers in real time and supply feedback to the SmartBot. The platform accelerates the SmartBot's learning curve by using chat feedback to identify and automate frequently repeated questions. Its AI recognises question content and routes queries to the best source of knowledge, enabling around-the-clock customer responses at lower cost. Led by CEO Tonio Meier, the company emphasises its AI with human-in-the-loop technology. GUURU intends to use the new funds to double down on expansion in Europe and continue investing in product development. Financially, the company reported a $5M Series A extension that brought total financing to $7.9M. Guuru is a Zurich-based SaaS company that enables businesses to convert loyal customers into customer-advisors called Guurus and uses a proprietary algorithm to match questions to the appropriate adviser. The platform is already used by customers including Ifolor, Brack.ch, Freitag, Schweiz Tourismus, Sky and Bexio. Guuru says its model delivers support and sales help at substantially lower cost than traditional customer service. The company plans to use new funding to continue technology development and push further international expansion in its home market and in Germany. Guuru has also established a London office and entered a partnership with Wayra UK as part of its U.K. push. Tonio Meier is CEO and co‑founder of the company. Guuru offers cloud-based services that enable brand ambassadors to provide live-chat support and sales assistance to new and prospective customers on company websites. A proprietary algorithm matches each incoming question to the ideal 'guuru' within seconds, speeding responses and helping accelerate purchase decisions. Brand ambassadors are compensated based on user ratings at the end of each dialog. Companies can monitor chats in real time, view aggregate data, and download custom reports, which the startup says can reduce support costs by up to 50% and provide 24/7 on-demand support. Guuru validated its concept with customers including SKY and BRACK.CH and is now preparing to roll out across the DACH region. The Zurich-based startup recently raised funding to facilitate that expansion.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2016

Switchee provides tens of thousands of high-tech devices and a two-way platform to over 130 social housing providers. Its hardware and platform help keep homes warm, safe and sustainable by identifying and preventing mould, lowering heating bills, and improving communications between residents and providers. The company is led by CEO Tom Robins and founder/executive director Adam Fudakowski. Switchee raised £5m in new funding announced in 2024, with backers including Octopus Ventures and existing investor AXA IM Alts. This follows a May 2023 £6.5m investment financing led by AXA IM Alts. The new investment will be used to accelerate growth and advance its Trusted Installer Network while continuing to serve housing providers. Switchee develops its own smart thermostat hardware paired with a cloud service and landlord dashboard specifically for large landlords in the social housing sector. The device includes temperature, light, motion, humidity and air pressure sensors to learn occupancy and a property’s thermal profile, and connects via 2G and WiFi. The system passively optimizes heating settings, which the company says can cut resident energy bills by up to 15 percent, and surfaces welfare and maintenance alerts such as mould risk, poor insulation and boiler performance. Switchee sells hardware to landlords (installed free to residents) and a SaaS dashboard that aggregates sensor data to enable pre-emptive maintenance and welfare interventions. After two years of commercial pilots and a national deployment last winter, Switchee says it is working with over 40 U.K. social landlords, including Flagship Group, The Guinness Partnership and Peabody, plus local authorities and councils. The team emphasizes data privacy and consent, saying it does not share raw occupancy data with landlords and uses derived features only for practical purposes like scheduling visits or detecting abandonment. Switchee is a London, United Kingdom-based cleantech startup that has developed a smart thermostat targeted at large social landlords. Its thermostat detects occupancy and turns heating off when a property is empty to save tenants money. The device also provides aggregated, remote data analytics for landlords to better manage large-scale residential portfolios. Led by co-founder and managing director Adam Fudakowski, the company raised £605k in seed funding. The round was co-led by Mustard Seed Ventures, ClearlySo and Ian Nolan, and supported by Wayra UK (part of Telefonica Open Future) through its acceleration programme and by property-tech fund Pi Labs. Switchee intends to use the funds to expand the reach of its smart thermostat technology.

Participated · Seed · Mar 2014

Buzzmove, launched in 2014 and led by CEO Rebecca Downing, provides an online price comparison and booking platform for the moving industry that enables consumers to inventory belongings digitally and purchase home and household contents insurance. The company also offers SaaS-based professional surveying software to moving companies. Buzzmove participated in Startupbootcamp InsurTech prior to the investment. The startup is based in London, UK. The company aims to use raised capital to continue development of its platform. Buzzmove operates an algorithm-powered online marketplace that lets consumers inventory belongings, compare exact quotes from vetted movers and book removals online. Its front end uses proprietary inventory technology with a drag-and-drop interface and an algorithm at the centre to produce instant, exact quotes. The company launched a London beta in November and plans a nationwide U.K. launch and national marketing campaign to scale vendor participation and user bookings. Buzzmove has an exclusive partnership with the British Association of Removers (BAR) to vet and validate vendors listed on its site. Revenue streams include a 13% commission on removal bookings, referral fees for related services, and a monthly recurring SaaS fee. CEO Becky Downing says Buzzmove is first to market in Europe, with U.S. rival Unpakt as the closest competitor.