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WE’RE
VELOCITY CAPITAL
WE AREN’T JUST A FINANCE SOLUTION, WE’RE A NETWORK OF FOUNDERS AND EXPERTS WHO APPRECIATE THE CHALLENGES OF ACCELERATING GROWTH.
WHAT MAKES
VELOCITY CAPITAL DIFFERENT?
ENTREPRENEURIAL MANAGEMENT
The Velocity founders have all successfully built, scaled, and exited businesses.
ACCESS TO MARKETING CREDIT FUND
Investee companies may benefit from non-dilutive user acquisition funding via Velocity Juice to supercharge investor returns augmented by the Velocity founders’ experience in marketing.
SECTOR FOCUS
Velocity is one of the UK’s leading VCs in B2C/D2C businesses.
SKIN IN THE GAME
Over £3m of the Velocity team’s wealth has been invested into Velocity underlying investee companies.
FEES
There are no upfront fees to investors (Performance-based).
POST-INVESTMENT TRANSPARENCY
Investor holdings can be viewed, valuations tracked, and the ability to download EIS3 certificates.
DIVERSE FOUNDERS
Velocity is proud that out of 46 companies the (S)EIS Funds have invested in, 44% have female founders and 36% have an ethnic minority.
SUCCESS STORIES
THE VELOCITY MANAGEMENT TEAMS TRACK RECORD
57X
1400X
19X
33X
WE ARE NOT JUST FOUNDER-FRIENDLY,
WE ARE FOUNDERS
WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE BUILT
AN EXCEPTIONAL AND DIVERSE TEAM
RAJEEV SAXENA
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
Rajeev began his career in advertising and has worked for TBWA, Leo Burnett and HHCL. Formerly the Marketing Director of Red Bull Energy Drink, UK & Ireland, he completed an MBA at the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne. He has since founded a series of successful entrepreneurial businesses across a range of industries. These include MPPI, an Indian media fund, raising money and managing Indian property ventures, a 200mw wind farm development near Istanbul and Soho House Mumbai, a franchise business launching the Soho House brand in Mumbai. Rajeev is a member of the Investment Committee.
BILL BUNGAY
FOUNDER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Bil co-founded Beattie McGuiness Bungay (BMB), an advertising agency that went on to become one of the fastest growing agencies and considered one of the most creative advertising and marketing agencies of the decade. BMB went on to create nationally famous, highly effective campaigns for brands such as: McCain, Tui, Carling, and Virgin Money. His entrepreneurial spirit, combined with almost 30 years of creative and marketing experience, has helped him bring many ideas to fruition, for example Purple Bricks, and mentoring numerous early stage businesses. As deputy chairman of BMB, Bil maintains a strong connection with the agency he co-founded. Bil is a member of the Investment Committee.
THOMAS LINDUP
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Tom began his career as a corporate finance lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP, advising on debt and equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions, representing both financial institutions and corporates across an array of sectors. Tom left Sidley Austin to join Van Elle Limited as group managing director in March 2015, successfully steering the group through its AIM flotation in October 2016, by which time it was the largest, most profitable geotechnical engineering company in the UK. Tom is a member of the Investment Committee.
JAMAL HIRANI
HEAD OF PORTFOLIO OPERATIONS
Jamal has founded, grown and exited start-ups across a range of industries including Technology, Retail, Investment and gaming. Within Velocity, Jamal focuses on the establishment of operational and financial milestones with portfolio companies, ranging from preparation to launch through to scale up. In addition, Jamal continually develops the Velocity ecosystem from introductions to UX developers through to recruitment, co-funding and operational partnerships.
KIRSTEN GOHL
PORTFOLIO MANAGER
Kirsten started her career at Deloitte in Johannesburg, where she qualified as a CA(SA) chartered accountant. She moved to London where she joined boutique corporate finance firm Corbett Keeling, advising SMEs on M&A and fundraising. She has subsequently worked in an investment capacity at Nexus and Dream International. Kirsten joined the Velocity Capital team in 2021.
RICHARD GUY
VENTURE PARTNER
Richard has over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, working primarily within business to business software and professional services, and has held a number of senior roles at both blue-chip and boutique organisations. Following graduation with an MBA from Imperial College Business school in 2013, Richard became an early stage investor and Chief Operations Officer for Focus Group Europe Limited, which was a multi-award winning company, and which in 2016 was listed in the UK’s top 100 fastest growing technology companies. Richard successfully steered the company through a number of years of >100% year on year revenue growth and subsequently executed a company exit for the shareholders via a trade sale to Accenture.
JOE HARRIS
PORTFOLIO MANAGER
Having studied Economics at the University of Exeter; Joe started his accounting career working in the Operational Finance teams at highly recognisable, consumer facing brands Moonpig and uSwitch. During his time at uSwitch, he was part of the team that successfully integrated Money.co.uk‘s reporting into the wider group post purchase. From here Joe made the move into Commercial Finance at Zoopla, where he was responsible for modelling the expected outturn for Zoopla and the Property Software Group, as well as business partnering with the directors of the separate sales channels.
ALEX JOHNSTON
DIRECTOR
Alex is an independent app developer and investor operating in the emerging message technology sector. He also serves on the board of the Duke of York’s ‘Pitch at Palace’ global innovation platform, Tim Berners-Lee’s ‘Web Foundation’, Singer Asia and Freuds – the UK’s leading communications agency, where he was a founding partner. Prior to his current roles, Alex was Executive Vice President of Omnicom – advising on digital strategies and managing their digital incubation initiatives. He was a senior communications adviser to PepsiCo, Inc. and managing partner of Fleming Media, a rights and media acquisition fund. Alex is a member of the Investment Committee.
LOUISA PHILLIPS
BUSINESS OPERATIONS
Louisa started her career at Exact Financial Systems, a software house specialising in delivering a platform to alternative and tax efficient investment managers. As a business analyst at Exact, Louisa was responsible for implementing client systems and providing dedicated support. Louisa studied politics and international relations at the University of Kent and Bogazici University in Istanbul.
ABBI TOBIN
CFO
Abbi is an ACA chartered accountant; starting her career at PWC in Leeds, before moving to London to work as an outsourced consultant for Media, Marketing and Tech start-ups and SMEs. Since then she has worked for a multi-national AIM-listed tech business, an omni channel retailer, and most recently at Tide, the Fintech challenger bank, and was part of the team that helped deliver their winning BCR bid. She studied French, Business Management and Spanish at Newcastle University, L’Université de Haute Savoie, France, and La Universidad de Granada, Spain.
MICHAEL WHITFIELD
CHAIRMAN
Michael has worked in financial services, employee benefits and technology for over 35 years. In 2000 he left Alexander Forbes, where he was European managing director of their financial services division, to set up his own technology business, Thomsons Online Benefits. Thomsons software, Darwin, became the world’s leading software for benefits administration, and employee engagement, and is used in over 90 countries. In 2016, Michael sold Thomsons to Mercer, part of MMC, a NYSE listed company. Since leaving in 2017, Michael has invested in, and become a director of, several high growth technology businesses. Outside of his commercial interests, Michael is Chairman of Barnes RFC, a Trustee of Jason Leonard’s Atlas Foundation, and on the Business Development Boards of Try For Change and Dallaglio Rugby Works.
ASHLEY SMITH
HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Ashley has a wealth of experience dealing with IFA’s, Family Offices, and HNWIs having worked in the tax-efficient space for over 7 years. Prior to starting at Velocity, Ashley worked at one of the UK’s leading tax-efficient investment platforms. As Head of Business Development at Velocity, Ashley focuses on the establishment and management of our intermediary relationships across the United Kingdom. Ashley is an ex-professional rugby player who represented London Wasps, London Welsh, Cornish Pirates, and now plays international Rugby 7s for Jamaica.
HUGO SUNNUCKS
PORTFOLIO MANAGER
Having studied Business Finance at Durham University, Hugo started his career as an entrepreneur by founding and exiting a tech start-up which manufactured and managed low carbon ebike fleets for the likes of Deliveroo and Pizza Hut. The company was acquired in 2017. Post acquisition, Hugo worked in venture capital backing high growth consumer brands and private equity acting as a consultant advising on strategic projects. Hugo joined Velocity in 2022 where he focusses on supporting later stage companies within the Fund.
RAHIM HIRANI
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Rahim has spent his career working in enterprise software development and consulting. He has engaged in projects for numerous blue chips and government department including BP, Accenture, HMRC, Lloyds TSB Registrars, FICORA (Finnish Government), Beazley and Royal Sun Alliance.
Rahim co-founded Damson Cloud over a decade ago, helping organisations such as Zoopla, Shazam and uSwitch transition their workloads to the Cloud. In his spare time, Rahim loves to immerse himself in all things Sci-Fi.
KYLE SOULSBY
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Kyle has over 10 years' experience within Financial Service and entered the world of Asset and Wealth Management as an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) in Canada where he grew and later sold his profitable book of business before returning home to the UK. With lots of experience with HNW, IFA's and Family offices he went on to lead and build out the sales effort for a young start up, alternative property investment platform, before focusing in on the exciting space of Venture Capital. Outside of work Kyle plays hockey for Henley, helps operates a small family olympic weights business, and can often be found with his head in a good fiction novel.
ZAC MORRISON
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE
Zac found his passion for Investment & Finance whilst studying at the University of Nottingham. He joined the Economics and Finance Society and took part in several Wealth and Investment internships. He Started his career in International Asset Management and Capital Introduction after graduating from University. He went on to join a London based Private Wealth Manager focusing on traditional equity investment. Zac is excited to now specialise and explore the Venture Capital space. In his spare time Zac can be found volunteering in London and has recently discovered a love for Crossfit training. He is also currently studying for the Investment Management Concepts qualification.
