Venture capital from smart entrepreneurs

Who we are
DSW Ventures is a national firm of seed and early-stage venture capital investment specialists focusing on regional UK growth businesses. We invest in technology and tech-led scale-up businesses with talented founders, a defensible position and evidence of product-market fit.
Our typical investment is for £300,000 to over £1 million, as part of rounds of up to £2 million, and is EIS or SEIS qualifying. Investments are funded by the Dow Schofield Watts team, our network of high-net-worth individuals, family offices and institutional investors.
Our team of highly-experienced investors are passionate about providing UK regional entrepreneurial talent with the right funding and the right people to enable them to flourish. We go beyond being just ‘the money’ adding genuine value to our investments via our extensive network of commercial, finance
and technology professionals; our group of over 100 angel investors, many of whom have exited successful businesses of their own; and our team’s experience in helping founders create healthy corporate environments with a scalable platform for growth.
We invest in entrepreneurs like…

In numbers
Investment rounds of up to
£2m
Typical investment
£4.5m
Capital deployed
100
Network of investors
80
Group investment & advisory professionals
Value-added early-stage venture capital
We back founder teams to scale-up early-stage companies. Our primary focus is on software, digital and other technology businesses; but we will invest in businesses in other sectors with a scalable model, protectable market positions and talented founders.
Having established commercial proof with early adopters, our investments provide entrepreneurs with the capital to fund expansion in management and team capability, working capital, geographical footprint and development of technology.
The DSW Ventures team is supported in assessing and validating investment opportunities by our Investment Committee, a group of highly experienced UK technology entrepreneurs, investors and senior executives. Together with our network of over 100 investors, this gives our founders unrivalled access to a huge pool of contacts, capability and experience across a multitude of markets.
Our investor network is open to High-Net-Worth individuals and Family Offices looking to invest in regional start-ups and scale-ups on an EIS or SEIS basis.
There are no sign-up or membership fees for individual investors in our network. Investors are not obliged to invest in our transactions.
