- 5 mins
- Article
- Raising Finance
- Obtaining Funding
Interviewing the innovation economy's investors: Committed Capital
At HSBC Innovation Banking, we have the privilege of working alongside visionary founders and the funds that back them. This series of short interviews introduces key innovation investors.
Committed Capital embodies the spirit of the UK's innovation economy.
I recently spoke to VC Investment Manager Jamie Harris about their approach.
Please tell us a little bit about Committed Capital and your investment thesis – sector, jurisdiction etc?
Committed Capital is a Series A, technology-focused venture capital firm that has been investing in and supporting exceptional UK-based entrepreneurs for over 20 years.
We believe ‘Committed’ best describes our approach to investing: we are high conviction investors who prefer to lead rounds and support our entrepreneurs through multiple fundraises.
We are sector agnostic in our outlook and focus on identifying and evaluating specific segments of market verticals that are traditionally poor adopters of disruptive technology but are undergoing significant changes. This catalyst could be regulation, demographics, or a new technology, but it will be where we believe the change will confer a significant advantage to an exceptional new entrant.
This approach in our most recent £100m EIS-eligible fund has yielded eight exits so far at 2.9 times funds invested and an RoI of 34.7% IRR.
What trends do you expect to see in the next 5 years in the sector that you focus on?
We expect to see a wave of new company formation over the next 5 years here in the UK. From a first principles basis we believe the UK is among the very best places in the world to start a business with access to world class talent through our universities and global companies, immediate access to a large market and deep pools of early-stage capital relative to other countries.
The specific change in the last two years has been the layoffs we have seen in the tech sector, predominantly driven by the large incumbents. Many of these firms are akin to ‘aircraft carriers’ for the best talent in the world and we have begun to see many of the most entrepreneurial individuals start their own companies here in the UK.
Why did you choose HSBC Innovation Banking as your banking partner?
We chose HSBC Innovation Banking because, like us, they’re committed to supporting companies and their founders through multiple stages of their growth journey. Their Early-Stage and Venture & Growth Practices will be able to offer us and our portfolio companies the network, services and expertise they need from initial investment through to IPO or exit.
