By establishing a local presence, Sure Valley Ventures aims to deliver on its goal to challenge regional disparities across the UK and to access opportunities to invest in the significant and exciting innovation clusters that have developed around creative technologies in the North of England and in the Metaverse and AI opportunities in cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle. The Company will be launching in Leeds with an event at Nexus on Thursday 14 July with guests to include Eve Roodhouse, Chief Officer, Culture and Economy at Leeds City Council, Simon Cunnington, Investment Director and Mark Sims, Director Funds, Venture Solutions at British Business Bank. A launch event in Manchester is planned for September 2022.

This expansion follows the recent announcement of the £95m UK software technology fund, which included a £50m investment from the British Business Bank through its Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF) programme, which aims to increase the supply of equity capital to high-potential, early-stage UK companies.

Mel has a significant network spanning key Northern ecosystems including Yorkshire, Humber, Tees Valley, North East and Greater Manchester. Prior to joining Sure Valley Ventures, Mel worked with the British Business Bank supporting UK Network & Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. Over the past 25 years she has secured extensive experience of building relationships with key regional stakeholders to support innovation, deal flow, access to finance, and SME growth in the Northern regions, in the banking & finance, technology and life sciences sectors Her previous roles include COO of a start-up biotech company (with a focus on fundraising) and CEO of Capital Enterprise North where she promoted funding opportunities between investors and high-growth tech companies. Mel also has experience of working with blue-chip organisations such as Grant Thornton, Financial Times, Thomson Reuters, and HSBC.

George has nearly a decade of experience in the capital markets focusing predominantly on high growth companies. Prior to Sure Valley Ventures, he was an Investment Manager at ACF Investors, an early-stage VC which co-invests alongside domain expert-led syndicates of angel investors. This saw him work on a number of B2B SaaS investments at the firm, where he also played an active role in portfolio management with early stage companies.

George started his investment career at Shore Capital as an Equity Research Analyst, with a sector focus in Online Retail and eCommerce as well as helping companies IPO. He has also held roles at family office Growth Partner LLP and U.S. based investment firm Aegis Capital Corp.

Sure Valley Ventures Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Barry Downes, said, “We are delighted to mark our expansion into the North of England with the appointment of two highly experienced Principals in Mel and George. We are focused on challenging the regional disparities across the UK in terms of availability of start-up funding and their extensive network across the tech communities in this fast-growing tech region, make them the ideal candidates to execute on this mission. We welcome them to the team and look forward to working with them.”

Mel Ellyard, newly appointed Principal, said, “I am excited to champion investment into the rapidly growing northern tech scene with this new role at Sure Valley and very much look forward to working with ambitious founders in the AI/ML, immersive technologies, gaming, eSports, IoT and cybersecurity spaces. The North of England is home to a significant and growing number of tech innovation which has previously been overlooked by venture capital firms and I am delighted to be working with Sure Valley, which recognises the exciting opportunities in this region and the importance of rebalancing the flow of capital to be include underserved areas. The Leeds launch at Nexus on 14 July provides the perfect stage to share our plans.”

George Mensah, newly appointed Principal in Manchester, said, “Manchester is increasingly becoming a hub for exciting, disruptive and high-growth tech businesses. Despite this, these talented founders are underserved by VC investors so I can’t wait bring new opportunities to SVV in the coming months. My core focus will be on identifying the best founders within AI/ML, immersive technologies, Web3, Gaming, eSports, IoT, Cybersecurity and InfoSec. Having recently launched the UK software technology fund, we are in a great position to drive investment into areas which have been typically overlooked by the investment community and being on the ground will enable the Sure Valley Ventures team to activate our platform and create meaningful partnerships which drive value for our founders and investors.”

Leeds Launch

Innovation is thriving in Leeds, from the grassroots community led organisations like Leeds Digital Festival (the largest tech festival in the UK), to world leading R&D, health innovators and tech unicorns. The City creates conditions for success and Leeds has benchmarked itself internationally through working with Massachusetts Institute of Technology on their Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP) and show a commitment to supporting its diverse and talented entrepreneurs.

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education at Leeds City Council, said, “In Leeds we are committed to backing innovators and entrepreneurs because we know that innovation can improve productivity, create good jobs and help address the challenges we face as a society. That’s why we are delighted to welcome Sure Valley Ventures to Leeds, their support of early-stage businesses in areas including immersive tech, healthtech, fintech and cyber security will be extremely valuable to businesses and our wider innovation ecosystem both in Leeds and the wider region”.

Tom Riordan, Chief Executive at Leeds City Council, said, “Risk finance is a vital part of the economy and a significant engine for job creation and innovation. It plays a critical role in the investment chain by backing the next generation of business leaders and funding innovation to advance technological solutions that may help solve some of society’s greatest issues. New sources of funding are vital in the North, and we warmly welcome Sure Valley Ventures to Leeds.”