Pitalia launches £50m investment fund to back UK SMEs
New investment fund launched Pitalia Capital has launched with £50m to back SMEs across the UK.
The firm, which is part of the Pitalia group of companies and funded by entrepreneur Anil Pitalia, will seek to invest across a diverse portfolio of ambitious businesses. This will include early-stage companies looking for growth capital to scale, as well as backing management buyouts of mid-sized firms.
It will focus on flexible deal structures, enabling its team to support a broad range of businesses by deploying up to £10m per transaction, and it intends to support companies across a diverse range of sectors.
John Davies has joined Pitalia Capital to launch the new investment fund in response to increased demand for capital and support from SMEs.
With more than 20 years’ experience in the venture capital, private equity and corporate finance industries, John joins Pitalia Capital from Seneca Partners.
Over the last six years he has supported several of the firm’s most successful investee companies in his role as investment director.
This includes digital business communications specialist Mission Labs, which it exited in March in a deal valued at more than £40m, providing a 4.2x return to investors.
John was also instrumental in originating and supporting Seneca Partners’ investment in Manchester-headquartered Wejo, a leader in connected vehicle data, which recently announced plans for a $1bn Nasdaq listing.
He sat on the board for over two years and worked closely with Wejo CEO Richard Barlow to support his growth journey.
At Pitalia Capital he will focus on growing the team, targeting new investments and creating a diverse portfolio of businesses.
John Davies, managing partner at Pitalia Capital, said: “We want to back great people who share our values, and it’s as much about who they are as an individual as it is about the business they run. “Whether an entrepreneur needs growth capital to bolster their early-stage company or requires funding to help a more established mid-sized business reach the next stage of its strategy, we’re building a team that will invest in and support management teams as they push forward with their own expansion plans.
“We don’t have the usual restrictions of typical private equity funds as we invest our own capital, not funds raised from third parties.
“That means we can back whoever we want, whatever their unique situation. We therefore have no external pressure to rush to deploy capital or to exit good investments – and this provides us with a far more flexible investment mentality.”
Pitalia Capital joins the Pitalia Group of companies alongside Pitalia Real Estate, which launched in March 2021, and is being led by long-established real estate professional David Lathwood.
