New Manchester venture firm has £2m-£8m sweet spot

Puma Private Equity, the newest specialist growth investor to open for business in the North West private equity and venture capital market, is looking for growth capital investment opportunities and is ready to write equity cheques of between £2m and £10m.

At the launch event in Manchester’s Tattu last week Mark Lyons,  Investment Director, said he is looking to build his team to expand its presence in the North of England.

“I want to build a team to grow in Manchester to bring together high skilled capable people who don’t have to work in London and therefore pay London rents on offices,” he said.

Lyons also told TheBusinessDesk.com yesterday (20 June 2023) that he is looking at follow on investments in the portfolio of Praetura Ventures, where as Director of Investments he was part of the senior leadership team that grew the business to over £125m AUM and invested in over 30 fast-growth, early-stage businesses. 

He said Puma isn’t looking to back MBOs or secondary buyouts, but companies with growth potential.

“Praetura is widely recognised as one of the leading venture capital firms in the North of England in the seed and Series A space, but our sweet spot is in the £2m to £10m space where there are a lack of funders at this level, offering pure equity, and we aren’t looking for leverage or debt support.

“We’re a pure equity investor through VCTs and EIS and we’re all about the issuance of new equity.”

Lyons joined Puma Private Equity off the back of its biggest fund raise to date, and is charged with supporting its expansion in the North.

He also said he was “sector agnostic” but unlikely to invest in life sciences which requires a specialist investment appraisal process.

Sectors he has previously invested in and has an interest in examining opportunities however include Software as a Service (SaaS), leisure, hospitality and tech.

“When fires do emerge we want to give the investors comfort the portfolio isn’t too vulnerable,” he said.

Nationally Puma’s most recent deal an investment into IRIS Audio a cutting-edge audio technology company with a suite of patented products that leverages decades of research into the effects of sound on the brain.

Puma originally spun out of Shore Capital and lists an office in Liverpool on its website, but on the growth capital side of the Business, Lyons is the main contact.

Part of Puma Capital Group, itself part of Shore Capital, the business was founded by David Kaye and boasts 7,200 investors, 98 employees, 61 active investments through its VCTs and EIS products and 664 loans on its books. Puma operates across four divisions – public markets, property, investments and private equity.

Mark Lyons addresses Puma launch event

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