Mercia Asset Management – one of the UK’s most active investors in early-stage tech companies and SMEs – has opened a new office in Bristol to help build its presence in the South West.
Mercia, which has been investing in the region for over ten years, will now have a dedicated team based in the city. The Bristol team will be based in the Engine Shed and will be led by Fund Principal Julian Dennard, a former Investment Director with the South West Venture Fund. He has been joined by new recruits Rafael Joseph, who previously worked at the Development Bank of Wales, and Adam Watts, who was previously with Wealth Club in Bristol.
Mercia, which is based in Henley-in-Arden in the Midlands and has eight regional offices, offers a wide range of funds from seed and venture capital for early-stage businesses to growth and debt funds for more established SMEs. Its recent investments in the South West include Bath-based mapping technology firm Living Map, Cheltenham-based workflow software provider Enate, and Exeter-based Ad Tech firm Distil.
The South West team will be looking in particular for ambitious companies seeking to raise an initial investment of between GBP500k and GBP5 millio across sectors including Life Sciences, Deep Tech, Clean Tech and Software.
