Pitalia Capital has launched a £50m equity fund to invest in small businesses across Britain.
The money will be used either to fund growth for early stage companies or to back management buyouts of mid-sized firms.
The fund can deploy up to £10m per transaction.
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Pitalia Capital is part of the Pitalia group of companies and funded by entrepreneur Anil Pitalia.
John Davies, who has more than 20 years’ experience in venture capital, private equity and corporate finance, has been recruited from Seneca Partners as managing partner to spearhead this small business investment drive.
Davies was investment director at Seneca Partners for six years, where his deals included its exit from digital business communications specialist Mission Labs in a deal valued at £40m, giving Seneca a 4.2x return for investors.
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He was also deeply involved in Seneca Partners’ investment in Manchester-based Wejo, the connected vehicle data company, which recently announced plans for a $1bn Nasdaq listing.
Davies said: “What makes Pitalia Capital different is our personal approach to investment. 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.”
Further reading
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