What We Do
YYX Capital provides advisory services to family offices and UHNWI's seeking exposure to early and growth stage venture deals in tech. We have industry leading expertise across the following sectors: e-Commerce, Consumer Internet, Fintech, SaaS and B2B. We align ourselves with our co-investment partners by investing alongside you in each and every deal.
Whether as founders, senior executives or investors, YYX partners have been involved in the creation of 7 £1bn+ businesses within our sector over the last decade. We use this deep domain knowhow to identify and execute a handful of highly curated deals each year. As well as capital, we bring industry leading expertise across all pillars of growth to the companies we invest in - at the same time we provide our co-investment partners diversified exposure to our sectors of expertise.
Crucially though we’re not a fund - we operate on a deal-by-deal basis, charging no management fee, renumeration from our partners comes solely from a share of realised profits. The YYX Capital investment strategy avoids the over diversification that's rife in the VC world as fund sizes have swelled - as a result the YYX strategy has consistently outperformed the leading VC Fund benchmarks since inception.
Our focus is on early and growth stage tech companies
We invest post-proof of concept and, while the companies we invest in don’t have to be profit making, we do need to see a clear path to profitability in the short to medium term.
Consumer, E-Commerce & Fintech
SaaS & B2B
Our vision has
a longer horizon
YYX Capital fuses private equity and venture models. We look to deliver impact to our investments, bringing with us deep operational experience. The most significant value we add is in branding and marketing. Both online and offline, our team have created and elevated some of the largest and best recognised global brands of the last century!
We look for teams who have relentless drive and who can clearly articulate their value. A combination of business acumen, energy, industry expertise, courage and honesty are intrinsic to our beliefs and ultimately the people we choose to work with. We respect founders who are continuously learning and are informed with how markets and technologies change to suit their needs. While they lead the way, we are positioned to guide and steward them as they embark on building successful businesses of the future.
We are in the fortunate position to also count on the instrumental support of our investors and mentorship network. This allows us to have a differentiated level of service that we’re able to offer our portfolio companies, to help them scale their businesses. This ecosystem has been carefully assembled to include a myriad of entrepreneurs, angels and seasoned executives of profoundly successful firms. Whether that be refining business plans, sourcing key talent or bridging the gap between upstart and the capital markets- we’ve seen it all.
We like sound,
long term strategies
We back them with patient capital; we’re not a VC fund with set cycles. We pair the benefits of technology with conventional businesses to combine tech multiples with reliable revenues.
Branding & Marketing Support
Our team have created and elevated some of the largest and best recognised global brands of the last century.
Proprietary Deal Flow
As well as our extensive personal networks, YYX is also the principle backer of the Creator Fund. Creator Fund is a highly valuable opportunity sourcing channel for YYX, giving us proprietary access to the best pan - European seed deals.
CF implements a unique model which backs the strongest community of student entrepreneurs, consisting of founders across Undergraduate, MBA, Master’s, and PhD programs in Europe.
The fund is lead by entrepreneurs under the guidance of Jamie Macfarlane, who spearheaded the highly successful DRF model in the US.
Further to initial capital, CF companies are supported by a network of serial entrepreneurs who mentor & coach the founders as they scale.
YYX Capital has forged relationships with the industry leaders, to bolster deal flow and further consolidate access to the hottest deal flow on the Continent.
In addition to proprietary deal flow, CF is a collection of the most innovate and dynamic thinkers across Europe. The rich talent pool is leveraged across our entire portfolio leading to improved speed, decision making and cross-pollination of ideas.
We also have great relationships with the following organisations:
We also have great relationships with the following organisations:
Investment Range
Our initial investments typically range from £500k to £20m, with the possibility of participating in further rounds. We provide a highly flexible approach to deals, not simply providing our own capital, but also access to our extensive investor network for larger follow on funding rounds.
We also venture build, click to see moreOur Team
Michael Jackson
Chairman
Michael Jackson has a law degree from Cambridge University and qualified as a chartered accountant before spending five years in marketing for various US multinational technology companies.
From 1983 until 2006, Michael served as a director and chairman of FTSE 100 company, The Sage Group plc, and was also the chairman of PartyGaming plc, another FTSE 100 company.
Michael founded Elderstreet Investments Limited in 1990 and merged with Draper Esprit Plc in 2017. He is a director of various public companies including Netcall Plc and Access Intelligence Plc.
James Cox
Managing Partner
James started his career in 2007. Prior to entering venture investing, James was the Founder of a dynamic hedging FX business that now trades in excess of $120 Billion USD of foreign exchange per month.
He then has spent the past 8 years advising and funding technology companies including SuperAwesome, AirSorted, Monese, Waldo and many more.
James is also the founder of Simba Sleep, the leading direct to consumer sleep business. Under James’ leadership, as CEO, Simba grew from zero revenue in February 2016 to £100m+ revenue run rate by March 2018, making it one of the fastest growing consumer businesses on the planet. Simba was rated the number two in the 2018 Startups 100 table and a member of Tech Nations Future Fifty program.
Julian Barnett
Partner
Julian started his career at Close Brothers in 1999 managing a UK investment portfolio and building risk, quantitative and valuation models. He subsequently joined Polar Capital in 2002 to co-manage the Polar Capital UK Market Neutral Fund.
In 2004 he launched the Polar Capital Paragon (Global) Fund, which was one of the best performing hedge funds in the world for the 5 years through 2008. After leaving Polar Capital in 2009, Julian founded Ridley Park Capital and launched the Ridley Park Capital Paragon Fund in April 2010, which was one of the largest European Fund launches since 2008.
In December 2012, Julian decided to return external capital and in January 2013 he founded Cluny Hill Capital in order to manage his personal & family assets. Julian is a CFA charterholder and has a certificate of Company Direction.
Charlotte Harper
Partner
Charlotte spent four years as Group Marketing Director at Zoopla. She was part of the core ‘leadership’ team who brought Zoopla to the stock market in their $1.6 billion IPO of June 2104.
Prior to joining Zoopla, Charlotte headed up Match.com’s UK business as its Managing Director. She started her career at Mars before joining BSkyB as Marketing Controller. In 2001, she moved to O2 as Brand Director before joining Travelocity as it’s UK Marketing Director.
She is one of less than a handful of UK marketeers to have helped transform a consumer facing tech brand from relative obscurity to a ‘unicorn’ stock market listing. Charlotte has also advised Transferwise, eHarmony, Uber, Funding Circle, Treatwell, Lyst, Home Away, Readly and many more.
Nicholas Shekerdemian
Partner - SaaS and Enterprise
Nicholas is a two-time founder and Thiel Fellow. He studied Chinese at Oxford University and at 19, founded 'Teaching by the Top' - a highly profitable EdTech marketplace platform which provides an educational gateway to the West for Chinese students.
At 20, whilst still at Oxford, Nicholas co-founded Headstart - a next generation recruiting platform designed to help organisations use Machine Learning insights to recruit in a data-driven, inclusive and socially responsible way. Since graduating Y Combinator, Headstart has grown to service a number of global enterprises including Vodafone, Accenture, Travelex, BP and Smiths, with offices in both the UK and the US.
In February this year, Nicholas was the youngest person to be listed in the 'Social Entrepreneurs' category of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and is now investing in B2B and Bio-Tech companies.
Sir John Hegarty
Venture partner
John was a founding partner of Saatchi & Saatchi in 1970. John was subsequently a founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) in 1982, which now has 7 offices worldwide, including in London, New York and Shanghai.
John has been central to advertising for over 6 decades, working with brands such as Levi’s, Audi and many others. John has received numerous awards including a D&AD President’s award for outstanding achievement, and received a knighthood in 2007.
John has written 2 books; ‘Hegarty on advertising- turning intelligence into magic’ and ‘Hegarty on creativity- there are no rules.’ In addition, John has also been an active venture investors for over a decade, as well as many other successes. John stewarded Camden Brewery as Chairman from startup to their exit to AB Inbev.
Raoul Shah
Venture Partner
Raoul launched Exposure in 1993 – a creative communications agency that joins the dots between brands, culture and consumers. He is passionate about bringing people together to share, inspire and collaborate. Exposure London was followed by New York (2003) Tokyo (2008) and Paris (2018) – four culturally influential cities that have always inspired him. He splits his time between extending Exposure’s global influencer network and managing global brands including Levi’s®, Nike, Coca-Cola, Dr. Martens, Barbour, Uniqlo, Zalando and Converse alongside artists, start-ups and pioneering new brands including Bradley Theodore, Christopher Raeburn, SIMBA, Bumble, Noah, Pentatonic and No.One Studio.
In 2007, The Guardian voted Raoul as the most influential ethnic minority working in media. He has been in the PR Week Powerbook every year since 2007 and has been featured in numerous global blogs and websites commenting on the power of influence and entrepreneurial culture. He was a trustee of the British Council (2008 – 2014), a member of the Promote London Council for the Mayor of London (2009 – 2011), and has been part of the advisory board for the London Design Festival since 2014. Creative Review recently listed Raoul amongst the Top 50 Creative Leaders in the UK.
He collects ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs and is currently writing a book about travel, peace and privacy. His door is mostly open but when it’s shut, he’s probably spending quality time with his family in Annecy.
Tom Teichman
Venture partner
Tom Teichman has been named Britain’s most successful start-up backer (as per the Evening Standard, 2015). Tom has spent his career in finance, commencing in insurance, before floating SPARK Ventures, one of the world’s first listed VC funds.
SPARK has invested in companies such as Lastminute.com, MADE.com, Mergermarket, Squawka, NotOntheHighStreet.com, Simba Sleep, Kobalt Music, Elevate Direct, Mind Candy, and more.
SPARK has had exits worth over £1 Billion to the likes of Dell, France Telecom, and the Financial Times and several IPO’s.
David Hickson
Venture Partner
David has been founder, or founding member, of five technology businesses that have raised close to £100m in venture/investment capital, and are in aggregate valued at close to £1bn. Previous to that he was an early employee at lastminute.com, where he held director level role, and played a pivotal role in its $1bn exit to Sabre Travelocity.
As part of the founding team, David is presently Director of Strategic Development at Founders Factory a global venture accelerator/incubator that has raised ~$60m from corporate investors including L’Oreal, Aviva, Guardian, EasyJet, Holtzbrinck and CSC. His role is to help both the Factory & its portfolio with their strategic growth options (including capital raising) and has mentored close to 100 high growth technology companies - a number which will double over the next three years.
Ollie Horsnall
Partner
Ollie started his career with an AIM listed analytics firm where he advised leading Fortune 500 & FTSE firms including Anglo American and Metro Bank to deliver savings to their bottom line.
Ollie is very passionate about products, mobile technology and direct-to-consumer models. Focusing primarily on deal flow, screening investment, initial due diligence and investor relations.
As Principal of the Creator Fund, he serves as a bridge between the funds' pre-seed cohort, navigating the complexities of early stage through to their seed and growth rounds, which are often lead by YYX.
He's a creative thinker with a sound business understanding, who's driven by a practical approach to helping portfolio companies succeed. Ollie also happens to be our Pilot-In-Residence.
Chris Maynard
Associate
Chris is a Founding Partner at Creator Fund and an Investment Associate at YYX Capital. He is investing in ambitious founders build new consumer internet & e-commerce businesses and outstanding startup's emerging from top universities across Europe.
Chris has operator experience having worked in mobile development & financial technology and has an academic background in information systems & economics. He is a hardworking, well-organised, positive and enthusiastic professional with a strong work ethic. Chris has the ability to develop a product by reaching new users whilst maintaining a focus on both quality and revenue to help drive long-term growth.
Chris has international experience having worked in the US, UK & across Western Europe and has strong analytical skills, excelling in both research and strategy. Chris recently received a Master's degree from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).