James Codling - Investing in disruptors

November’s Member in the spotlight

An interview with James Codling, Co-founder & Managing Director of Venture Founders

Tell us about your company.

VentureFounders is a leading UK equity investment platform, providing venturefounders.co.uk sophisticated, HNW clients with access to highly-curated and structured investment opportunities, in early stage venture transactions.

In the four years since our launch we have built up a portfolio of 27 investments, supporting those companies with over 30 follow-on funding rounds and helping them raise in excess of £100m. We specialise in investing in disruptive B2B and B2B2C technology companies which are past proof of concept and have demonstrable revenue traction.

What has been your biggest success so far?

We have a high-quality and diverse portfolio which includes some of the UK’s leading tech success stories, such as Hopster, DueDil, Brightpearl and BioSure. I’m proud of all the investments we have made and I’m excited to see what the future holds for them.

What project are you most excited about right now?

We are currently looking at investing in one of the UK’s most successful peer-to- peer lenders. It is an interesting time for this market; seeing if the FinTech hype can live up to expectations as those early trailblazers achieve the scale necessary to compete with the incumbents.

How has being a member of The Clubhouse contributed to the success of your business?

I have been visiting and using The Clubhouse since it started and was introduced by one of its earliest members. As a member, The Clubhouse gives us the flexibility we want for our growing business with locations where we need them. It provides ideal meeting spaces with the professional service and reliability we need for our team and our clients.

Where can members find you?

Usually at The Clubhouse Bank or St. James’s. Get in touch via Twitter @JamesCodling or email james@venturefounders.co.uk

venturefounders.co.uk

Quick Fire Round

Favourite place to go in London?

Borough market – the sights, the smells and incredible food from all around the world.

Who inspires you and why?

My grandfather was a natural entrepreneur, patenting the hose connector and setting up Hozelock, and an angel investor in the forerunner of Vodafone. He saw the potential of mobile communication technology. He was ahead of his time – brave, bold and successful

Best bit of advice you’ve been given?

The devil’s in the detail.

If you were on a desert island, what would you bring?

My family, they are very important to me…. but having three very young children, perhaps they could fly in after I’d had a couple of days to relax in the sunshine.

Which super power would you like to have?

Mindreading – it would make some meetings much easier!

What is the worst business ‘faux-pas’ you’ve committed?

I was in a shareholder meeting recently when a text message from a friend popped up on my laptop which was running the AV for the big screen! I’ve since changed my settings.

 

For more about VentureFounders visit their website: venturefounders.co.uk

This article was originally featured in The Informer – November 2018. To read the full magazine please click here