SFC Capital, described as the UK’s most active early-stage investor, has made its 500th portfolio company investment.
Founded in 2012 as the ‘Startup Funding Club’ angel network, SFC Capital was an early adopter of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), establishing one of the first SEIS funds.
“It’s quite astonishing to see the immense progress we have made over the last decade,” said Stephen Page, founder & CEO of SFC Capital.
“Never would I have imagined that we would end up investing in more than 500 companies. We are determined to continue growing, reaching more founders, and contributing to the success of the early-stage innovation ecosystem in the UK.”
SFC Capital’s portfolio includes companies across technology, life sciences, green energy and consumer innovation sectors.
Notable success stories include Onfido, the biggest ever reported SEIS exit, and Cognism, a global leader in B2B sales transformation.
“From the start, our strategy has been to invest at an early stage in a large number of innovative companies, in order to maximise the probability of highly successful outcomes,” said Joseph Zipfel, chief investment officer of SFC Capital.
“The main challenge was to execute a large volume of deals while maintaining a high standard of quality in every investment.
“I believe that we have managed to achieve this by partnering with the best startup organisations in the UK, and by developing a unique decision-making system looking at over 50 data points and informed by the learnings from the hundreds of startup investments that we have been involved in.”
SFC Capital says it has a track record of more than 20 successful exits delivering strong returns to investors.
“Our commitment to backing the businesses of tomorrow is stronger than ever. We look forward to shaping the UK’s early-stage ecosystem for many years to come,” added Page.