As part of an ongoing mission to diversify the investment industry and break down barriers for entrepreneurs, NorthInvest and Ada Ventures hosted a virtual fireside chat to discuss the Ada Scout programme, an initiative set up to address the imbalance of funding in underrepresented tech founders across the UK.
Re-watch the event to find out how Ada Scouts can identify, nurture, and fund overlooked talent in their communities – without previous investment experience.
Want to apply? Visit the Ada Ventures website and scroll down to their online application form here
Guest Speakers
Matt Penneycard, Founding Partner at ADA Ventures
Matt is one of the Founding Partners of Ada Ventures, alongside Check Warner. Check and Matt have been investing together for nearly five years and are a 50% partnership, supported by an incredible steering group and some of the top technology founders and investors in the world. They launched their first fund at Ada in December 2019.
Matt has been in venture capital in the UK and US for over 10 years, and is passionate about early stage investing for its power to bring ideas and dreams to life. He is passionate about mission-driven founders and his core belief is that ‘anyone can be a someone’.
Mandy Nyarko, Ada Ventures Scout & Co-Founder of Startup Discovery School
Mandy is the Co -founder of Startup Discovery School business accelerator, an innovation organisation enabling diverse innovation. She is also a venture partner and scout for Ada ventures.
About Ada Ventures
Ada Ventures is a £30m pre-seed/seed fund, investing in bold ideas from overlooked founders and overlooked markets. We invest capital in talented, ambitious founders who have been unable to access capital historically. Ada Ventures is named after Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), an exceptional person who challenged the status quo with her bold and creative ideas.
- We traditionally invest post-product, pre-revenue
- We are a pre-Series A investor, with a first cheque typically between £250,000 and £500,000
- We invest in UK technology companies with global ambitions
- We support founders solving the world’s biggest challenges with technology
