DSW Ventures
VC Fund
Manchester, United Kingdom
DSW Ventures is a VC fund in Manchester focused on Biotechnology and Software. DSW Ventures made its first investment in 2018 and is an investor in early-stage scale-up businesses requiring venture funding of more than £250,000, primarily on an EIS basis. It is funded by a growing network of high-net-worth angel investors. DSW Ventures is the trading style of DSW Angels LLP, which is part of the Dow Schofield Watts Group. DSWVentures is a partner in British Business Investments’ £100m Regional Angels Programme, designed to help reduce regional imbalances in access to early stage equity finance for smaller businesses across the UK.
- Total investments:
- 38
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 79%
- Fund size:
- $2.5M
- Last fund:
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries DSW Ventures invests in
Stages DSW Ventures invests in
Countries DSW Ventures invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Round size
- Seed
- $602k–$2.6M
- Pre-Seed
- $435k–$2M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Biotechnology 7 (18%)
- Software 4 (11%)
- E-Commerce 4 (11%)
- Marketing 3 (8%)
- Therapeutics 3 (8%)
Stage
- Seed 14 (37%)
- Pre-Seed 7 (18%)
- Funding Round 5 (13%)
- Angel 4 (11%)
- Series A 3 (8%)
Country
- United Kingdom 23 (61%)
- United States 3 (8%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Keith Benson
Partner
|
Partner | Total investments: 5 | Find email | |
David Smith
Founding Partner
|
Founding Partner | Total investments: 5 | Find email | |
Doug Quinn
Partner
|
Partner | Total investments: 8 | Find email | |
James Reston
Investment Manager
|
Investment Manager | Total investments: 3 | Find email |
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Droplet Scientific Portable and wearable analyzers for continuous, real-time biomarker monitoring. | $2M / Pre-Seed / Sep 21, 2026 | ||
| Voxshell develops meshing and geometry processing software for computer-aided engineering workflows. The company focuses on tools that integrate CAD and CAE to generate computational grids for CFD and FEA simulations. Its software supports geometry import, mesh domain definition, mesh resolution control, boundary layer setup, and automated meshexport to solvers such as OpenFOAM and Fluent. Voxshell provides products and tutorials aimed at accelerating productivity in hardware development, including aerospace and 3D printing applications. It also offers resources such as user manuals, case studies, and workflow examples to guide engineers through complete simulation pipelines. | $1.1M / Seed / Jul 20, 2026 | ||
| Nexco is the intelligence layer for executive search. Based in London and founded in 2024, Nexco builds and operates AI agents for executive search firms, headhunters and private equity talent teams, producing an evergreen CRM.Nexco's AI agents handle the data-heavy work inside a retained search: call capture, conversational candidatescreening, remuneration extraction, automated reference collection, and structured candidate report writing. The agents work alongside consultants and researchers, and write structured intelligence directly into the firm's existing CRM. Nexco integrates with Ezekia, Invenias and FileFinder, the CRMs most retained executive search firms run on.An evergreen CRM is a database that becomes more complete and more current as a by-product of the firm's normal work, instead of decaying between mandates. Every candidate conversation, reference call and remuneration discussion produces structured data tied to the right candidate, the right company and the right role. Firms get longitudinal candidate intelligence (compensation history, motivations, references, role context) that compounds across every search, rather than living in individual consultants' notebooks.For private equity, the same AI agents support management team due diligence, pre-deal management assessment and portfolio company executive screening. Each conversation becomes structured intelligence on the management bench.Nexco's category is AI agents for executive search. The intelligence layer for executive search is the broader operating model: agents inside the firm, structured data into the CRM, consultants and researchers freed for the work that earns the fee. The category is distinct from broader recruiting tooling (staffing, contingent, in-house talent acquisition) and from AI sourcing platforms that focus on finding candidates. Nexco's focus is the intelligence captured in the conversations search firms already have with the candidates they already know.A typical mid-market retained search recovers around 40 hours of researcher time per role, with an evergreen CRM as the by-product.Nexco was founded in 2024 by Charlotte Gandell and Gareth Cokell. Charlotte spent 15 years in retained executive search at Russell Reynolds Associates and Boyden, then served as Chief Product Officer at Nurole. Gareth was the founding engineer and Chief Technology Officer at Nurole. Between them they have spent two decades building two-sided talent platforms. | Pre-Seed / May 12, 2026 | ||
| Northern Light Microscopy's mission is to use cutting-edge imaging technology to enable life-science labs and businesses to unlock bioscience discoveries. | $1.4M / Pre-Seed / Apr 22, 2026 | ||
| RoxFit is the best HYROX workout tracker for preparation and performance on race day. | $2.5M / Seed / Mar 04, 2026 | ||
| InvenireX is a biotechnology company that offers molecular diagnostics services. | $2.6M / Seed / Nov 18, 2025 | ||
| RoxFit is the best HYROX workout tracker for preparation and performance on race day. | $1.1M / Pre-Seed / May 28, 2025 | ||
| StimOxyGen specializes in developing innovative, pH-responsive nanoparticles designed to generate oxygen in hypoxic tumors. This technology aims to enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy by addressing tumor hypoxia, a significant clinical challenge. F | $1.9M / Mar 11, 2025 | ||
| DRG labs at Ulster, maintain full access to the cutting-edge facilities on-site and its connection to a group of scholars and experts in diseases. Afterward, lead molecules for animal research are identified by advancing therapeutic candidates through our discovery platform, which uses industry-standard methodologies and models. | $1.5M / Seed / Dec 09, 2024 | ||
| TheNextLevel assists in just a few hours, our design team can produce a gorgeous native mobile app for iOS and Android that precisely matches your vision. The NextLevel uses a drag-and-drop app studio to keep it updated. The NextLevel creates a powerful mobile application that takes advantage of the mobile environment in a few hours. Your mobileapp shouldn't be an engineering nightmare, but rather a high-converting, low-maintenance sales channel. | $656.5K / Pre-Seed / Oct 03, 2024 | ||
| See all 38 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does DSW Ventures invest in?
DSW Ventures invests primarily in Biotechnology, Software and E-Commerce startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 38 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United Kingdom. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is DSW Ventures's check size?
DSW Ventures typically joins rounds of $602k–$2.6M at Seed and $435k–$2M at Pre-Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds DSW Ventures participates in.
How do I contact DSW Ventures?
Public channels for DSW Ventures include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
Who are the partners at DSW Ventures?
The team at DSW Ventures includes Keith Benson (Partner), David Smith (Founding Partner) and Doug Quinn (Partner). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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