# Ian Nolan

> Ian Nolan is a Series A investor in London backing SaaS, Software and Energy Efficiency. See 4 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Location: London, United Kingdom
- Total investments: 4
- Last investment: Apr 2021
- Lead investor: 75%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/ian-nolan/74/378/46

Ian Nolan is a Series A investor in London focused on SaaS and Software. Ian began his 3i career in 1987, and in March of this year, was promoted to Managing Partner, with the role of Chief Investment Officer for the Group. He is the Group’s first appointment to this role, in which he has functional responsibilities for the Group’s investment strategy, and for the quality, consistency and improvement of itsinvestment processes within and across each business line.Ian has been closely involved with many of the Group’s notable investment successes, including Thomson Directories, Pets at Home, Telecity, Betapharm and Enterprise.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| SaaS | 2 | 50% |
| Software | 2 | 50% |
| Energy Efficiency | 2 | 50% |
| B2B | 1 | 25% |
| Solar | 1 | 25% |

16 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 2 | 50% |
| Seed | 1 | 25% |
| Private Equity | 1 | 25% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United Kingdom | 3 | 75% |
| Spain | 1 | 25% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PackBenefit | PackBenefit, a European specialist in high-performance fiber-based food packaging. |  | Private Equity | Apr 07, 2021 |  |
| ZigZag Global | ZigZag Global is a software platform to help retailers manage returns globally. It grades retailers returned products and offers consolidation, refurbishment, local redistribution, recycling, destruction, and reselling stock internationally on a revenue share basis.The ZigZag network connects over 200 local warehouses in 130 countries socustomers can get faster refunds. E-commerce consumers return items back to retailers via an intelligent returns portal. Returns take less than one minute, and customers send tracked returns by post, locker or courier from over 300,000 locations.Goods are sent back to a local warehouse and then ZigZag can scan, grade, consolidate or refurbish products to get them back into the supply chain more quickly. Customers can be refunded in just 24 hours, and goods can then be returned, destroyed, donated or re-fulfilled to a new order or resold via marketplaces.ZigZag won the 2017 ShopTalk Startup award along with a 25,000 Euro prize. It also won the 2017 Sustainability Award in Milan, 2017 Innovation Award at IRX, StartUps 100 Winner 2017. 2016 Global award at the World Retail Congress in Dubai for innovation and were shortlisted for Innovation of the Year by Retail Week at the Tech and EComm Awards, Mark of Excellence - Disruptor of the Year 2016 - Supply Chain Awards, Winner at London Technology Week – GetInTheRing.ZigZag was founded in 2014 by Al Gerrie and Laurence Guy. and is headquartered in London, England, UK. |  | Series A | Jan 17, 2019 |  |
| Hometree | Hometree is a home energy services company, is dedicated to expediting the journey towards achieving net zero emissions. Through the provision of installation, repair, and financing solutions for home energy hardware, we empower homeowners to make the transition to low-carbon living at their own pace.Hometree offers comprehensive home emergencyinsurance and maintenance cover, plus energy-efficient heating installations along with affordable financing plans. Hometree helps homeowners across the full lifecycle of sustainable home improvements - from the point of hardware installation, to how the projects get financed, to in-life repair and maintenance. | $8.5M | Series A | Sep 26, 2018 |  |
| Switchee | Switchee was founded out of INSEAD business school in 2015 and is headquartered in London. It is now the market leader in social housing IoT, servicing many of the largest housing associations in the UK.The company helps large residential landlords to better manage their property portfolio, using technology to identify maintenance issues, reducefuel bills and improve communication with residents. For every £1 invested in Switchee services, the landlord saves £2 and puts £2 back into the pocket of their resident. Switchee has reimagined the way landlords interact with residents and manage their homes. Their services ensure that landlords have the information they need to eliminate fuel poverty, damp and mould as well as heating & ventilation failures.Switchee is primarily a software and insights business, but to access this real-time data, they reinvented a ubiquitous household object – the thermostat. They have created an internet connected product that reduces energy bills, acts as a two-way communication platform with the resident and collects environmental data that drives an insights engine, landlord dashboard and API. | $792K | Seed | Oct 03, 2016 |  |

4 of 4 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [AV8 Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/av8-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [AXA Investment Managers](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/axa-investment-managers) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Clearly Social Angels](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/clearly-social-angels) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [JZ International Ltd.](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jz-international-ltd) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Mustard Seed](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/mustard-seed) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Wayra](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/wayra) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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### Similar industry
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### Similar stage
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### Similar country
- [SFC Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/startup-funding-club) — VC Fund
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## FAQ

### What does Ian Nolan invest in?

Ian Nolan invests primarily in SaaS, Software and Energy Efficiency startups, most often at Series A and Seed stage. Most of the 4 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United Kingdom. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Ian Nolan last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Ian Nolan closed in Apr 2021. Shizune tracks 4 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### 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 Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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