# James Reston

> James Reston is a pre-seed investor at DSW Ventures backing B2B, SaaS and Recruiting. See 2 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [DSW Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dow-schofield-watts-angels)
- Total investments: 2
- Last investment: May 2026
- Lead investor: 100%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-reston/

James Reston is a pre-seed investor at DSW Ventures focused on B2B and SaaS. James Reston is the Venture capital investment manager at DSW Ventures.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| B2B | 1 | 50% |
| SaaS | 1 | 50% |
| Recruiting | 1 | 50% |
| Biotechnology | 1 | 50% |
| Enterprise Software | 1 | 50% |

6 industries tracked in total.

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Nexco | 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 | 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 |  |

2 of 2 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Scottish Enterprise](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/scottish-enterprise) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [SWIM Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/swim-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [University of Strathclyde](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/university-of-strathclyde) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About DSW Ventures

VC Fund · Manchester, United Kingdom

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.

4 contacts available at DSW Ventures.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Keith Benson | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/keith-benson-e2e0 |
| David Smith | Founding Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/david-smith-10 |
| Doug Quinn | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/doug-quinn-59bf |
| James Reston | Investment Manager | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/james-reston-6d4b |

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund
- [Everywhere Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/everywhere-ventures) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does James Reston invest in?

James Reston invests primarily in B2B, SaaS and Recruiting startups, most often at Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 2 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 James Reston last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for James Reston closed in May 2026. Shizune tracks 2 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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