Luke Hakes
Partner @ Octopus Ventures
London, United Kingdom
Luke Hakes is a Series B investor at Octopus Ventures in London focused on Biotechnology and Software. Although we come from different professional, industry, and scientific backgrounds, we share a real passion for business. We are committed to our companies. We view our management teams both as partners and customers. We bring considerable experience and expertise to our companies along with no small amount of ambition, energy, resolve andcreativity. We also understand just how difficult it is to create and grow a business. It's not just about having a great idea and a capable team: having a network of contacts and real world experience to draw upon counts for as much. That's why we have been building both an informal and a formal network for over a decade. The latter, the Octopus Venture Partners, now numbers in excess of 100 businessmen, leaders of commerce, and entrepreneurs. The Venture Partners coinvest with Octopus and is a unique and invaluable resource for our companies to draw upon. This blend of knowledge and skill has allowed us to help more than 60 UK companies thrive in recent years.We are generalists preferring to back exceptional entrepreneurial teams rather than specific sectors. We look for businesses which can create, transform or dominate an industry. We are focused on the UK and can invest up to £5m. We have £150m to invest in the next three years.
- Total investments:
- 14
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 43%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Luke Hakes invests in
Stages Luke Hakes invests in
Countries Luke Hakes invests in
Investment Focus
Industry
- Biotechnology 4 (29%)
- Software 2 (14%)
- Health Care 2 (14%)
- Semiconductor 2 (14%)
- Fuel 1 (7%)
Stage
- Series B 4 (29%)
- Seed 3 (21%)
- Series A 3 (21%)
- Series C 1 (7%)
- Series D 1 (7%)
Country
- United Kingdom 10 (71%)
- United States 1 (7%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Biofidelity
|
Biofidelity developed a revolutionary molecular diagnostic assay that enables the rapid detection of target DNA sequences. Biofidelity’s mission is to improve and extend patients’ lives by enabling early detection of disease and better targeting of treatments with applications spanning oncology, prenatal testing, infectious disease, and organtransplant monitoring.Biofidelity was founded in 2019 and is headquartered of Cambridge, England. | $23M / Series A / Feb 01, 2022 | |
Imophoron
|
Imophoron is the developer of a novel next-generation rapid-response vaccine platform, ADDomer(TM). | $5.4M / Seed / Oct 07, 2021 | |
Overture Life
|
Overture Life is a biotechnology company that develops automated technologies for assisted reproductive procedures, aiming to enhance the efficiency and accessibility of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Its solutions focus on automating complex embryology lab processes, such as egg vitrification and embryo warming, to improve consistency and reducecosts. The company's DaVitri platform is designed to standardize these procedures, potentially increasing oocyte survival rates and decreasing the number of IVF cycles needed. | $15M / Series B / May 25, 2021 | |
UltraSoC Technologies
|
UltraSoC Technologies is an independent provider of SoC infrastructure to enable rapid development of embedded systems based on advanced SoC devices. Its head office is in Cambridge and it has research and development labs in Colchester. | Series E / Jun 24, 2019 | |
Seatfrog
|
Seatfrog is the next generation of merchandising technology for airlines. A mobile first, customer centric auction platform for upgrades on the day of departure, selling seats guaranteed to otherwise fly empty.Airlines can now use Seatfrog's mobile platform to increase ancillary revenue by targeting passengers within 48hrs of their flight,during the peak period of engagement for ancillaries*. With in-app payments and boarding passes reissued direct to mobile in one simple transaction, Seatfrog eliminates friction and delivers an outstanding passenger experience on mobile. | Series A / Jul 11, 2018 | |
GTN
|
Bringing a single new drug to the market costs $2.9bn, often delivering an intervention that barely differs from those already in the market. Projections into the future are not promising, with an expected 50% drop in R&D output every nine years.At GTN they are searching the astronomically large space of drug-like molecules with their uniquepatented technology, Generative Tensorial Networks. Their software combines and builds upon techniques from machine learning and quantum physics to simulate, filter and search for molecules, halving development costs and discovering molecules entirely hidden from view. | $2.7M / Seed / May 04, 2018 | |
|
UltraSoC Technologies
|
UltraSoC Technologies is an independent provider of SoC infrastructure to enable rapid development of embedded systems based on advanced SoC devices. Its head office is in Cambridge and it has research and development labs in Colchester. | $6.4M / Series D / May 26, 2017 | |
Shopa
|
Shopa (www.shopa.com) is where shopping gets social, enabling online customers to quickly discover relevant brands and products through other like-minded customers’ recommendation.Pivotal in the evolution of ecommerce, the UK and US-based business is focused on unlocking the opportunities that social commerce brings and monetising the power ofpersonal recommendation through its next-generation social shopping site. Customers who sign up to Shopa create a personal profile where they customise their own product feed for the items and brands they like. They effectively curate their ultimate personalised shopping basket. Making online buying even easier, customers can then make all of their purchases directly on the Shopa site. With the ability to also follow and like other customers, as well as specific brands and products, Shopa provides constantly evolving shopping inspiration. Customers who then share this inspiration even further through their social media channels are rewarded by Shopa each time one of their friends purchase one of their recommended products. Founded in November 2012, Shopa is backed by investment from Notion Capital and Octopus Ventures. The company was named European Start-up of the Year 2013 by IBM. | $11M / Series A / Feb 11, 2015 | |
CertiVox
|
CertiVox solutions deliver simple, powerful information security to all things Internet (mainframes, too!), protecting business and individual privacy through the cloud and at rest. CertiVox was founded in 2009 to provide technology and services based on a simple belief: that everyone deserves the right to secure their information exchangessimply and easily. CertiVox's leading-edge encryption, key management and identity management solutions are currently in use at hundreds of the world’s leading corporations and used by individuals across the globe to protect their privacy.The companies passion is to create and share unique, cutting-edge cryptographic innovations for enterprise cloud computing and all things Internet. CertiVox are the only company in the global market today that has the technology in place to arm businesses and individuals with easy-to-use certificateless security solutions for any device and platform.Whether you are a business that wants to safeguard your company’s intellectual property, an ISV or SaaS provider that needs to embed cryptography and key management into your application, or an individual who wants to preserve the privacy of your personal data, CertiVox gives you the power to secure your information for all things Internet.CertiVox’s leading-edge solutions – including MIRACL (Multiprecision Integer and Rational Arithmetic C/C++ Library) Cryptographic SDK, on-demand encryption Key Management Service (KMS) and Identity Management Service (IDMS) – enable cloud service providers, independent software vendors (ISVs), communication providers, and smart device and semiconductor manufacturers to secure their voice and data communication solutions with ease.The PrivateSky Secure Information Exchange Service (SIX) gives individuals, businesses and their partners and customers easy-to-use tools to quickly encrypt email, files and documents without complex infrastructure or user burden. Compliance with mandatory encryption and privacy statues has never been easier.The bottom line: CertiVox's revolutionary certificateless cryptography, identity and key management solutions have taken the hassle out of Internet security, making it easy to securely exchange your information in any form, any time. | $8M / Series B / May 01, 2014 | |
Bowman Power Group
|
Bowman Power Group’s Electric Turbo Compounding (ETC) technology recovers waste energy from the exhaust of reciprocating gensets and converts it to grid quality electricity. Over 600 ETC systems deployed worldwide have generated in excess of 350GWh of free energy and saved over 100,000 tonnes of CO2. Cummins, Wärtsilä, Mitsubishi, Sewatama,Pacific Energy and Liebherr have all used Bowman’s award-winning ETC technology to improve genset efficiency; reducing fuel consumption or generating additional power. Bowman is supported by a number of leading investment companies, including Octopus Investments, Ombu Group, Fjord and BOOST&Co. The company is based in Southampton and employs 80 staff. | Feb 28, 2014 | |
| See all 14 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Octopus Ventures
Octopus Ventures is a venture capital firm that offers support to companies at various stages of their journey, from idea conception to IPO. They allocate over £200 million annually to invest in sectors such as health, fintech, deep tech, consumer, and B2B software, with a focus on making a positive impact. Their experienced team assists portfoliocompanies in scaling rapidly. Octopus Ventures' investment philosophy extends beyond monetary support, involving time, energy, and focus to work closely with founders for success. Notable companies they have backed include ManyPets, Cazoo, Depop, Elvie, and WaveOptics. Their operations span London and New York, with a network of partners in the U.S. and Asia.
Octopus Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Alliott Cole
CEO
|
|||
Jo Oliver
Director
|
|||
|
Luke Hakes
Partner
|
|||
Uthish Ranjan
Partner
|
|||
Zoe Chambers
Early Stage Investor
|
Access 48,091 investors
822 industries, 177 countries. Updated daily. Emails and phones included.
Browse database — It's Free!
Find investors for your startup
Search 48,091 investors by industry and country. Emails and phones included.
Similar Investors
Similar stage
Recommended lists
FAQ
What does Luke Hakes invest in?
Luke Hakes invests primarily in Biotechnology, Software and Health Care startups, most often at Series B and Seed stage. Most of the 14 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 Luke Hakes last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Luke Hakes closed in Feb 2022. Shizune tracks 14 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.
Contact your first 100 investors today
Find who invests in your industry, stage, and country. Download investor list with emails in 5 minutes.
Find investors — It's Free!
Continue with Google
Continue with LinkedIn
