# Nesta Ventures

> Nesta Ventures is a VC fund backing Biotechnology and Medical Device. See 72 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: London, United Kingdom
- Total investments: 72
- Last investment: Mar 2018
- Lead investor: 10%
- Fund size: $34M
- Last fund: Jan 2014
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nesta/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/nesta_uk
- Website: https://www.nesta.org.uk
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nesta.uk

Nesta Ventures is a venture capital arm of NESTA specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. The company seeks to invest in seed, startup, early stage, growth, and expansion companies. It invests in medium term equity, quasi-equity, and debt investments.Nesta seeks to invest in all legal structures from registered charities to companieslimited by shares and private companies. The firm also prefers to invest in technology companies with a focus on engineering, information and communications technology software, information and communications technology hardware, healthcare, and cleantech.For the initial investment, the firm acts either as a lead investor in the company or part of a syndicate of co-investors. It prefers to take a board seat in its portfolio companies. For fund of fund investments, the firm invests in early stage funds as a limited partner or co-investor. It may also act as a cornerstone investor. It does not provide grants of any kind.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Nesta Ventures. Shizune tracks 1 team members at Nesta Ventures. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/nesta-investments?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $982k–$2.2M |
| Series A | $1.5M–$26M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Biotechnology | 13 | 18% |
| Medical Device | 8 | 11% |
| Medical | 7 | 10% |
| Software | 7 | 10% |
| Health Care | 7 | 10% |

69 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Funding Round | 30 | 42% |
| Seed | 7 | 10% |
| Series A | 7 | 10% |
| Series B | 6 | 8% |
| Series C | 3 | 4% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United Kingdom | 32 | 44% |
| United States | 5 | 7% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dame Julie Mellor | Board of Trustees | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dame-julie-mellor |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Citymart | Citymart powers cities to deliver services that work. Following best practices developed with leading cities around the world, Citymart connects cities and revolutionizes the way cities frame needs, complete procurements, and improve service delivery. Over 100 cities in 35 countries have adopted Citymart tools and methods to-date. |  | Seed | Mar 19, 2018 |  |
| Featurespace | Featurespace™ is the world leader in Enterprise Financial Crime prevention for fraud and Anti-Money Laundering. Featurespace invented Adaptive Behavioral Analytics and Automated Deep Behavioral Networks, both of which are available through the ARIC™ platform, a real-time machine learning software that risk scores events in more than 180 countriesto prevent fraud and financial crime.ARIC™ Risk Hub uses advanced, explainable anomaly detection to enable financial institutions to automatically identify risk, catch new fraud attacks and identify suspicious activity in real-time. More than 30 major global financial institutions are using ARIC to protect their business and their customers. Publicly announced customers include HSBC, TSYS, Worldpay, NatWest, Contis, Danske Bank, ClearBank, Akbank and Permanent TSB. | $21M |  | Oct 04, 2017 |  |
| Radio Physics Solutions | Radio Physics Solutions is a security and investigation company that specializes in the fields of real-time concealed threat detection, Up to 30m Distance, autonomous, and unobtrusive. It specializes in providing early warning of threats concealed under peoples’ clothes, and so reduce the number of casualties caused by terrorists and criminalsglobally at schools, train stations, airports, government and military installations, tourist attractions and entertainment venues.Radio Physics Solutions was founded in 2009 and headquartered in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. | $2.5M | Series A | Jun 02, 2017 |  |
| Six to Start | Six to Start is an independent game developer based in London, specializing in story-like games and game-like stories. Their latest games include Zombies, Run!, the world's bestselling smartphone fitness app, and The Walk, the first smartphone fitness game funded by the UK's Department of Health. |  |  | Jun 01, 2017 |  |
| eoSemi | eoSemi is an emerging privately-funded semiconductor product company based in South Yorkshire.Shrinking electronic systems are placing significant pressure on traditional timing and frequency devices to reduce in size without compromising performance - something they cannot do easily or cheaply.eoSemi is a new technological transformation.It meets head-on the challenges of size-vs-performance, with an enabling technology that allows for creation of far more compact designs, and that facilitates new classes of product and application. |  |  | Jun 01, 2017 |  |
| Dialog Devices | Dialog Devices develops optical technologies to help meet the overwhelming demand for better healthcare. Its advanced opto-electronic technology is revolutionizing the way medical conditions are diagnosed and monitored; improving the health and well-being of people around the world.The company is also advancing additional applications for thistechnology including post-operative monitoring of peripheral interventions and diabetic neuropathy assessment. |  |  | Jun 01, 2017 |  |
| Design LED Products | Design LED is an internationally regarded LED lighting system technology business. The company is taking unique and innovative products to a global lighting market, which itself is growing rapidly on the back of international government and environmental legislation and increasing consumer demand for low energy, highly differentiated and low costlighting solutions.Their passion for the LED lighting technology combined with their ambition to change the way they think about lighting products as a whole has been their driving motivator since Design LED was founded back in 2004. With their strategic partners they have the opportunity to make their vision a reality by providing their incredible LED Light Tiles to an international lighting design and engineering community. |  |  | Jun 01, 2017 |  |
| Orthogem | Orthogem develops and manufactures synthetic bone grafts. Its patented Tripore technology platform has enabled the creation of a pipeline of SBG's formulated for a variety of clinical applications, ranging from spinal to oral cranial facial surgery. Orthogem's products include TriPore Granules, TriPore MPA, and TriPore Blocks. Wei Lofounded it in 2001, with its headquarters in Nottingham in the United Kingdom. |  |  | Jun 01, 2017 |  |
| CellCentric | CellCentric’s primary programme targets a deubiquitinase (DUB) enzyme which is strongly associated with prostate cancer, a leading cause of mortality among men. The target modulates the androgen receptor pathway and can potentially combat the multiple resistance mechanisms seen with recently approved prostate cancer drugs such Xtandi and Zytiga.The programme also has potential clinical utility in non-small cell lung, breast and colon cancer. |  |  | Jun 01, 2017 |  |
| Surface Generation | Surface Generation is a privately-owned high technology and manufacturing company headquartered in the UK and with facilities in North America and Asia. Its patented Production to Functional Specification (PtFS) technology enables manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive and consumer electronics sectors to work with composite materials, savingcosts, energy and producing significantly lighter weight products. |  |  | Jun 01, 2017 |  |

10 of 72 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Imperial Innovations](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/imperial-innovations) — VC Fund, 7 deals together
- [YFM Equity Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/yfm-equity-partners) — VC Fund, 7 deals together
- [Oxford Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/oxford-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Cambridge Angels group](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/cambridge-angels-group) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [Capital-E](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/capital-e) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [Catapult Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/catapult-venture-managers) — VC Fund, 4 deals together

## Similar investors

### Similar industry
- [Innova Memphis](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/innova-memphis) — VC Fund
- [SOSV](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sosv) — VC Fund
- [Enterprise Ireland](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/enterprise-ireland) — VC Fund

### Similar stage
- [Bpifrance](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bpifrance) — VC Fund
- [SFC Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/startup-funding-club) — VC Fund
- [HTGF (High-Tech Gruenderfonds)](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/high-tech-gr%C3%BCnderfonds) — VC Fund

### Similar country
- [SFC Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/startup-funding-club) — VC Fund
- [Fuel Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/fuel-ventures-fund) — VC Fund
- [Business Growth Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/business-growth-fund) — VC Fund

## Featured in investor lists
- [Health Care Investors in United Kingdom](https://shizune.co/investors/health-care-investors-united-kingdom)
- [Health Care VC Funds in United Kingdom](https://shizune.co/investors/health-care-vc-funds-united-kingdom)
- [Biotech Investors in United Kingdom](https://shizune.co/investors/biotech-investors-united-kingdom)
- [Biotech VC Funds in United Kingdom](https://shizune.co/investors/biotech-vc-funds-united-kingdom)
- [Medical Investors in United Kingdom](https://shizune.co/investors/medical-investors-united-kingdom)
- [Medical VC Funds in United Kingdom](https://shizune.co/investors/medical-vc-funds-united-kingdom)

## FAQ

### What does Nesta Ventures invest in?

Nesta Ventures invests primarily in Biotechnology, Medical Device and Medical startups, most often at Funding Round and Seed stage. Most of the 72 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 Nesta Ventures's check size?

Nesta Ventures typically joins rounds of $982k–$2.2M at Seed and $1.5M–$26M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Nesta Ventures participates in.

### How do I contact Nesta Ventures?

Public channels for Nesta 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 Nesta Ventures?

The team at Nesta Ventures includes Dame Julie Mellor (Board of Trustees). 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 Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

# About Shizune
Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features:
- 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others)
- Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data
- Updated daily from public funding news
- CSV and Excel export

The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co