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Bridford Group invests its own capital in businesses in various sectors, stages of growth, and countries. We focus on founder-led businesses with long-term potential.
We are based in London and Amsterdam and manage a portfolio of over 30 businesses.
How we invest
Backing founders to build large companies
Permanent capital
- Our capital is permanent, in contrast to most investment funds which need to return capital to their third-party investors.
- We do not have any third-party investors, and so can be aligned with founders who want to build big businesses: we can take a patient, flexible and long-term approach.
Target profile
- We look for highly-scalable, founder-led businesses which have the potential to grow significantly in multiple countries. We favour businesses with a strong element of societal or environmental welfare.
- We like to back challengers that can: re-define an industry; address big problems; or that simply provide solutions for existing industry-bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
- Although the bulk of our investments have been in early-stage companies, we are also able to invest in more mature growth-businesses.
- We prefer concepts which have been tested and proven to have a market; which are not heavily reliant on external factors to succeed; with material organic growth-potential; and that can be run as a stand-alone profitable business.
- We mostly invest in Europe. Our principal areas of investment focus are technology, music, sustainability and life sciences.
Target ownership
- We typically look to make investments which give us a meaningful minority position in a company, although we can also take majority positions.
- We can lead investments, but can also participate in broader financing rounds.
People
- We always put great emphasis on the teams which we back. We look for founders and management teams who have strong determination, effectiveness, great execution and an ambition to create long-term value.
- We like to invest in companies which are run by people who can attract high-quality talent to work with them.
Positive impact
- We do not invest in companies which we view as having a negative effect on the natural environment or which we see as detrimental to human happiness or welfare.
How we work
Active ownership
We like to contribute to the development of our portfolio. Our operational support may include: corporate development; financial and legal guidance; strategic advice and business development; team-building and hiring; cross-fertilisation with other portfolio companies.
Business expertise
Our team has blue-chip backgrounds in private equity, venture capital, investment banking, management consulting and corporate law. We have a lot of experience in helping fast-growing investee companies grow to become large and valuable businesses.
Focus on material issues
We do not have a box-ticking approach to new investments: we focus on the material issues. This means we can move fast with due diligence processes. Our decision-making process is decisive and has minimal bureaucracy.
Track record
The team members’ track-record of investments has an emphasis on TMT, music and fintech. At Bridford we have continued some of these themes (e.g. music and fintech) as well as making investments into new areas like sustainability and life sciences.
Sectors
Technology
Our team has a strong technology track-record over the last 30 years, especially in fintech. Our current portfolio demonstrates our broad interest in technology: from fintech to deep-tech.
Music
The music industry is moving away from a model largely controlled by the major labels. We have invested in music companies which can thrive in the new world where distribution and consumption channels are far more decentralised. These include both digital platforms and traditional analogue businesses.
Sustainability
We have invested in several businesses which fit within a broad theme of environmental sustainability: these include energy transition, circular economy, waste management, sustainable materials and food.
Life sciences
We have invested in businesses with platform technologies that have broad potential applications, including for drug discovery and manufacturing.
Portfolio
Select Category
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- Technology
- Music
- Sustainability
- Life sciences