January 2026’s Top Investors: The Angels and VCs Backing the Fastest Growing UK Startups
The top investors of January 2026 is based on December 2025 investor activity.
December's investor activity underlined a stratified, sector-led market, with thematic, pragmatic capital flowing from seed through scale.
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Angel investors concentrated on pre-seed and early-seed positions in consumer, gaming and healthtech, alongside fintech-adjacent data and regtech, supplying validation and operator expertise.
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Venture firms deployed mid-stage cheques into AI, SaaS, insurtech and fintech to accelerate commercialisation and growth.
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And corporate venture arms and bank and industrial strategics adopted a more deliberate posture, placing mid-to-large strategic tickets into biotech partnerships, fintech rails and enterprise and industrial AI and XR to secure R&D adjacencies and embed capability.
The overall mood was constructive and deliberate, with investors de-risking technical validation, channelling mission-led capital into climate and energy, and layering investment so invention can convert into investable, scalable UK winners.
Angel investors powering early proptech, healthtech and gaming rounds
December's crop of active angels is led by a recognisable cohort: Mark Ransford, Sara Davies, Dimitar Berbatov, Yianni Charalambous and local backer Nikki Whittle. Their activity highlights a clear split between fintech and adjacent data, regtech and AI plays on one side, and healthtech, consumer retail and gaming on the other. High public profiles, notably Sara Davies as a Dragons' Den investor and Dimitar Berbatov as a high-profile strategic founder-angel in gaming, add visibility to these deals. Mark's portfolio signals cross-border fintech and infrastructure interests, while Yianni and Nikki point to a steady flow of health and HRtech opportunities. Together, these patterns illustrate that UK angels remain sector-focused and pragmatic, bridging seed and earlier VC appetite with both expertise and publicity value.
Individual behaviours are distinct and consistent. Mark Ransford operates as an operator-angel in fintech and infrastructure, appearing in mid-to-larger seed and early growth rounds such as Conveyd's £2.5m proptech round and earlier deals including Damisa (£2.25m) and Zango (£3.5m). This places him in the roughly £1m–£5m round band as a repeat participant; all amounts cited are total round sizes, not his personal cheque. Sara Davies shows a dual pattern of consumer micro-seed and TV-driven tickets alongside larger follow-ons, from SKIN at £50k and Snowball at £80k to the £9.5m Series A for yuv. Dimitar led a £450k gaming round for Footium. Yianni's healthtech focus is visible in HP-1's close to £1m raise, and Nikki Whittle's backing of UrFuture points to very early, localised support where ticket sizes are undisclosed or modest.
Comparing profiles, public figures and TV angels such as Sara and Dimitar tend to anchor consumer and gaming rounds where brand and reach matter. Operator angels like Mark join larger fintech, regtech and AI-adjacent raises, bringing domain expertise and networks. Health-focused angels such as Yianni typically cluster around the c.£1m round band that helps product launches and clinical validation, while local angels like Nikki concentrate on pre-seed community plays that de-risk hiring and initial go-to-market. These angel-led rounds, from sub-£100k TV tickets through £300k–£800k strategic raises up to £1m–£10m Series A participation, complement seed and VC capital by providing early validation and sector know-how. For founders the message is clear: target angels whose public profile, operator experience or thematic expertise matches your sector and stage, as fintech, AI-enabled proptech/regtech and healthtech are showing particular momentum and smart capital is congregating there.
VC firms investing in AI, data and greentech
| Venture Capital Firms | December Investments | Investment Sector | Location | Funding Round | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Portfolio Ventures(more info 🔒) The PV Angel Fund is an early-stage investor focusing on fintech, SaaS, and... | Bourn (£3,500,000, Fintech) Curvestone AI (£3,000,000, AI) Yonda Tax ($15,000,000, Fintech) Conveyd (£2,500,000, Proptech) Yonda Tax (£11,200,000, Fintech) Maximum Information (£2,300,000, Insurtech) |  London | |||
 PXN Ventures(more info 🔒) PXN Ventures is a UK-based venture capital firm focused on backing high-gro... | Feasibly (£200,000, Greentech) Orbital Marine Power (£7,000,000, Energy) StretchSense ($2,300,000, Data) | Manchester | |||
 Twin Path Ventures(more info 🔒) Twin Path Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investing in AI-fir... | HotHouse Therapeutic (£2,900,000, Biotech) Mater-AI (£1,500,000, Greentech) Azoma (£3,000,000, SaaS) | London | |||
 One Planet Capital(more info 🔒) OnePlanetCapital specialises in investing in businesses that address climat... | Mater-AI (£1,500,000, Greentech) Future Greens (£500,000, Greentech) | London | |||
Ben ($27,500,000, HRTech) Ankar (£15,000,000, Legaltech) | London | ||||
 Balderton Capital(more info 🔒) Balderton Capital is a venture capital firm focusing primarily on technolog... | Qargo ($33,000,000, Supply Chain) Fuse Energy ($70,000,000, Energy) | London |
Atomico, Twin Path Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, Balderton Capital, PXN Ventures and One Planet Capital were the busiest backers in December 2025, driving deal flow across AI, healthtech, greentech and fintech. That activity was supported by a steady stream of SaaS and insurtech rounds. Two concurrent trends stood out: rapid AI-led productisation and a renewed focus on mission-driven energy and climate investing, notably tidal projects and materials discovery. Specialist operating models are apparent. Twin Path’s AI-first thesis, Portfolio’s angel-to-seed emphasis, PXN’s Manchester regional base and One Planet’s climate mandate together broaden the UK venture landscape. Corporate and strategic investors also pursued adjacency and R&D alignment, with attention to regulatory or clinical focus and infrastructure-scale commitments.
The major funds displayed distinctive patterns by ticket size and stage. Atomico continued to dominate growth-ticket financings in the £20m-plus band, participating in deals such as Ben (c. £20.8m / $27.5m), Ankar (£15m Series A at the top of the mid-market band) and larger energy and industrial AI rounds around the £50m-plus mark. Twin Path operates as an AI and science specialist across pre-seed to growth, leading technical bets such as Mater-AI (£1.5m) and Trismik (£2.2m) while backing pre-Series A rounds like Azoma (£3m). Portfolio Ventures skews seed-stage and fintech/AI, with rounds clustered below £5m and in the £3m–£15m mid-market, illustrated by ThingTrax (£4.3m), Jove (£3.6m) and Curvestone AI (£3m). Balderton mixes early support with larger expansion cheques, exemplified by Qargo’s £24.6m Series B and participation in multi-tens of millions rounds. Regional and mission-led players such as PXN and One Planet bridge local pre-seed deals like Feasibly (£200k) to mid-market energy financings including Orbital Marine Power (£7m) and Future Greens (£500k).
The pattern shows clear stratification. Early-stage specialists and angels concentrate on technical validation and product-market fit. Mid-stage firms deploy growth capital spanning roughly £3m–£15m to drive commercialisation. Large-scale investors come in with £20m-plus cheques to industrialise and internationalise winners. Those layers interact productively. Regional funds and mission-led capital de-risk technology and market lessons at local scale, creating investable cohorts for national growth investors. Venture studios and thematic early backers continue to play a formative role by spinning out focused teams and attracting follow-on capital. The result tightens the funnel from invention to scale and reinforces a multi-tier pipeline for UK startups.
Corporate venture capital investors, funding growth companies in Biotech, Fintech and Data
| Corporate Venture Capital Firms | December Investments | Investment Sector | Location | Funding Round | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United Fintech (£, Fintech) United Fintech (£, Fintech) | London | ||||
 Novartis Venture Fund(more info 🔒) Novartis is a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Switzerland, k... | Relation ($55,000,000, Biotech) | Basel, Switzerland | |||
StretchSense ($2,300,000, Data) | Munich, Germany | ||||
 BNP Paribas(more info 🔒) BNP Paribas Corporate Venture Capital invests in innovative startups that s... | United Fintech (£, Fintech) | ||||
Bourn (£3,500,000, Fintech) | |||||
Solve Intelligence ($40,000,000, Legaltech) | Data analyticsRegtechBlockchainB2B | Toronto, Canada |
December’s corporate deal flow was steered by a mix of bank-linked investors and strategic corporate venturers. Barclays and BNP Paribas took undisclosed stakes in United Fintech. Novartis Venture Fund agreed a multi-programme collaboration with Relation. Siemens wrote a small commercialisation ticket into XR and haptics. NatWest and Thomson Reuters Ventures backed UK fintech and legal-AI scaleups. These moves cluster neatly into three areas: fintech and structured finance; biotech and drug discovery partnerships; and enterprise and industrial AI plus XR training. Together they signal a pragmatic corporate posture that aims to protect R&D pipelines, buy adjacency into strategic platforms and provide tailored scale-up support.
Deal sizes and timings show distinct, intentional tiers of engagement. On 10 December Barclays and BNP Paribas made what reads as a support and governance tier play into United Fintech. NatWest’s £3.5m seed/early-growth cheque into Bourn on 3 December underwrites receivable-backed working capital that feeds SME lending pipelines. Novartis Venture Fund’s roughly $55m, mid-stage programme with Relation on 12 December typifies pharma CVCs’ multi-programme bracket used to de-risk discovery and lock in translational expertise. Siemens’ backing of StretchSense on 19 December and Thomson Reuters Ventures’ $40m Series B in Solve Intelligence on 9 December illustrate industrial corporates placing small, application-focused bets alongside mid-market rounds to embed capability into operations and professional workflows.
Read together, these behaviours map cleanly to investor type and strategic intent. Pharma CVCs favour mid-stage scientific partnerships. Industrial corporates place earlier productised bets to accelerate internal adoption of AI and XR. Banks and insurer-linked units mix strategic minority stakes with targeted seed and early growth cheques to capture fintech rails and structured finance adjacencies. Corporate venture arms bridge the gap with mid-market growth tickets into enterprise AI. That interaction is building a layered corporate-backed innovation architecture across the UK and Europe. It de-risks technology transfer while channeling scale capital into ventures that align with corporate priorities such as mobility and energy infrastructure and the formation of venture studios.
Across the three investor groups a layered market has emerged this month, concentrated in fintech, AI and adjacent infrastructure, health and climate technologies. There is a visible flow from early validation to scale. Angels provided early validation, sector expertise and publicity that de-risked nascent products. Venture capital deployed stratified cheque bands from seed through mid-market growth, and mission and regional funds broadened the funnel. Corporate venturing placed programme-level and strategic mid-stage bets to embed technology into R&D and commercial pipelines, creating a distinct risk and support profile compared with operator and public-facing angels and with VCs that split responsibilities across technical validation, commercialisation and internationalisation. The practical takeaway for founders is clear: align outreach to the stage and strategic intent you need, using visible angels and specialist VCs to prove product-market fit and attract follow-ons, and engaging corporate partners when regulatory alignment, industrial adoption or programme-level scale are required.
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