Martin Kissinger

Two investor trends are already defining how 2026 will play out in the UK: First, the role of the British Business Bank is expanding. We’re seeing it act far more actively as an LP, aiming to drive the formation of more UK-focused funds. This matters because it increases the amount of institutional capital available to back early-stage companies, largely independent of where interest rates land. Second, it will be interesting to see if capital deployment is pulled forward ahead of the tax year-end. We may see investor nervousness about future policy direction coming out of the Treasury and Rachel Reeves. Uncertainty around how assets could be taxed in future, will likely result in behavioural changes. #Fundraising #Investors #Shipshape

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Post 4/7: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀 People who stay in their space long term tend to have three needs met in and through their work – however, always in their own ways, meaning as a reflection of their own values. ​ 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 – shaping how you show up An investor told me: “Autonomy is just having my own funds… that gives you freedom and flexibility to pursue your goals in the way you see fit. My bosses are my LPs – as long as I deliver, I get to go do what I want to do.” For others, autonomy looked more like being allowed to design an accelerator program from scratch, build a new kind of platform, or start an NGO next to their day job. It wasn’t about total freedom; it was about values-aligned self-direction. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 – getting better at what matters The most motivated people I spoke with described their work as an “always-learning environment”. One investor said: you never fully “arrive”, you keep stretching your judgment, your pattern recognition, your technical understanding with every founder and every deal (here is where I see myself the most). ​ Others talked about learning-by-doing through founding, building new organisations – and then “recycling” that competence back into the ecosystem. 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 – feeling part of something bigger When asked about their true drives, many zoomed out to a bigger picture. One investor told me they’re motivated by the idea that “we as a species can do better” – that in a few hundred years, people will look back at our fossil-fuel and waste-heavy systems and ask what we were thinking. Others described relatedness through community: teaching, mentoring, co-building, or giving others agency to make better choices – from what they eat, to what they wear, to how they power their homes. ​ What struck me in the Bay Area is that these needs weren’t theoretical. People made real career choices around them: leaving stocks trading for early-stage climate, leaving corporate roles to start accelerators, leaving comfortable jobs to build new kinds of enabling organisations. ​ It’s also what I’ve started to use as a check-in for myself: Do I have enough autonomy to shape my work around problems I care about? Am I on a steep learning curve, or am I stagnating? Do I feel part of a community and a mission that make sense to me? If two or three of these are consistently “no”, it’s usually a sign something needs to change. So I’m curious: 👉 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 / 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘂𝗺 / 𝗹𝗼𝘄), 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲? 𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘶𝘱: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 – 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲-𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀.

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In the past two weeks, hundreds of startups worked with experts from our ecosystem to address the BIGGEST challenges they face - head on. Here’s what I learned: US expansion is front of mind for UK startups at the moment - incorporating as a Delaware C-corp is becoming a really popular route for them to raise and expand into the biggest market in the world. I was also struck by how startups are using AI agents to go-to-market with lighting speed - emerging standards (MCP, knowledge graphs) are being leveraged to achieve scale without endless custom builds. And on the fundraising side, revenue growth is the no. 1 thing to show investors - and it has to be recurring and repeatable - not a one-off. The market may have shifted - but selling is the same. Now more than ever, framing sales around solving urgent business pain in cost, risk, and revenue terms is KEY. We've got one more session coming up in September and I'm super excited for it! Denys Prysukhin from Corewide LLP will be sharing how to build fast -without making expensive mistakes. If you’re looking to build your first production-ready cloud infrastructure, or you have a live product and are facing scaling and performance issues - this session is for you. Link to sign up in the comments. 👇

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CircleRock Capital is excited to reinvest in Scaleup Finance as they raise £3 million to launch Nume, the world’s first AI CFO. Scaleup has evolved into a groundbreaking product built on technology and human expertise. Four years of CFO services with 40 CFOs supporting over 500 startups across Europe has created the deep domain expertise that shapes every aspect of Nume. Targeting a market of 50 million SMEs globally, the company is ready to onboard the first 2,500+ companies from 80 countries already signed up for launch! Pleased to invest alongside Main Set, North Ventures, Crowberry Capital, Seed X Liechtenstein AG, and angels such as former Google UK MD Dan Cobley and Kraen Oestergaard Nielsen. https://lnkd.in/eyd6YE3P #AI #FinTech #SMEs #VentureCapital #FamilyOffice Barry ONeill, Milo Kicks, Paul Calatayud

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