Impact for scaleups
90+
High growth potential UK companies
£1.3bn
Funds under management
126%
Revenue growth by portfolio companies in 2020
880
Jobs created in 2020
Key sectors
VCTs are Government-led investment vehicles designed to encourage investors to support smaller, higher-risk companies. According to the Association of Investment Companies, VCTs have made over 1,000 investments into 530 companies since 2018, amounting to £1.7bn with an average investment size of £1.6m. More than half (55%) have been follow-on investments.
Octopus Titan is the UK’s largest Venture Capital Trust (VCT) with approximately £1.3bn of funds under management. In 2017, the ScaleUp Institute identified it as an exemplar of how the wider VCT industry has the potential and capacity to provide assistance to all stages of scaleup growth. Since it was launched in October 2007, it has raised over £1bn of funds from over 20,000 shareholders and has invested in more than 140 pioneering companies.
Titan VCT is managed by Octopus Ventures. It typically invests £1m-£10m in a first round investment and has the capability to follow on its investments up to £20m with the intention to hold a portfolio of largely unquoted technology companies that are VCT qualifying. It targets a 20% stake in a new company investment, and usually seeks to maintain this stake as the company grows.
The portfolio consists of over 90 high-growth potential businesses in five main sectors: health, fintech, deep tech, consumer and B2B software. It has backed scaleups such as pet insurance provider Bought By Many, femtech company Elvie, used car platform Cazoo,and fashion platform Depop (since acquired by Etsy).
Since Titan launched in 2007, the Octopus Ventures team has grown from five to more than 65 people including its Venture Partners, a group of entrepreneurs and business experts who offer best-in-class expertise in areas such as leadership, sales and international expansion. Support for its portfolio companies also comes through a network of coaches and a “talent team” to specifically advise on talent, recruitment and retention. More than 50% of the investment team have founded a business themselves.
Octopus Ventures has increased its investment team significantly and has added further operational support to ensure it continues to be able to make new investments and manage the expanding portfolio appropriately. In 2021 Titan has been investing along with funds from Octopus’ new Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) service, Octopus Ventures EIS, launched in Autumn 2020. The Octopus Group is the largest solar investor in Europe. They also invest in landfill gas sites, wind farms and biomass plants.