'Us.
DESWAL INVESTMENT GROUP
We focus on startups seeking to invent new market categories or transform large, existing industries.
We are deliberately anti-thematic. We invest when we think a founder is going to build something of importance for tomorrow. We care more about the magnitude of the long-term return and less about minimizing risk in a company’s early days. We don’t like better mousetrap businesses. A good customer value proposition isn’t enough to get us excited. We think the most value is created when startups ride an underlying industry disruption that can carry them to greatness. We think few markets experience disruptive change each year and so we only make a few new investments each year.
We invest early to lead seed, and selectively participate at the pre-seed stage. We invest at fair terms and reserve capital to follow our investments. We are not limited by a particular check size or ownership percentage. We typically invest upto £100k at early stage. When we lead investments, we like to aim for an ownership position of between 10% to 15%. Be prepared to demonstrate a clear market insertion point. If you’re a consumer startup, our bar is even higher. We look for early traction, because we’ve learned data is the best evidence of what resonates and what doesn’t with consumers.
We practice a simple craft.
We have no scout program, no diversity fund, no founder collective, no secondary fund, and no late-stage growth equity fund.
Our focus is narrow — we find and help Europe’s best technology startups grow into large, dominant category-defining companies by investing in them in their earliest days. What we do may seem hard, but it is never harder than the entrepreneur’s journey.
We take risks on brilliant people and products.
We work with founders on a mission to change the one thing they think is fundamentally broken in the world.
We’re comfortable with the rough imperfection of a new venture. We don’t mind young or first-time founders, but we prefer founders who are technical or domain experts.
We focus on startups seeking
to invent new market categories or transform large, existing industries.
We are deliberately anti-thematic. We invest when we think a founder is going to build something of importance for tomorrow. We care more about the magnitude of the long-term return and less about minimizing risk in a company’s early days.
We invest early to lead seed,
and selectively participate at the pre-seed stage.
We invest at fair terms and reserve capital to follow our investments. We are not limited by a particular check size or ownership percentage. We typically invest upto £100k at early stage. When we lead investments, we like to aim for an ownership position of between 10% to 15%.
Meet The Founder
“We believe if you can’t invent the future, the next best thing is to fund it.”
- Amit Deswal
What we look for?
We focus exclusively on startups with the potential to scale in new markets
Big new category
We don’t like better mousetrap businesses. A good customer value proposition isn’t enough to get us excited. We think the most value is created when startups ride an underlying industry disruption that can carry them to greatness. We think few markets experience disruptive change each year and so we only make a few new investments each year.
Hire better than yourself
We’ve found the universal hallmark of great companies is the ability of founders to attract and hire exceptional candidates, raising the bar with each successive hire.
Evidence of market fit
Be prepared to demonstrate a clear market insertion point. If you’re a consumer startup, our bar is even higher. We look for early traction, because we’ve learned data is the best evidence of what resonates and what doesn’t with consumers.
