Today marks the launch of VentureCEO – a business support programme, curated specifically for early-stage CEOs at no cost by the Tech & High Growth team at Cooper Parry and supported by industry partners Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mischon De Reya and Capsule Insurance among others. Part of the collaboration will be one of the UK’s most prolific investors in e-health startups, AlbionVC.
VentureCEO is the first collaboration of its kind in the UK. Each 10-week cohort provides a series of initiatives, curated by Cooper Parry and its extended network to focus on a different sector, with the first being the ‘Future of Health’.
The cohort will see ten health sector CEOs based across the UK participating. These are: Ufonia, BlueSkyeye AI, Flok Health, MediShout, BEa Fertility, Amilis, Peachy, MyMynd, Ellescope and Hibi.
Steve Leith, Partner and Head of Tech & High Growth at Cooper Parry – the UK’s leading startup and scaleup partner in the accounting and tax space – comments on the aim behind the initiative:
“The CEO journey for a scaling business is undoubtedly challenging, both physically and mentally – especially in the current business climate. Thanks to the support of our industry partners including AWS, VentureCEO is here to bridge the gap, offering a personal support network where CEOs can connect, learn and share with a community that truly understands. By creating sector-specific cohorts, we also aim to highlight and support verticals often overlooked by other programmes.”
The collaboration has garnered support from a dynamic array of experts with the initial e-health delivery partners including AlbionVC, CharlieHR, Health Foundry, Luminous PR, Cavenagh Health, SomX, Adopt-A-Doc, Simon Alexander Ong, Daleth, Mishcon De Reya, Capsule, and Remap. Each brings a unique set of resources and expertise to further enrich the experience for participating CEOs.
Additional support will be led by later-stage e-health CEOs who have successfully scaled to Series B and beyond, including Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram CEO of Proximie, Meri Beckwith CEO of Lindus Health, Robbie Hughes CEO of Lumeon and Mark Jenkins, previously MD of Oviva.
Alongside addressing the needs of a rapidly scaling business, the programme will also prioritise personal wellbeing; MotivatePT will be rolling out group online fitness sessions, building community and encouraging participants to make time for movement to power up the mind-body connection.
Despite socio-economic obstacles and the UK tech sector facing funding challenges, many are still founding companies. There are currently 48,000 active, high-growth companies in the UK at different stages of their lifecycle; an 85.3% increase in the past decade.
In December 2023, the UK also secured its position as a leading European country in seed funding, raising a total of €94m. And despite a downturn in previous years, health tech emerged as the second-largest seed funding sector in Europe during the same period, attracting €59m.
Sam Wedge, Head of Industry and Emerging Technologies, Startups and Venture Capital at AWS, adds:
“The challenges facing new founders today are no small feat and we continue to see VCs take a more measured approach to deploying capital. However, the UK continues to be an excellent place to start and grow a tech company and I’m especially encouraged by the strength in health tech and the innovation we see coming through in this critical sector. It’s for this reason that we have opted to focus on health tech for our inaugural VentureCEO cohort, as we look to support the next generation of top startups in the UK scale and succeed.”
VentureCEO is the first collaboration of its kind in the UK, catering to the unique needs of new founders and offering:
- A curated peer group of CEOs at the same stage and in the same sector.
- Access to later-stage CEOs and their valuable insights.
- Laser-focused content designed specifically to enable highly relevant support to founders on both their personal and scaling journeys.
- Immediate commitment of support from best-in-class experts across legal, accounting, tax, HR, PR, digital marketing, growth and fundraising strategy, founder finance, founder wellbeing and more.
- The opportunity to connect with vertical-specific domain experts and investors.
