Latest news with #VishalMarria
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
As VC Investment Rises Is The U.K. A Good Place To Scale?
Quantexa founder Vishal Marria says British money is hard to raise beyond B and C rounds As far as raising VC capital is concerned, the U.K. prides itself on being a good place to start a business. However, questions remain over the ecosystem's ability to support companies as they scale. According to figures published this month by the British Venture Capital Association, investment across 2024 totalled £9 billion, representing a rise of 12.5% from the previous year. And with the same report noting an increase in the number of venture funds raising capital to support their investment strategies, it seems likely the upward trend in investment will continue. That's fine as far as it goes, but successive surveys have pointed to a shortage of capital from local funds once larger sums of money are required - usually beyond the B and C stages. This is the point when international investors with deep pockets tend to step in. As the BVCA pointed out in a separate report, increasing investment by overseas funds has been a factor in British startups moving their headquarters to other jurisdictions - notably the U.S. - as they begin to scale. This is a matter of some concern to policymakers who want to keep cutting-edge technology firms headquartered in the U.K.. More fundamentally, while there is plenty of capital available to support megarounds and unicorns, many scaling businesses struggle to find the necessary capital. So, what are the realities of raising growth finance in the U.K.? Earlier this week, I spoke to Vishal Marria, founder and CEO of Quantexa, a company that provides AI-driven decision-making technology to a range of public and private sector clients. In March, Quantexa completed a Series F round, securing $175 million in a deal led by Teachers' Venture Growth, a division of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTTP) investment fund. The investment values the company at $2.6 billion. First the good news. As Quantexa has demonstrated, there is money available. 'If you are a great company you can attract capital and investment,' says Marria. However, as he acknowledges, scaling a U.K. technology company will almost certainly require overseas finance. 'Getting British money is very difficult after stages B and C,' he says. 'If you look at my cap table, Series D was led by Warburg Pincus, a US private equity company, Series E was led by GIC of Singapore and Series F was led by OTTP.' Quantexa's SaaS platform uses a combination of big data, analytics and AI to enable customers to make better decisions. That could mean helping a bank to detect money laundering or working with government departments to uncover fraud using a mixture of internal and external contextual data. For instance, the company has worked with the U.K. government's Cabinet Office to pursue criminals who took advantage of a 'bounceback' loan scheme introduced to support businesses during the COVID pandemic. With revenues of $100 billion, Quantexa has established itself as a global player in this field, with customers in Europe, the APAC region and North America. This, combined with rapid growth, has enabled Quantexa to attract investors, but Marria acknowledges, a relative shortfall in domestically originated funding does have potential consequences. 'There is a playbook that says, Dear Founder, you have to move to the US to complete your journey and IPO,' he says. So there is, he says, work to be done to improve the flow of domestic funding. The great hope in this regard is that planned reforms that will allow pension funds to invest in startups and scaleups. 'It is really important to unlock pension fund money and we need to do more of that,' says Marria. And there has been some progress on that front. This week, the government published plans to create £25bn pension scheme megafunds, which will be required to invest more in the domestic economy, with scaleups and infrastructure projects among the beneficiaries. Announcing the reforms Finance Minister Rachel reeves promised 'Billions more invested in clean energy and high-growth businesses.' Beyond questions of finance, Marria stresses that being headquartered in the U.K. has a number of benefits, not least in terms of geography and time zones. 'We are in the centre of Asia and the US. I can start my day with a 6.30 call in Asia, followed by UK client calls and finish the day with calls to the U.S.," he says. For companies working in the AI and data space, the U.K. potentially has some other important advantages. Later this year, the UK government will be publishing its industrial strategy, which is expected to focus on key technology sectors, such as AI, quantum and bioscience. With a huge amount of data at its disposal and a clear requirement to deliver better services without necessarily raising overall spending and taxation levels, the government itself is likely to be an important customer for AI and advanced data services. Clearly, there will be opportunities for startups. However, Marria stresses that not everyone will benefit. 'The government has a substantial view of data, and has a number of use cases for putting that data to work. You have innovative companies who can help solve the problems,' he says. 'However, because of the sensitivities of the data, the public sector has onboarding and security controls and it cannot work with all of the companies.' In Marria's view, the U.K. is a good place to scale a business, with funding available for companies that can demonstrate growth and revenue potential. Nevertheless, more domestic funding is required. I
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Quantexa wraps up $175m Series F investment round
Quantexa, a UK-based AI, data, and analytics software company, has completed its $175m (£136.5m) Series F investment round. The round was led by Teachers' Venture Growth (TVG), part of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Existing investors, including British Patient Capital, also participated in the round. The latest funding round values the British technology company at $2.6bn. Quantexa founder and CEO Vishal Marria said: "This latest investment reflects investors' embracing our vision and committing to join our journey as we accelerate innovation, platform deployments, and amplify the value we deliver to clients and the broader ecosystem. 'With the continued support of our investors, now including TVG, we are poised to push the boundaries of AI by harnessing the power of trusted data, reinforcing our leadership in this rapidly evolving landscape.' The company said it plans to use the funds to accelerate platform innovation, enhance client experiences, and forge new partnerships and alliances. The funding will also be used by the company to expand its presence in North America, and explore 'strategic' mergers and acquisitions. As part of the investment, Ara Yeromian, managing director at TVG, will join Quantexa's board of directors, which also includes representatives from other investors such as Warburg Pincus, Dawn Capital, BNY, Evolution Equity Partners, AlbionVC, and HSBC. Under the agreement, TVG will offer its expertise in scaling high-growth AI and software companies, along with its extensive network, to support Quantexa's international expansion and growth objectives. TVG EMEA senior managing director and head Avid Larizadeh Duggan said: 'Businesses today need to build trusted data foundations to enable AI-enhanced decision making, to drive real world impact. Quantexa is revolutionising how they do this. 'At TVG, we invest in high-growth, game-changing companies, led by visionary leaders making a global difference. Quantexa's impressive track record, expanding customer base, and bold approach to data and AI innovation make it a natural fit for our portfolio.' "Quantexa wraps up $175m Series F investment round" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Quantexa wraps up $175m Series F investment round
Quantexa, a UK-based AI, data, and analytics software company, has completed its $175m (£136.5m) Series F investment round. The round was led by Teachers' Venture Growth (TVG), part of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Existing investors, including British Patient Capital, also participated in the round. The latest funding round values the British technology company at $2.6bn. Quantexa founder and CEO Vishal Marria said: "This latest investment reflects investors' embracing our vision and committing to join our journey as we accelerate innovation, platform deployments, and amplify the value we deliver to clients and the broader ecosystem. 'With the continued support of our investors, now including TVG, we are poised to push the boundaries of AI by harnessing the power of trusted data, reinforcing our leadership in this rapidly evolving landscape.' The company said it plans to use the funds to accelerate platform innovation, enhance client experiences, and forge new partnerships and alliances. The funding will also be used by the company to expand its presence in North America, and explore 'strategic' mergers and acquisitions. As part of the investment, Ara Yeromian, managing director at TVG, will join Quantexa's board of directors, which also includes representatives from other investors such as Warburg Pincus, Dawn Capital, BNY, Evolution Equity Partners, AlbionVC, and HSBC. Under the agreement, TVG will offer its expertise in scaling high-growth AI and software companies, along with its extensive network, to support Quantexa's international expansion and growth objectives. TVG EMEA senior managing director and head Avid Larizadeh Duggan said: 'Businesses today need to build trusted data foundations to enable AI-enhanced decision making, to drive real world impact. Quantexa is revolutionising how they do this. 'At TVG, we invest in high-growth, game-changing companies, led by visionary leaders making a global difference. Quantexa's impressive track record, expanding customer base, and bold approach to data and AI innovation make it a natural fit for our portfolio.' "Quantexa wraps up $175m Series F investment round" was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Quantexa: London-based AI startup's valuation hits £2bn
London-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Quantexa's valuation has jumped to more than £2bn following a new round of funding. The firm, which uses AI to interpret data sets and help financial firms manage risk, secured a $175m (£137.66m) investment in a funding round led by the Teachers' Venture Growth (TVG), which will bring the firm's valuation to $2.6bn (£2.05bn). Existing investors like British Patient Capital also participated in the round. Quantexa's license revenue grew by more than 40 per cent in 2024 as the firm rapidly scaled its partnership with Microsoft. It initially partnered with the tech giant to make its AI platform available on Azure's marketplace. Now, it will launch its AI-powered workload and a cloud anti-money laundering solution for its developed marketplace. The company is also doubling down on public sector demand, helping government agencies integrate AI while ensuring security and compliance. Founder and chief executive Vishal Marria dubbed AI as a 'one in a generation' technological shift. She said: 'This latest investment reflects investors' belief in our vision as we accelerate innovation and amplify the value we deliver to clients.' This comes after the firm hit unicorn status in August 2024, after closing an earlier funding round at a valuation of $1.8bn (£1.4bn). Sign in to access your portfolio
