If you spend any time with our team, you’ll know we’re optimists by default, but we’re not blind to the headwinds either. Still, as we step into 2026, it genuinely feels like the UK is entering a new phase for early-stage company building.

AI adoption is accelerating. Company formation continues to evolve. Speed to revenue is compressing. And the direction of travel on tax support and incentives, even with the inevitable scrutiny and change, keeps the UK firmly in the conversation as one of the most compelling places to back ambitious enterprise.

All of that makes one thing clear: pre-seed and seed investing has rarely felt more exciting.

With that backdrop, here’s our look back at 2025, the year we scaled our platform, deepened our partnerships, broadened access, and stayed laser-focused on backing exceptional founders.

Haatch 2025 in numbers
A few topline stats that capture the momentum and the platform we’re building:
• £103m total capital raised (lifetime)
• 2,371 total investors in the Haatch community
• 152 active portfolio companies
• 22 team members
• £24.5m capital deployed in 2025 (including BBI and D2N2 monies)
• 68 company investments completed in 2025
• 10 funds closed in 2025 (with 4 closing early due to demand)
• 3.6 months average time to fully deploy funds
• 868 new investors joined in 2025
• 5 profitable exits in 2025
• 7.4x our largest exit multiple in 2025 (Native Teams)

Behind every number is a founder, a team, and a set of customers they’re fighting to win. We never lose sight of that. But what these metrics do show is consistency: consistent deployment, consistent access to dealflow, and consistent progress in building a modern early-stage investment platform.

The partnerships that helped us scale impact
Early-stage investing works best when you combine sharp selection with strong infrastructure and aligned capital. In 2025, we took meaningful steps forward on that front.

British Business Bank partnership
We secured an additional £10m commitment in February 2025, taking the total British Business Investments commitment to £20m, supporting Haatch across our SEIS and EIS funds and our angel network.

This matters because it reinforces a simple point: the UK ecosystem is strongest when institutional commitment and private capital work together to support founders early, not once the story is already obvious.

Backing emerging angel syndicates
We also continued to play an active role in the broader syndicate landscape via the £7m co-investment platform, backing emerging angel syndicates and communities including:
• HERmesa
• CircleRock Capital
• The Games Angels
• Sie Ventures
• 2050 Capital

This is the ecosystem compounding. More specialist networks. More operator-led capital. More routes for high-quality companies to raise smart money early.

Building the brand and the platform
2025 wasn’t just about investing. It was also about making Haatch easier to understand, easier to engage with, and more transparent as we scale.

• We launched a new website, reflecting the platform we’ve built and the values we want to be known for: clarity, access, and founder-first conviction.

• Blue Earth Syndicate Fund 1 closed at £600k, investing into three BE100 winners across Start (SEIS), Grow (EIS), and Scale (EIS).

The Blue Earth work is a good example of what we think “community” should mean in venture: not vibes, not noise, but aligned people coming together around a clear mission and a repeatable model.

Haatch Direct: high conviction, one deal at a time
In Q1 2025 we launched Haatch Direct, and the response validated something we believed for a long time: investors want the option to lean into individual high-conviction opportunities, alongside diversified funds.
Since launch:
• £2.9m capital invested
• 10 deals completed
• 151 individual investments
• £15,000 average investor ticket
The model is intentionally simple: typically one deal per month, sourced from across the Haatch network, with 24-hour early access for Haatch Direct subscribers.

For founders, it’s another way to access aligned capital fast. For investors, it’s a way to engage more deeply with specific themes and opportunities, while still benefiting from the diligence and selection discipline the Haatch team applies.

Crowdcube and community: widening access without changing standards
We’ve always believed early-stage investing should be more accessible. Not less rigorous, not diluted, just genuinely more open.

On Crowdcube, SEIS (all time) now stands at:
• £3,955,618 raised
• 1,087 investors
And in 2025 alone:
• £2,165,190 raised
• 584 investors

We also ran the first retail offer for our EIS fund, raising just north of £400k from 120+ investors.

What I’m most proud of here is not the mechanics, it’s the intent. We’re not building access as a gimmick. We’re building it because great companies can come from anywhere, and the people who back them should be able to come from anywhere too.

A team that scaled, without losing the culture
We finished 2025 with 22 people, up from 12 the year before.
That’s a big leap, and it brings a responsibility: scaling the team without compromising the standards, speed, and care that got us here.

The only way we do that is by hiring people who care about founders, who care about outcomes, and who bring genuine craft to their work. In venture, your culture is the product far more than people realise.

Recognition is nice. The work is the point.
Awards don’t build companies, founders do. But recognition can be a useful signal that your peers see the quality of the platform, the process, and the outcomes.
In 2025, we were proud to receive:
• UKBAA Awards 2025: Seed VC of the Year
• EISA Awards 2025: Best SEIS Investment Manager (Joint Winner)
• SeedLegals Startup Awards 2025: Fund of the Year
• Growth Investor Awards 2025: Exit of the Year
• Growth Investor Awards 2025: Best EIS Investment Manager, Up and Coming
• Tech South West Awards 2025: Tech Investor of the Year

We’ll take the moment, and then we’ll get back to work.

What we’re carrying into 2026
Here’s what hasn’t changed, and won’t.
1. We will stay obsessed with founders: their speed, their clarity, their ambition, and their ability to execute.
2. We will keep our bar high: conviction is earned, and every deal has to clear it
3. We will keep widening access: because the best communities aren’t exclusive clubs, they’re aligned networks built around shared belief and good process.
4. We’ll keep leading from the front: Team Haatch will move fast, test hard, and keep pushing new boundaries.

2025 was a standout year. 2026 has the ingredients to be even more interesting.

Let’s build.