British Patient Capital announces today a £20m commitment to the third fund by Episode 1, a specialist early-stage technology investor. The £76m fund will back a new generation of B2B innovators at the pre-seed and seed stages, as well as deepen their reputation as an innovative early-stage investor.

Launched in 2013, Episode 1 has backed over 69 portfolio companies to date, including Carwow, Huboo, CloudNC, Raft, Robin AI, Fatmap and Omnipresent. The team has also overseen high-profile exits including Fatmap (acquired by Strava), Passfort (Moody’s), Feedr (Compass Group), Touch Surgery (Medtronic), and Atlas (Meta).

Episode 1 will be making investments of between £250k and £3m in pre-seed and seed-stage startups, with capital also allocated for follow-on investments. The firm’s focus is in software-led companies operating primarily in the UK which focus on key areas including AI, TechBio, open-source, software infrastructure, healthtech and marketplaces.

British Patient Capital is joined by a range of additional institutional investors, including Molten.

Christine Hockley, Managing Director, Funds at British Patient Capital, said: “Episode 1 have a track record of investing in UK B2B tech start-ups through a team of investment professionals with operational expertise. We are pleased to partner with them in supporting the next generation of home grown tech start-ups to scale into the leading businesses of tomorrow.” 

Hector Mason, General Partner at Episode 1, said: “This new fund, our biggest yet, is really a testament to the work of our portfolio founders who are building some of the fastest growing companies in Europe. It’s their tenacity, creativity, and vision which has enabled our fund to go from strength to strength and made this new fund possible.

“As a team, we never sit still. This fund gives us the ability to double down on our team and the proprietary tech that’s got us to where we are today, as well as providing more firepower to invest in the next generation of extraordinary founders.”

The British Business Bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds program, which helps develop and maintain effective venture capital provision in the UK, lowering the barriers to entry for emerging fund managers, backed Episode 1’s Fund I in 2013 and Fund II in 2017.