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Venture capital and equity investments

Helping investors fund exciting, entrepreneurial and growing businesses and assisting businesses raise capital for their start up and scale up – we’ve been doing this successfully for years.

The right funding can be vital to a business’ successful start up or scale up. Our expertise and strong track record of advising a wide range of investors means we can advise on the investment process and terms as well as industry trends and norms.

We also work with many exciting entrepreneurial businesses on their fundraising journeys. We're well networked in the investment community, can make useful introductions and have insight into what co-investors or, if you are a business raising money, your investors are looking for, which is incredibly useful to ensure a smooth, successful closing of your fundraising.

Our experience

We have years of experience working with investors on their portfolio investments and are used to ensuring a smooth transaction process, often within tight time frames and budgets.

We also have a wide range of expertise in fund creation and fund structuring, as well as portfolio management and exits. This means we understand the whole VC fund life cycle, which gives an insight into a VC fund’s investment approach or objectives during the investment negotiations. This is coupled with our deep sector expertise in technology, life sciences and healthcare.

Examples of our recent experience include:

  • Advising a leading pan-European deep tech VC on its investments in leading businesses including Nyobolt, Nu Quantum, and Imperagen.
  • Acting for optical computing business Optalysys on its £23m Series A2 fundraising.
  • Advising drug discovery company NRG Therapeutics on their oversubscribed £50m Series B round.
  • Acting for eight universities on their participation in the £250m Midlands Mindforge patient capital investment company to support spinouts from those universities.
  • Advising Northern Gritstone on its investments into several science and technology enabled university spinouts across the North of England.
  • Acting for Inter IKEA as lead investor in Colorifix’s Series B2 round.

Did you know?

Deals

We advise on deals with an aggregate investment amount of between £250m-£450m+ in each year.

Rankings

We are ranked in the legal directories, Chambers and Legal 500, for investments work.

Award winning

We were named the Best Legal Team for Early Stage Deals by the UK Business Angels Association for 2024 and have been shortlisted since.

What our clients say about us

  • The incisive and responsive legal support provided by Mills & Reeve to our investments team has been vital in enabling us to achieve our investment ambitions – they have an ability to move mountains at short notice.
    Chief Investment Officer, Mercia Technologies PLC
  • Exceptional at being proactive in identifying issues and recommending pragmatic solutions.
    Client feedback
  • Mills & Reeve stands out for its strategic clarity, responsiveness, and steady guidance. What distinguishes the firm is its ability to balance pragmatism with legal precision.
    Chambers 2026
  • Zickie is superb, always there to help us, immediately understands the issues and remembers contract details so she is able to respond quickly. She always had good ideas and suggestions.
    Chambers 2026

Our clients

We work with some of the leading and most active VC, corporate and angel investors operating in the UK, including:

  • Mercia Ventures
  • IQ Capital Partners
  • Gresham House Asset Management
  • Inter IKEA
  • Northern Gritstone

We advise exciting entrepreneurial businesses, such as:

  • Pragmatic Semiconductor
  • NRG Therapeutics
  • Optalysys
  • Previsico
  • Vita Mojo International

Our lawyers

Led by partner Zickie Lim, with more than 25 years’ experience in venture capital transactions and a standout track record in deep tech and university spinouts, our team comprises 17 lawyers.

Get in touch

Our team of legal experts are here to support you.
Contact one of our lawyers today.

Meet the core venture capital and equity investments team

  • Zickie Lim wearing a gold necklace, black blazer with a grey background.
    Zickie Lim
    Partner,Head of VC & Investments
  • Edward Sloan in a dark suit and a tie, in front of a pale background
    Edward Sloan
    Partner,Head of VC & Investments, London
  • Vicky Protano wearing a floral top, black blazer in front of a pale brown background.
    Vicky Protano
    Partner
  • Katharine Robinson in a black top, in front of a window
    Katharine Robinson
    Principal Associate
  • Christina O'Brien in an orange top, in front of a pale background
    Christina O'Brien
    Principal Associate
  • Kim Lindsay-Smith in a dark jacket, in front of a grey background
    Kim Lindsay-Smith
    Principal Associate

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