Mercia Fund Managers has appointed Will Schaffer as Investment Manager. He will be supporting businesses across Yorkshire, with a particular focus on the Sheffield City Region.
Will has six years’ experience in finance, most recently as a mergers and acquisitions specialist with KPMG in Leeds and previously with The McLean Group in Washington D.C. He has worked on deals including the private equity-backed merger of Pharmacy2U and ChemistDirect.co.uk and the Pressure Technologies Plc divestment of its Hydratron subsidiary to Pryme Group. For the past 12 months he has been seconded to NorthInvest, where he developed an angel investor network and support ecosystem for tech startups across the North.
Born and brought up in the US, Will started his career as a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington D.C. thinktank, before moving into corporate finance.
At Mercia, he will be responsible for providing local businesses with investment of £100,000 to £2.0m from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and is managed by Mercia Fund Managers. He will be working closely with the Sheffield Local Enterprise Partnership.
Will said: “Mercia has a strong track record for supporting SMEs and investing in early-stage firms. There is a huge amount of potential in Yorkshire – my role will be to identify the most promising businesses and help them to scale and grow.”
Will Clark, Fund Manager for NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, said: “Having invested £15.7m in 57 businesses in Yorkshire last year, Mercia is one of the most active investors in the region. Will has gained valuable experience working with high-growth firms both here and in the US. His appointment will allow us to further strengthen our team in Yorkshire and help more regional businesses in the future.”