Mercia EIS Funds

Mercia expands Scottish investment team

National investment group, Mercia Technologies PLC, one of the UK’s most active technology investors has appointed Marcus Henderson as Investment Director at its Edinburgh office.

Marcus, who joins from venture capital firm Par Equity LLP, will play a leading role in Mercia’s continued expansion of its operations in Scotland, sourcing and completing investments into high-growth tech firms and continuing to build partnerships with universities and other organisations across Scotland.

Born and raised in New Zealand, Marcus studied at the University of Otago before moving to Scotland and starting his career with Deloitte in Edinburgh almost 10 years ago. He has worked on a range of high-profile deals including most recently the £1.5million investment into Novosound, the University of the West of Scotland’s first spinout company; the £2.0million investment in the University of Edinburgh spinout Speech Graphics; and the £6.1million investment into Snap40, the UK’s largest seed funding round for a digital healthcare business.

Marcus said: “Mercia has a strong track record for supporting breakthrough ideas and scaling young businesses and I look forward to working with the team and drawing on the substantial resources of the Group. My role will be to identify new investment opportunities and nurture the next generation of Scottish tech businesses.”

Mercia opened its first Edinburgh office in 2015 and now has partnerships with six Scottish universities – Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Napier, St Andrews, Heriot-Watt and Abertay. The office is led by Dr Alistair Forbes, who is also Mercia’s Head of Software & the Internet.

Dr Alistair Forbes said: “Scotland is one of the biggest and most vibrant tech hubs in the UK and Marcus’s investment experience and his extensive connections in the Scottish early-stage tech ecosystem further strengthen our capabilities here. His appointment will help us to continue to build our capacity and support our ambition to be an investor of choice for the very best early-stage tech businesses in the country.”