About
I’m Fund Principal at Mercia Ventures, managing the West Midlands Engine Investment Fund II (MEIF II) on behalf of the British Business Bank. My team backs seed and growth-stage companies across the West Midlands across an array of sectors.
I joined Mercia in 2019, and day to day, I work with ambitious founders and management teams navigating the critical path from early-stage through to exit. Whether you’re preparing for your next round, scaling your team, or working through complex strategic decisions, I bring hands-on support alongside capital—joining company boards, connecting founders with the right networks, and helping businesses make the leap from promising early stage to scaled enterprise. From the successful exit of Leamington Spa-based Genba Digital to the Series A raises of WorkBuzz and Corrosion Radar, I’ve been privileged to work with an incredibly high-performing set of founders scale their businesses.
Before Mercia, I built 10 years of experience across both debt and equity, developing expertise in the scaling challenges faced by a whole spectrum of businesses—across different sectors and from the small to the very large.
Previous experience
Graduating from Loughborough University, Stephen has spent the last 10 years supporting Midlands-based businesses in a finance capacity. Prior to joining the Group, Stephen was an investor at the Housing Growth Partnership, investing in small and mid-sized housebuilders across the Midlands. Stephen has also spent time in the Midlands office of Lloyds Bank’s leverage finance team, working on acquisition facilities to support private equity buy outs across a multitude of sectors including telecoms, media and technology, manufacturing, leisure, education, and oil and gas.