A London-based global venture capital firm, Saffron Hill was founded in 2000 by a unique group of principals and shareholders eager to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the rapid growth of the internet, technology, and media sectors in Europe. Over the past seven years we have built a portfolio of assets within the software and media sectors, helping to build companies from the earliest stages through to IPO. We are proud to have participated in the development of several highly successful ventures - companies that you will read about in these pages - some of which have been sold and several of which continue to grow quickly.

While building Saffron Hill's presence in Europe, we have also focussed on maintaining our close ties to the US, as it is clear that European technology ventures must establish a footprint in the US market in order to maximize growth. To this end, we have built a network of financial, recruiting, strategic, legal, tax, and development allies on both sides of the Atlantic, and work diligently to help our entrepreneurs expand when they are ready.

We focus primarily on investments in European early stage media and technology companies. Our portfolio ranges from software enabling TV broadcast on mobile phones to image recognition platforms, but all share the common characteristic of being disruptive opportunities targeting very large markets.

In mid-2006, we broadened our investment focus into the Cleantech sector. Prior to founding Saffron Hill our partners had extensive experience working within the environmental sector and we are excited to integrate our long term commitment to these issues into Saffron Hill's investment activities.

Our typical early stage investment is in the first or second round of institutional financing with an initial investment of £500,000 to £2 million. In later stage growth investments, we can deploy up to £10 to £15 million in capital. Our investors will occasionally co-invest alongside us.

Typically an investment will be covered by one of our partners, but this does not preclude access to all resources and relationships Saffron Hill can contribute. Our shareholders are actively involved in our activities and gain strong familiarity with our portfolio companies, allowing companies to benefit not only from relationships held by Saffron Hill's management but also those of our directors and shareholders.

In addition to providing access to our network, we will work with our portfolio companies to help them make the medium and long term decisions necessary to compete effectively. To this end, our expectation is that we will be active Board participants and will develop close working relationships with the management teams at each of our companies.

While providing capital is the most basic function of any venture group, building effective syndicates incorporating additional investors is critical. Saffron Hill prefers to play an active role in the financing efforts of its companies in order to ensure they benefit from high value investor syndicates.