About DSW Ventures
DSW Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2018. It is primarily based out of Manchester, United Kingdom. As of Sep 2026, DSW Ventures is an active investor, having invested in 22 companies, with 4 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in United Kingdom based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to Life Sciences and High Tech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Droplet Scientific A lot of funds co-invest with DSW Ventures, with names like Ukri sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. DSW Ventures has team of 10 people including 4 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed & Series A
Deals in last 12 months
DSW Ventures' List of Top Investments
DSW Ventures has a portfolio of 22 companies. Their most notable investments are in Invenirex and 4D Medicine.Their portfolio spans across and United Kingdom. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, Life Sciences, High Tech and 18 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A stages. Here is the list of top investments by DSW Ventures:1. Roxfit
Provider of a workout tracking app with intra-workout guidance and post-workout analysis. The application allows users to build custom workouts or select from a workout library. It provides guidance to smart watches, including upcoming segments and intra-workout analytics. The application offers post workout analysis with detailed splits, heart rate data, and efforts. Users can review weekly progress, exercise trends, and performance.
Key facts about Roxfit
- Founded Year: 2024
- Location: London (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $3.62M
- Employee Count: 16 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: York Angels, SWIM Capital and 2 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Mar 04, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Invenirex
Developer of nucleic acid detection instruments. The company revolutionize molecular analysis and propel scientific progress by developing real-time, ultra-sensitive nucleic acid detection instrumentation powered by the object-detection neural networks to accelerate life-sciences research.
Key facts about Invenirex
- Founded Year: 2021
- Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne (United Kingdom)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $3.27M
- Employee Count: 9 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: XTX Ventures, Ukri and 3 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Nov 18, 2025, $*****
Provider of utility bill management platform for landlords and tenants. The platform enables landlords and letting agents rent properties and generate ongoing revenue from their tenants. The software lets the landowner get complete bill information about tenants, bill splitting among households, and provides customer support.
Key facts about One Utility Bill
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne (United Kingdom)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $6.09M
- Employee Count: 156 as on Jun 30, 2026
- Investors: Conviction, PI LABS and 5 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Apr 06, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. 4D Medicine
4D Medicine is a company focused on developing and commercializing transformative gene therapeutic products for serious unmet medical conditions. They have two subsidiaries that are dedicated to research, development, and commercialization of new levels of non-invasive, quantitative lung function imaging and analysis technology.
Key facts about 4D Medicine
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Nottingham (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $6.6M
- Employee Count: 12 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: SFC Capital, Boundary Capital Partners and 5 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jul 25, 2024, $*****
5. Hike
Provider of search engine optimization solutions. It offers search engine optimization solutions for startups and small businesses. Offered platforms action engine provides guidelines for tailored SEO actions for the client website. It tracks progress and identifies the impacts of the actions implemented. It also keeps track of competitors online activity. The product is available on a subscription basis. Notable clients include The Wearer, Advancemed, and EduJay.
Key facts about Hike
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Lutterworth (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $825K
- Employee Count: 20 as on Feb 28, 2025
- Investors: DSW Ventures and Jenson Ventures
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Jan 17, 2023, $*****
DSW Ventures' Year-on-Year Investment Trends
DSW Ventures has invested in 22 companies over the last 7 years, with an average of 3 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2025, it made 6 investments, while as of Sep 2026, it has made 5 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Droplet Scientific and most recent follow-on round was in Roxfit.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 4 | 1 | 5 |
2025 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
2024 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2022 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2021 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
2020 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
DSW Ventures' Investments by Stage
DSW Ventures has made 19 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $1.49M and 1 investment in Series A stage with an average round size of $6.03M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 19 |
Series A | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
DSW Ventures' Investments by Sector
DSW Ventures has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, Life Sciences, High Tech, Healthcare and Vertical SaaS. Notably, it has invested in 16 Tech companies, 15 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 9 Software companies and at least 6 companies focusing on Saas.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 6 |
Life Sciences | 5 |
High Tech | 4 |
Healthcare | 3 |
Vertical SaaS | 3 |
Others | 21 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
DSW Ventures' Investments by Geography
DSW Ventures has made most investments in United Kingdom (20).DSW Ventures' recent investments
DSW Ventures has made 5 investments in 2026 so far. Droplet Scientific and Voxshell are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by DSW Ventures:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 21, 2026 | United Kingdom | Seed | 6668 | [+1] | |
Jul 21, 2026 | United Kingdom | Seed | 3516 | ||
Jun 08, 2026 | United Kingdom | Seed | 7597 | - | |
Apr 22, 2026 | United Kingdom | Seed | 8173 | [+2] | |
Mar 04, 2026 | United Kingdom | Seed | 4753 | [+2] |
Team profile of DSW Ventures
DSW Ventures has a team of 10 members including 4 Partners and 3 Principals located in United Kingdom. DSW Ventures' team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in DSW Ventures:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | United Kingdom | - | - | |
Partner | United Kingdom | - | - | |
Partner | United Kingdom | - | - | |
Partner | United Kingdom | - | - | |
Principal | London | - | - | |
Principal | United Kingdom | - | - | |
Principal | United Kingdom | - | - |
Co-investors of DSW Ventures
Over the past 7 years, 36 investors have co-invested in DSW Ventures's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before DSW Ventures: Northstar Ventures, Middleton Enterprises and 2 others have invested in rounds before DSW Ventures. There is 1 company where Northstar Ventures has invested before DSW Ventures and 1 company where Middleton Enterprises has invested before DSW Ventures.
- Top Co-investors of DSW Ventures: 20 investors entered a company along with DSW Ventures. These include investors like Ukri (3 companies).
- Invested after DSW Ventures: A total of 12 investors have invested in DSW Ventures's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Invest Northern Ireland (2 companies), Peter Markham (1 company) and SWIM Capital (1 company).
Recent News related to DSW Ventures
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Droplet Scientific Raises £1.5M for Patient Monitoring TechnologyInsider Media•Sep 22, 2026•DSW Ventures, Droplet Scientific
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Voxshell secures £800,000 seed funding to advance its automated meshing platformUKBAA•Aug 26, 2026•DSW Ventures, Voxshell
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Nexco.ai secures DSW Ventures backing to expand AI agent platform for executive searchUKBAA•Jun 08, 2026•DSW Ventures, Nexco
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“Human plus machine outperforms either alone” - DSW Ventures backs Sheffield AI agent start-upInsider Media•May 21, 2026•Nexco, DSW Ventures
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Fitness tech start-up raises £1.9m as hybrid sport boom acceleratesUKBAA•Mar 19, 2026•Roxfit, DSW Ventures
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ROXFIT lands £1.9M to build AI training platform for HYROX athletesTech Funding News•Mar 04, 2026•Roxfit, DSW Ventures
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Roxfit Accelerates Expansion After £800,000 Investment BoostBusiness Link•Dec 02, 2025•Roxfit, DSW Ventures, York Angel Investors
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“I believe it’s the UK’s next big technology” - biotech firm lands £2m in seed fundingInsider Media•Nov 18, 2025•Invenirex, DSW Ventures, XTX Markets, Creator Fund and 1 other
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DSW Partners with Uber Eats for On-Demand Delivery of Footwear and AccessoriesRetail Technology Innovation Hub•Sep 17, 2025•Uber, DSW Ventures, Designer Brands
