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Built Ventures
Built Ventures is Jordan Waring's Liverpool-based investment vehicle, converting a SaaS founder exit into concentrated early-stage Northern tech...
Built Ventures
Built Ventures deploys capital from a single balance sheet rooted in a founder exit, placing it among the small cohort of Northern England vehicles that trade entirely on operational credibility rather than institutional fundraising cycles. Waring established the firm after building and selling a Liverpool-based technology business, a path that shapes its entire underwriting approach: the partnership evaluates founders against the lived experience of having built, scaled, and exited a company themselves. The firm has no limited partners to report to, no quarterly redemption pressure, and no mandate drift — it writes when it sees conviction, not when a fund vintage demands deployment. The strategy concentrates on pre-seed and seed-stage technology companies, with a geographic bias toward the Liverpool-Manchester-Leeds corridor. Asset-class exposure is deliberately narrow: direct equity positions in enterprise software, applied AI, and fintech infrastructure businesses. The firm does not participate in fund-of-funds commitments, secondary purchases, or debt instruments. Known portfolio companies include CultureAI, an employee security behavior platform that has since raised from top-tier London venture funds, and Padoq, a community platform that exited to a US strategic buyer. Deals are structured as direct equity or convertible instruments, typically leading rounds between £100,000 and £500,000. Team size remains undisclosed but operates without satellite offices beyond Liverpool. The firm maintains no adjacent charitable foundation or co-investor club structure under the Built Ventures brand. May 2024: Jordan Waring was appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Liverpool’s Management School (per public record, 2024), a signal that the firm uses academic networks as one origination funnel alongside founder referrals from Waring’s prior operating career. Built Ventures occupies a structural seam between angel syndicate and micro-VC. It is not a family office recycling industrial wealth, nor a multi-family platform aggregating external capital — it is a single-operator vehicle whose entire investment thesis is underwriting, at the first cheque, the same company-building journey its own founder completed. That alignment, and the absence of a fundraising clock, determines which founders get a term sheet and which do not.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
United Kingdom
City
Liverpool
Corporate office
Liverpool, United Kingdom
Principals
Jordan Waring
Founder & Managing Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Built Ventures?
Jordan Waring, the firm's Founder and Managing Partner, runs all investment decisions. He built and sold a Liverpool-based SaaS company before establishing the firm, and that operating history directly shapes his underwriting criteria. The firm does not maintain an investment committee with external members or limited partner advisors.
How does Built Ventures originate its investment opportunities?
Origination relies heavily on Waring's personal network of founders and operators in the North of England, supplemented by his role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Liverpool's Management School. This gives the firm a proprietary window into companies emerging from the university ecosystem and the regional startup community before they appear on the radar of larger London-based funds.
Does Built Ventures operate as a family office or a venture firm?
It operates in a hybrid space between the two. Technically an asset manager deploying personal capital from a founder exit, Built Ventures does not raise external limited partner funds. In practice, it functions like a concentrated micro-VC, writing first-cheque equity and convertible-note rounds into early-stage technology companies.
What investment stages and cheque sizes does the firm target?
The firm targets pre-seed and seed-stage rounds, with cheque sizes typically ranging between £100,000 and £500,000. Waring leads rounds and takes board or observer seats when the structure warrants it. The firm rarely follows on into later-stage institutional rounds beyond a pro-rata allocation.
Which sectors and geographies does Built Ventures explicitly focus on?
Sector focus is deliberately narrow: enterprise software, applied artificial intelligence and machine learning, and fintech infrastructure. Geographically, the firm concentrates almost entirely on the Liverpool-Manchester-Leeds corridor, occasionally extending into other Northern cities but avoiding London and the broader Southeast unless a strong syndicate partner, typically a founder Waring backed early and relocated, creates a bridge.
Does Built Ventures co-invest alongside external fund managers?
Yes, but selectively. The firm often serves as the first institutional capital into a company and then syndicates subsequent rounds to London-based venture funds. CultureAI is an example — Built Ventures participated at an early stage before the company raised from larger venture capital firms. Waring does not join blind-pool fund commitments or participate in club deals unless they center on a company he already knows through direct relationships.
What is the firm's known track record or notable exits?
Padoq, a community-platform business, exited to a US-based strategic acquirer, representing one of Built Ventures' realized returns. The firm's active portfolio includes companies like CultureAI, which has since attracted follow-on funding from name-brand London venture funds. The firm does not publicly disclose a full track record or return multiples.
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