MD ONE Ventures

The Managing Partner and Founder is William McManners, who leads the investment team. Co-Founder Edward Ebbern and Founding Partner Kelvin Au complete the core decision-making group, drawing on backgrounds spanning UK Special Forces, the Defence BattleLab accelerator, and institutional VC at Draper Esprit.

The firm invests from Pre-Seed through Series A, with a stated policy of following on into two subsequent rounds where possible. This structure leans toward concentrated early backing rather than one-shot seed cheques, blending early-stage VC economics with a defence-sector hold period that often requires sustained capital support to reach government procurement milestones.

In-Q-Tel, the US intelligence community's venture arm, appears alongside MD ONE in frontier-technology and national-security rounds. The relationship provides portfolio companies with a potential pathway into US government contracts while allowing MD ONE to syndicate risk on technically complex diligence. The firms do not share a formal joint vehicle per public disclosures.

No. The firm states explicitly that there is no requirement for a product or solution to have an existing governmental track record. MD ONE evaluates commercially viable DeepTech companies that have the potential to advance UK and allied national-security capabilities, even if they have never sold into a defence ministry.

The firm operates the Orion Military Scholarship Fund. Public detail on the scholarship's size and selection process is limited, but the existence of a dedicated military scholarship vehicle sits consistently with a team structure that embeds multiple former military officers across its partnership and advisory ranks.

MD ONE Ventures Limited (FRN 979833) is an Appointed Representative of AQ1443 Ltd, which is authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 978496). The firm will not transact with or provide services to Retail Clients, restricting its activities to Professional Clients and Eligible Counterparties under FCA definitions.

Dual-use is the firm's explicit thesis. MD ONE backs companies whose technologies serve commercial markets while also addressing defence and national-security requirements. The portfolio reflects this across software and hardware — XTEND's autonomous drones target commercial and defence buyers, while Airfinity's disease forecasting serves both life-science enterprises and government health security agencies.