Next Wave Partners

Next Wave Partners

Next Wave Partners is a growth-focused private equity firm co-led by managing partners Jonathan Brod and Dean MacKenzie from its Baker Street office in London. The firm invests in or acquires established UK companies with durable market positions, then finances clearly identifiable growth opportunities. Its mandate spans business and consumer services and products, with a geographic concentration on UK platform investments. Next Wave targets enterprises valued at £25–100 million, writing equity cheques of £15–75 million across four opportunity types: owner-managed succession deals, non-core corporate carve-outs, technology-driven disruptive models, and outstanding entrepreneurial talent. The firm has backed companies including Whitespace Global — a sovereign AI provider — and UK e-commerce logistics group The Delivery Group, which was assembled through a series of acquisitions after an initial investment in Secured Mail in 2011. Portfolio companies have completed more than 30 bolt-on acquisitions, expanding into Scandinavia, Continental Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. The firm also uses a network of like-minded growth-capital investors in markets such as France, Germany, the US, Singapore, and Australia to support international expansion. Alongside Brod and MacKenzie, the team includes investment manager Greg Leathem and senior adviser Nick Watkins. A core investment horizon of four to five years coexists with a Patient Capital portfolio where holds have exceeded a decade. Recent activity: in 2024, Next Wave invested in Whitespace Global, a UK sovereign-AI specialist founded in 2015 by Paul Jenkinson and Andrew McCartney, whose technology underpins high-risk national operations. Unlike funds that rely on financial engineering, Next Wave anchors its returns to top-line revenue growth, margin enhancement, and geographic expansion — building international scale within small and mid-sized companies by activating a global co-investor network that supplies local market intelligence typically available only to much larger private equity firms.