Empowering Ventures
How do we operate?
DVS is a venture management company specialising in Venture Development, Corporate Finance and Strategic Advisory.
Our Core Values
Guiding Principles that Define Us
Venture Design
Having identified a sound investment opportunity, we surround the entrepreneur with a team of technical and commercial experts who will spend between four to eight weeks translating the idea into a fully encompassed business plan. The team will present the investment opportunity to its Investment Committee clearly outlining terms of investment which address the needs of our Fund, Dean Venture Studio and the entrepreneur(s).
Venture Launch
The dedicated venture management team will now translate the business plan ensuring the venture transitions from idea-generation to revenue-generation within 12 months. This includes the building of the underlying technology, establishing all the operational and readiness activities and hiring of resources directly into the investee company.
Venture Growth
Dean Venture Studio will continue to shape and steer the company through secondments of operational resources and assuming an active seat on the Board. The company will implement a three-stage growth plan each lasting 12 months in tenure. The ultimate plan is to steer the company towards strategic growth and provide an exit point for its fund.
Investment Criteria
Dean Venture Studio – in the capacity of an Investment Advisor – seeks to invest in opportunities which meet the following investment criteria:
Financial Focus
Investment is generally raised through Dean Venture Studio
Seed to pre-series “A”:
1. Investment range between £100,000 to £5m.
2. Idea Generation to Revenue Generation within 12 months.
3. Prepare to raise next round of financing from month 24 onwards.
Series “A” preparation:
1. Clear revenue and expansion plans.
2. Demonstrate ability to generate between £2m to £10m in revenue.
3. Ideally EBITDA positive or a clear path towards how a positive EBITDA will be achieved.
4. Typical ticket size ranging between £10m to £25m.
Aim is to launch technology focused businesses which can achieve an EBITDA margin between 65% to 75% within 5 years.
Anticipated returns range between 5x to 10x depending on investor and round.
Incoming investors are encouraged to have an investment horizon ranging between 5-10 years.
Strategic Focused
Aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Ability to grow business vertically through acquisition.
Global growth through carefully crafted joint ventures.
Businesses which can generate cash within 12-months of inception.
Businesses which can be scaled within 36-months.
Provide superior returns with social focus.
Technology Focused
We are inspired by ventures underpinned by the following technology:
Blockchain
Artificial Intelligence
Natural Processing Language & Machine Learning
Platform-as-a-Service (“PaaS”)
Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”)
Internet of Things (“IoT”)
Sector Focused
Our sector focus includes:
Education
Health & Well-Being
Sports & Entertainment
Food & Beverages
Automotive & Transportation
Regulation & Compliance
Please note Dean Venture Studio DOES NOT invest in businesses which involve alcohol, gambling, pornography or tobacco.
Market Focused
Large, antiquated industries ripe for disruption through innovation and technology.
Organisation and sharing of data and intelligence which leads to much enriched decision-making and customer ownership.
Streamlining and simplifying complex, disjointed business processes.
Richly enhancing the customer journey through an omni-channel experience.
Geographic Focused
Ventures which will be headquartered in UK or UAE.
Growth through joint ventures with regional growth plans.
Results in Numbers
Start-up Statistics
Our experience of working with entrepreneurs and within a start-up environment has enabled us to understand the antecedents to start-up success.