About Avonmore
Founded in 2000, Avonmore has backed over 50 companies across 100+ funding rounds, often from first cheque to Series A and beyond. Our focus is simple: back great founders early and support them with funding and our hands-on experience as they scale.
Avonmore makes pre-seed or seed investments of £50,000 to £250,000, often working alongside co-investors, family offices and VC funds. We are comfortable leading, co-leading or following in syndicated rounds.
Our Story
Brothers Simon and Michael were inspired by the emerging angel scene in the US around 2000 and saw a clear gap in the UK market: a a shortage of experienced, founder-focused capital. They created Avonmore to change that, bringing not just money but meaningful support and long-term partnership.
Over two decades later, Simon remains deeply involved in the UK ecosystem, helping structure early-stage deals, mentoring founders, and contributing to the growth of the tech and venture landscape. Michael is an active investor out of Singapore, where he is now based.
How to Connect
If you’re raising pre-seed or seed funding and want experienced, supportive capital behind you, we’d love to hear from you via the contact button below.
“Simon was instrumental to the founding of Ventrata back in December 2016 and guided me every step of the way to 100+ people and $10M+ ARR business that we are today, and probably by the time you’re reading this much larger still. Simon is humble, wise and just an incredibly good guy to his core. We wouldn’t be where we are without him, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the chance to work with him on the board of Ventrata all these years.”
Simon Blakey
Simon is in charge of Avonmore’s UK operations, deal negotiations and ongoing management.
He founded Avonmore in 2000 and is originally a biochemist and management accountant by training. As well as being on the board of several of Avonmore’s portfolio companies, he is on the board of Cambridge Angels, is a Venture Partner at Playfair Capital having previously chaired their Investment Committee and is on the Investment Committee of the government-backed £100m Angel Co-fund.
Simon also sits on the management board of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, where he chairs the finance subcommittee and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Michael Blakey
Michael is based in Singapore where he now runs Cocoon Capital, an early stage VC fund investing across South-East Asia.
Michael began his career at Sainsbury’s, specialising in Human Resources and IT and joined Avonmore in 2002. He spends a considerable amount of his time mentoring entrepreneurs, engaging with other business angels, family offices and VCs, and speaks extensively about early stage investing across SE Asia.
“Simon has been on our cap table from Day 1 and has been nothing short of phenomenal. Always available & responsive when needed, but also very understanding when things aren’t going according to plan.
He has made plenty of impactful intros along the way and was happy to lean in during our latest fundraise process with institutional investors, digging into docs and providing valuable feedback.
Highly recommend working with him & having his backing!”