A Manchester-based venture capital firm has ploughed more than £1.1m into several artificial intelligence startups.
The investment package from EHE Ventures targets tech firms using AI to solve “real-world” problems in areas ranging from health and agriculture to publishing and consumer technology.
It comes under the firm’s new SEIS AI Growth Fund, which is part of the UK government’s Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. Over the next three years, the scheme aims to allocate £15m of funding to early-stage AI companies.
In addition to receiving capital to get their ideas off the ground or scale them, the firms will also receive support and advice from the company’s internal Venture Studio.
As well as leveraging its in-house expertise, EHE Ventures will also lean on frameworks from the government to support the AI startups.
To get this support, firms must be preparing for seed funding or have completed a Series A funding round – and be developing solutions that are wholly or assisted by AI.
The first batch of companies to win funding through EHE Ventures’ new AI scheme includes marketing technology startup SUBJCT, agtech firm Fotenix, medtech firm Spotlight Pathology, fintech Good With, insurtech Peppercorn AI, ocean intelligence specialists NeuWave Technologies and pet health platform Scooch.
Describing these firms and their missions, Neil Vose, CEO of EHE Venture Studio, said: “AI is transforming how we work, diagnose, farm, borrow, and consume, and we’re not here for the hype. We’re here to back practical, scalable applications of AI that actually make life better.”
He added: “What makes us different is that we don’t just invest. Our venture studio model means we’re in the trenches with founders, helping shape product, build tech, and get to market faster. It’s high-conviction, hands-on investing.”
