Championing state-schoolers in tech

‍93% of the UK population attend state school. But at every level of the tech ecosystem, from investors to interns, we are underrepresented.

Social Mobility Ventures empowers state-educated founders, operators and investors with the resources they need to succeed:

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Community

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Founder & Investor Speed Networking

@Local Globe, Phoenix Court, London
Wednesday, April 9th
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM

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Education

Insights from our community.

How are we empowering state-educated founders and operators?

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Launching the Tech Future Taskforce

A collective mission to advance socioeconomic mobility in UK tech
Joe Brennan
18 Mar 2025
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5 min read

Social Mobility in UK Tech

The Economic and Social Imperative
David Houghton
3 Jan 2025
•
5 min read

Operator to Investor: the case for working in startups before going into VC

And how more operators can drive diversity
David Houghton
3 Jan 2025
•
6 min read
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Capital

Friends & Family
Syndicate.

Our syndicate supports early-stage startup founders educated in state schools with their first investment – replacing the 'friends and family' round.

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Team

Meet our team.

We're always looking for volunteers and future team members to get involved.

Interested in Volunteering?
I’m David, founder of Social Mobility Ventures, and Principal at Houghton Street Ventures and Antler.

I’m originally from Leeds, where I grew up in a pretty typical working-class home and was the first in my family to go to university. I was that kid obsessed with tech—saved up from my paper round  to build my own computers—and only discovered venture capital after watching Silicon Valley long after University (shockingly accurate, by the way).

After years in VC with a huge chip on my shoulder, I decided to channel that energy into making the startup world more accessible for people from backgrounds like mine—because honestly, there aren’t nearly enough of us.
David Houghton
Founding Partner
Katie is an early stage investor at Simple Scaling, involved in all aspect of the investment process from origination, due diligence, execution and portfolio management.  She has extensive experience in impact investing, having spent over five years at institutional investor, Better Society Capital (“BSC”) where she managed investments in several impact venture funds.  Whilst at BSC, Katie played a pivotal role in shaping the narrative around impact venture investing as a co-founder of ImpactVC. Katie also held a position on BVCA’s Impact Investing Advisory Group.  Prior to BSC, Katie spent almost six years at Octopus in various roles, including raising investment into venture capital funds.  Katie holds an Investment Management Certificate from CFA UK and a Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning from CISI.
Katie Fulford-Smith
Venture Partner
I'm Harry, part of the team SMV, but also a founder-turned deeptech investor at 7percent Ventures.

Coming from a rural state school in Wilshire, I knew absolutely nothing about the 'venture playbook' - and it became quickly apparent how few doors were initially open to me as a first-time founder.

I've since worked with hundreds of startups and VC funds - and its safe to say that the problem is systemic across the industry.

I believe that access to capital is the best way to solve it.
Harry Morgan
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I'm Harry, part of the team SMV, but also a founder-turned deeptech investor at 7percent Ventures.

Coming from a rural state school in Wilshire, I knew absolutely nothing about the 'venture playbook' - and it became quickly apparent how few doors were initially open to me as a first-time founder.

I've since worked with hundreds of startups and VC funds - and its safe to say that the problem is systemic across the industry.

I believe that access to capital is the best way to solve it.
Harry Morgan
Venture Partner
Charlotte Lane
Venture Partner
I'm Joe. As well as supporting Social Mobility Ventures I have almost 15 years of experience building GTM functions in startups and scaleups, having been an early employee at Signal AI, Tessian and Ledgy.

I attended a comprehensive school in Cambridgeshire. Both my parents were teachers, so I had very little insight into the technology sector before I started my career. I'm determined to make it easier for people like you and I to access jobs and investment in tech.
Joe Brennan
Venture Partner
Seyi Oluwasanmi
Venture Partner
Ellie Broad
Venture Partner
Ryan is Head of Marketing & Communications at Nauta Capital, an early-stage VC with over €550m AUM and almost 90 investments across Europe.

He joined Nauta in 2024 with 10 years of experience leading marketing for VC firms (ADV and Bloc Ventures) and startups (Evolution AI and YellowDog.ai). He first joined the ecosystem at Tech Nation, eventually running marketing for the organisation tasked with growing the UK's technology sector.

Following his time at Tech Nation, he joined ADV (VC firm) as one of the first employees to launch the first fund. His role later grew into portfolio support with hands-on experience working with companies such as Urban, Current Health, Perlego and Onto.
In 2021, after working with startup Evolution AI to launch a new product, Ryan joined Bloc Ventures as Head of Marketing.

Bloc is a deep tech VC active across Europe and Ryan spent three and a half years there, including over 18 months seconded part-time as Head of Marketing for portfolio company YellowDog.ai.

He grew up in Manchester and is proud to be state school educated.
Ryan Procter
Venture Partner
Izzy Vehdati
Venture Partner
I'm Jordan, part of the Social Mobility Venture team,  and also Head of Economic Policy at the Startup Coalition, where we fight for a better policy environment for venture capital investors, startups and scaleups.

I joined the startup world having worked in HMT, including on technology, financial services and regional growth. Throughout, ive been committed to playing my part to help ensure the technology sector is not cut from anyone.

Having grown up in a council flat in East London - I can tell you in no uncertain terms - that is currently far from the case.
Jordan Sullivan
Venture Partner