About Ufi Ventures

Investing in skills and the future of work.

Woman wearing VR headset.

As the UK economy undergoes rapid change – driven by technological advancements, environmental challenges, and shifting labour markets – individuals, businesses and communities face growing skills gaps that threaten economic resilience, productivity, and inclusivity. The nature of learning and work must evolve to keep pace, and vocational technology has a crucial role to play.

Since its inception in 2019, Ufi Ventures has invested into innovative start-ups utilising technology to get adults learning, building a strong portfolio of active businesses, aligned with Ufi’s mission to champion the power of technology to improve skills for work. By investing in scalable tech solutions that addressed critical skills gaps and enhanced workforce development, Ufi Ventures has driven real impact across different industries.

Our second investment fund, the Ufi Ventures Challenge Fund launched in November 2024. The Challenge Fund is focused on addressing critical skills shortages arising from the UK’s transitioning economy, as highlighted by our VocTech Challenge programme, Skills for an economy in transition.

By investing in ventures using technology to get adults learning, we can help ensure everyone in the UK has the opportunity to develop the skills they need to succeed in their working lives, now and in the future.

Student helping a woman use a VR headset in a college.
Ufi invested in Bodyswaps in September 2020 alongside Haatch Ventures and a group of private investors.

Ufi Ventures 2019-2024: Five years of investing in Vocational Technology

Celebrating half a decade of supporting innovative and scalable ventures to grow.

By directly investing in VocTech through Ufi Ventures, we aim to:

Support workforce adaptation
Equip individuals with the skills they need to thrive in a changing job market, ensuring long-term employability and career progression.

Create value for employers
Help businesses, particularly in traditional and emerging sectors, meet the demand for new skills, fostering innovation and competitiveness, ultimately driving economic growth.

Promote social mobility
Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. We have a particular focus on unlocking potential for learners furthest from opportunity in communities, sectors, skill levels and places across the UK.

Accelerate technology adoption
Back scalable technologies that enhance how skills are learned, certified, and deployed, placing the UK at the forefront of global skills development.

Why Ufi Ventures?

As the investment arm of Ufi VocTech Trust we capitalise on Ufi’s depth of experience in the development of vocational technology to support our portfolio.

Our sector expertise gives us a unique perspective on how to scale innovation, supported by access to a comprehensive network of leading educators, developers, designers, employers, investors and policy makers.

Unlike most funding partners, at Ufi Ventures we invest our own capital. This allows us to focus everything we do on social impact.

“We have Ufi’s money in the bank, but it’s the advice that has been super helpful. Ufi Ventures are really helping with the challenges that we face.”

  • Christophe Mallet, Co-founder, Bodyswaps

Our support

Ufi Ventures offers more than capital; we provide ventures with strategic guidance and hands-on support. Our venture partners, experienced professionals from education, technology, and business sectors, play a key role in this process. They offer deep industry insights, mentorship, and help in refining business strategies.

Through our wider expert network and partners, ventures gain access to potential collaborators, accelerating their growth and market reach.

We also run a series of regular online workshops, alongside our annual portfolio day.

Ready to connect with the team?

Send us your deck and one of the team will respond within five working days.

Pitch to us

Our investment focus

Explore the five areas we invest into to support adult skills development.

Our investment criteria

Explore what we look for in our investments.

FAQs

Ufi Ventures are the investment arm of the Ufi VocTech Trust.

At a time when new technology is driving significant change in the way we work and the skills needed, we see a great opportunity to catalyse investment in the technologies that will support a more skilled and productive workforce.

Our vision is to create a world where vocational skills are celebrated and valued by all as the engine upon which the UK economy is built and where development of those skills is made possible by the best technology solutions, providing easier access, greater opportunity and better outcomes for all.

Unlike most funding partners, at Ufi Ventures we invest our own capital. This allows us to focus everything we do on social impact.

By leveraging our depth of experience in the development of technology to build adult’s skills for work, we support our growing portfolio through access to our wide expert pool and network.

Our sector expertise give us a unique perspective on how to scale innovations in the space, and we open up our comprehensive network of educators, developers, designers, employers, investors and policy makers to support our investees with strategic growth.

Ufi Ventures provides initial investments of £250k.

We have the capacity to invest a further £1m in follow-on funding.

We are looking for ventures that show:

  • Significant impact potential
  • Are highly scalable
  • Demonstrate innovation in technology or model of delivery
  • Have strong management teams
  • Show an appropriate commercial upside

Explore our investment criteria.

Unfortunately we are not currently investing in pre-revenue business.

We would encourage you to sign-up to our Community Newsletter to receive alerts for our next grant funding call.

Our investment process is designed to be as open and time efficient as possible. We understand that this journey is a two-way process of learning about each other.

After reviewing your proposal, if there is a clear alignment with our sector focus, one of our investment team will arrange an introductory call. If both parties are happy to move forward, we will then invite you to meet the rest of the investment team ahead of a decision to take an opportunity to our investment committee.

Our investment committee comprises of a selection of our Board of Trustees.

We aim to move as fast as founders require us to and will always keep teams up to date throughout the process.

We lead investment rounds and also invest along-side other funds and angels.

Our co-investors include Beringea, Frontline Ventures, Triple Point, TMT Investments and others.

Yes, but there needs to be a clear plan to drive social impact in the UK.

Mission & Responsible Business Clause – we ask for an objects clause to be placed in the company articles to include a statement of mission, to ensure alignment with our impact mission.

Right to transfer shares for nominal value – due to our status as a registered charity, this provides us with the right to transfer shares to the company for nil consideration if the company is no longer aligned with our charitable purposes.

Board appointments and information rights – given our sector focus, we typically ask for a board observer seat to ensure we’re adding as much value as we can.

We’ve made it simple to contact the team at Ufi Ventures.

To apply for funding please send us your details and pitchdeck using our contact form.

Every proposal is reviewed by our investment team and we will respond within five days of submission with proposed next steps.

Alternatively, please reach out to one of our team via LinkedIn.