ProVen VCTs, 25 years on – which rising stars have they backed?
ProVen VCT (PVN) just turned 25 years old in April – and its sister fund ProVen Growth and Income VCT (PGI) will follow suit next year. They are the longest-standing Venture Capital Trusts with a focus on growth investing.
Their manager Beringea has been backing entrepreneurial businesses on both sides of the Atlantic for over 30 years – including hundreds of ambitious, innovative and sometimes category-defining startups through the ProVen VCTs, across a range of sectors.
What are some of the ProVen VCTs’ success stories? Which could be their next rising stars – and why did manager Beringea invest? How might you invest in similar companies through the ProVen VCTs?
Below, we discuss examples of past and present portfolio companies, including some of the VCTs’ standout success stories. As is to be expected when investing in young companies, there have also been failures and past performance is not a guide to the future.
Important: The information on this website is for experienced investors. It is not a personal recommendation to invest. If you’re unsure, please seek advice. These investments are for the long term. They are high risk and can fall as well as rise in value: you could lose all the money you invest. Tax rules can change and benefits depend on circumstances.
A history of successes across a range of sectors
The ProVen VCTs have found success across a diverse range of sectors – reflecting the breadth of opportunities they may give investors exposure to.
Of the stories below, the Watchfinder exit in 2018 was the most successful in ProVen VCT’s history in terms of realised profit against original cost. It followed shortly after the acquisition of portfolio company Chargemaster by BP. Together, these two disposals generated aggregate proceeds of £39.3 million on an investment cost of £6.7 million.
The founders of Watchfinder and Chargemaster might also be instrumental in who the VCTs’ next rising stars may turn out to be. Read on to find out more.
Groundbreaking online marketplace
Watchfinder
Founded by two childhood friends Lloyd Amsdon and Stuart Hennel in 2002, Watchfinder & Co was the first specialist online marketplace for pre-owned luxury watches – a pioneer in what was to become a multi-billion-pound global market. Daringly, the platform also launched an innovative “buy-back guarantee” refunding the cost of a watch if returned in good condition after two years.
The founders bootstrapped the platform to a £25 million annual turnover and flagship boutique in the luxurious Royal Exchange (next door to the Bank of England). The ProVen VCTs invested in 2014 to help accelerate growth.
Over the course of the investment, the company continued to drive the development of the pre-owned luxury watch market and grew to become the UK’s fourth largest watch retailer. Its turnover trebled between 2015 and 2018.
On 1 June 2018, Watchfinder was bought up by luxury goods group Richemont, when the market was estimated to be worth $13 billion. The exit generated a return of 8.9x for the two VCTs.
EV charging infrastructure pioneer
Chargemaster
Founded in 2008, Chargemaster was a forerunner in developing an accessible and affordable electric car-charging infrastructure in the UK – crucial in the drive towards having more clean-energy cars on our roads. Founder David Martell is a serial entrepreneur who had previously built Trafficmaster, a traffic sensing and navigation company, to a £500 million listing on the London Stock Exchange.
The ProVen VCTs invested in 2014 to help it become a profitable market leader. Over the course of the investment, Chargemaster formed partnerships with the AA and electric car makers such as Mercedes Benz and Tesla. Its network of charging points across the UK more than doubled in size – serving subscribers, domestic users and public and private sector clients. BP acquired Chargemaster for £130 million in 2018, generating a 3.5x return for the VCTs.
The ProVen VCTs are backing the founder again in his new venture – read more about this below.
responsibly-sourced high-end jewellery
Monica Vinader
Another success was Monica Vinader, which creates award-winning, responsibly-sourced “affordable luxury” jewellery, favoured by the Princess of Wales and A-list celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Kendall Jenner.
Launched in 2008, the company uses recycled gold and silver and is a pioneer in promoting supply chain transparency. Monica Vinader pieces come with a “Product Passport” that lets you trace everything from design and material sourcing to craftsmanship and packaging.
Beringea invested in 2010 – Monica Vinader’s first institutional investor. The manager has provided long-term backing and strategic guidance to help the jeweller grow into a global brand with a presence in over 70 countries. The company recorded annual sales of around £100 million in 2023. The Proven VCTs’ investment generated a total return of 7.8x over two partial exits culminating in 2023.
From small deli to leading UK food supplier
Lupa Foods
In January this year, the ProVen VCTs exited one of their top-10 holdings Lupa Foods to Nordic group Geia Food. The sale generated proceeds of £9.5 million – a 5.2x return for the VCTs (read the full article: New 5.2x exit for ProVen VCTs: leading food distributor that was once a small deli in Clerkenwell).
Could these be the next rising stars?
The ProVen VCTs aim to invest in companies with strong founders and scalable models. Most of the portfolio companies are tech-enabled and relatively capital light, with the potential in the manager’s view to deliver a profitable exit – not guaranteed.
Some companies – including the portfolio’s current largest holding – are led or have been referred by founders that the VCTs have successfully backed before.
“live luxury shopping” innovator
Luxury Promise
The ProVen VCTs’ current largest holding was a referral from Lloyd Amsdon, co-founder of previous successful exit, Watchfinder.
Luxury Promise is an online premium marketplace for pre-owned luxury fashion and accessories – particularly designer handbags from brands like Hermès, Chanel and Louis Vuitton. Some of these branded items can command up to six-figure sums at resale, and are a category in their own right at auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
The Luxury Promise platform claims to be the first to have launched “live luxury shopping” in the US and Middle East. It now enjoys a loyal global following for these dynamic live-streamed online events, where consumers can learn more about the brands and individual pieces, interact with specialist authenticators and make purchases in real time.
The ProVen VCTs first invested in 2020, a total of £11.7 million to date. The position is currently valued at £21 million (August 2024).
Luxury Promise remains one of the true luxury re-sellers of highly authenticated products, with incredible client engagement and repeat rates. Sabrina isn’t just a founder, but a friend and inspiration to the wider Luxury Promise community, and the true spirit of the brand. Her specialist expertise and effortlessly inclusive leadership has built a remarkably diverse, motivated, and creative team.
travel company that’s changing lives
Limitless Travel
Founded in 2015, recent investment Limitless Travel makes travel accessible for people with disabilities and mobility challenges. It provides full-service, accessible holidays with professional carers – the only provider in the UK to offer this level of support at scale.
Its founder Angus Drummond was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when he was 22, and his increasing struggle to travel gave him the momentum to set up Limitless Travel.
For many customers, a trip with Limitless isn’t just a holiday – it’s a life-changing opportunity to regain a sense of normality. Since 2022, the company has delivered thousands of holidays – from coach trips to long-haul tours, safaris and cruises – grown annual revenues by more than 350% and expanded the team to over 80 staff. Nearly half of all customers return for a second holiday and rebook within 12 months – some even book the next trip while still on holiday.
In the UK, around 4.8 million people are excluded from going on holiday because there’s no support for their disability. At the same time, Visit Britain estimates the Purple Pound (the spending power of the disabled and their families) could be worth c.£14.6 billion a year to England’s tourism sector alone. Limitless benefits from high repeat rates, premium pricing and a customer base that values and is willing to pay for a high-quality, fully supported experience, in a very under-served market.
The ProVen VCTs invested in April 2025.
At the ProVen VCTs, many of our investments have the potential to create both financial and societal value — and Limitless Travel embodies both. It’s a company that sees people too often overlooked by the travel industry and chooses to serve them with dignity, care, and ambition.
We’re excited to be joining Angus and the team on their journey. Not just to grow a category-defining business, but to help redefine what inclusive travel can look like — for millions of people here in the UK and beyond.
Premium EV chargers for premium homes
Andersen EV
Following the profitable exit from electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure firm Chargemaster, the ProVen VCTs are once again backing founder David Martell in his new venture in the fast-growing EV sector.
Leveraging the substantial experience of the former Chargemaster team, David launched EVIOS in 2022 to provide home and workplace EV charging stations with smart features like solar power integration and cost-based charging. EVIOS shortly went on to acquire and merge operations with Andersen EV, a home charge point provider at the premium end of the market, supplying stylish British-made technology to Porsche and Jaguar Land Rover.
Within a year of the acquisition, the company saw a 104% increase in sales. In the year to 31 March 2024, it nearly tripled sales: reporting a turnover of £3.7 million, up from £1.3 million the previous year.
The ProVen VCTs invested in 2024.
David is an exceptional entrepreneur. His track record of scaling businesses that shape the future of the automotive industry in the UK is peerless. We are therefore delighted to be working alongside David once more and backing the growth of a business that will play a vital role in the growth of the UK EV market and the success of the country’s energy transition.
How to invest in similar companies
The two ProVen VCTs – ProVen VCT (PVN) and ProVen Growth & Income VCT (PGI) – are currently open for investment.
Investors can get exposure to a portfolio of around 55 companies (November 2024) with a bias towards the consumer and B2B software sectors. Manager Beringea operates in both the UK and US, giving it a transatlantic outlook unusual in the sector.
The VCTs target annual dividends of around 5% of NAV – dividends are variable and not guaranteed.
In the 10 years to December 2024, PVN and PGI have produced a NAV total return (including dividends) of 43.0% and 22.8% respectively. Over the five years to March 2025, returns were 27.4% and 24.1% respectively. Past performance is not a guide to the future.
Performance of the ProVen VCTs
NAV and cumulative dividends per share over five years (p)
Source: Morningstar. Performance figures are calculated net of fees, on a NAV to NAV basis. Past performance is no guide to the future. Dividends are variable and not guaranteed. The bar chart shows net asset value and cumulative dividends per share for the period 31/12/2019 - 31/03/2025.
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Alex Davies
Chief Executive
Alex was a board director at Hargreaves Lansdown, where he worked for 15 years. He was responsible for building Hargreaves Lansdown into the biggest direct-to-consumer SIPP provider in the UK with more than 150,000 clients and over £12 billion under management. He is a keen investor with a portfolio of shares, funds, student property, EIS and VCT investments.