Ascension Ventures is a leading London-based venture capital firm focused on pre-seed and seed-stage technology startups with a strong emphasis on social impact. Founded by Jean de Fougerolles, the firm has invested in over 150 startups since 2015, backing businesses that solve pressing social issues including the cost-of-living crisis, financial inclusion, and childhood obesity.
On 27 January 2026, the British Business Bank committed up to £10 million to Ascension, enabling the firm to support early-stage tech businesses outside London and the South East. This partnership represents a significant endorsement of Ascension’s impact investing approach and its track record of identifying businesses that generate both financial returns and measurable social benefits.
The Impact Investing Philosophy
Ascension takes a distinctive approach to venture capital by deliberately targeting companies addressing societal challenges. Whilst many venture firms prioritise pure growth metrics and market size, Ascension evaluates potential investments through dual lenses: commercial viability and social impact potential.
This philosophy emerged from founder Jean de Fougerolles’s conviction that capital can be deployed to generate attractive financial returns whilst simultaneously addressing inequality, poverty, and other systemic challenges affecting millions of people. The firm believes the most compelling investment opportunities often exist at the intersection of profit and purpose, where solving significant problems creates scalable business models.
The cost-of-living crisis represents one key focus area. With millions of UK households struggling with rising prices, energy costs, and stagnant wages, Ascension backs businesses offering affordable alternatives, better financial products, or efficiency solutions that meaningfully reduce household expenses. These companies serve large addressable markets whilst fulfilling genuine needs rather than creating artificial demand.
Financial inclusion constitutes another priority. Ascension invests in fintech companies extending banking, credit, savings, and insurance services to underserved populations traditionally excluded by mainstream financial institutions. These businesses tap into enormous markets of creditworthy customers overlooked by incumbents whilst promoting economic participation and resilience.
Childhood obesity and health represent additional investment themes. Ascension supports companies developing affordable, accessible solutions for healthier eating, physical activity, and preventive healthcare. These ventures address public health crises creating massive costs for the NHS and society whilst building sustainable businesses around behaviour change and wellness.
The British Business Bank Partnership
The £10 million commitment from the British Business Bank marks a significant milestone for Ascension and validates the firm’s impact investing model. The British Business Bank, the UK government’s economic development bank, provides finance to smaller businesses through partnerships with commercial lenders and investment funds.
This partnership specifically targets supporting early-stage tech businesses outside London and the South East, addressing persistent geographic imbalances in UK venture capital. Historically, London and the surrounding region have captured the overwhelming majority of UK venture investment, leaving talented entrepreneurs in other regions struggling to access growth capital.
The British Business Bank commitment enables Ascension to deploy capital more broadly across the UK, backing promising founders in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, and other cities building innovative businesses. This geographic diversification benefits both the firm’s portfolio and the broader UK innovation ecosystem.
Louis Taylor, Chief Executive of British Business Bank, commented on the partnership: “We are pleased to be backing Ascension through this investment. Their focus on backing impact businesses and supporting entrepreneurs outside London and the South East aligns closely with our mission to unlock finance for smaller businesses to enable economic growth across the UK.”
The funding supports Ascension’s existing investment strategy whilst expanding the firm’s capacity to write cheques, conduct due diligence on more opportunities, and provide hands-on support to portfolio companies. For early-stage startups, particularly those tackling complex social challenges, patient capital and strategic guidance prove just as valuable as the funds themselves.
Track Record: 150+ Investments Since 2015
Since launching operations in 2015, Ascension has built an impressive portfolio spanning over 150 investments across diverse sectors. This extensive track record demonstrates the firm’s ability to identify promising early-stage companies, support them through critical growth phases, and generate returns justifying continued fundraising.
The portfolio includes companies addressing financial services, health and wellness, education technology, sustainable consumer goods, affordable housing solutions, and community-focused platforms. Many portfolio companies have progressed to raise follow-on funding from larger venture firms, validating Ascension’s early conviction and supporting role in company development.
Portfolio diversity reflects Ascension’s broad interpretation of impact investing. Rather than narrowly defining impact around specific metrics or sectors, the firm considers any business meaningfully improving lives for disadvantaged or underserved populations. This flexibility enables backing founders with varied backgrounds, experiences, and insights into problems worth solving.
Jean de Fougerolles has cultivated a reputation for supporting first-time founders, diverse founding teams, and entrepreneurs from non-traditional backgrounds who might struggle accessing capital from more conventional venture firms. This inclusive approach expands the pipeline of investment opportunities whilst backing founders with authentic understanding of the problems they’re solving.
Fund Structure: SEIS and EIS Funds
Ascension operates various funds structured as SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) and EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) funds, leveraging UK tax incentive schemes designed to encourage investment in early-stage companies. These structures provide attractive tax benefits for investors whilst directing capital toward high-risk, high-potential startups.
The Ascension Fund III represents the firm’s flagship vehicle, backing pre-seed and seed-stage companies across impact themes. The fund typically writes initial cheques between £50,000 and £250,000, providing crucial early capital enabling companies to build products, validate business models, and achieve milestones supporting larger funding rounds.
The Fair By Design Fund focuses specifically on businesses addressing the poverty premium, the extra costs poor people pay for essential goods and services. This dedicated fund recognises that people with less money often pay more for energy, financial services, insurance, and other necessities due to structural disadvantages in how markets function.
SEIS and EIS structures provide significant tax advantages encouraging wealthy individuals to invest in risky early-stage ventures. SEIS investors can claim 50% income tax relief on investments up to £200,000 annually, plus additional benefits including capital gains tax relief and loss relief. EIS offers 30% income tax relief on investments up to £1 million annually with similar additional benefits.
These incentives substantially improve risk-adjusted returns for investors, making early-stage venture investment more attractive despite high failure rates. For funds like Ascension focused on impact businesses that might require longer development timelines or target lower-income customers generating smaller revenues initially, tax incentives prove particularly valuable in attracting capital.
Jean de Fougerolles: Founder and Impact Investing Pioneer
Jean de Fougerolles founded Ascension with a vision of deploying venture capital to generate both financial returns and measurable social impact. His background combines finance, entrepreneurship, and commitment to addressing inequality, positioning him uniquely to lead an impact-focused venture firm.
De Fougerolles’s investment philosophy centres on backing founders solving problems they’ve experienced personally or observed firsthand in their communities. This approach ensures founders possess authentic understanding of customer needs, challenges, and motivations rather than pursuing opportunities identified through market research alone.
Under de Fougerolles’s leadership, Ascension has established itself as one of the UK’s leading impact investors, consistently ranking in industry reports cataloguing impact venture firms and demonstrating that purpose-driven investing can generate competitive returns. His visibility through speaking engagements, published articles, and media appearances has raised the profile of impact investing more broadly.
Investment Process and Portfolio Support
Ascension’s investment process evaluates both commercial potential and impact credibility. The firm assesses market size, team capabilities, product-market fit, competitive positioning, and financial projections like any venture firm. However, Ascension adds impact assessment considering the scale of the problem being addressed, the effectiveness of the proposed solution, and the company’s ability to reach target beneficiaries.
This dual evaluation creates higher hurdles for investment but identifies companies with multiple paths to value creation. Even if financial returns prove modest, impact-focused companies may attract strategic acquirers, government support, or alternative exit opportunities unavailable to purely commercial ventures.
Portfolio support extends beyond capital to strategic guidance, network access, recruitment assistance, and follow-on fundraising support. Ascension maintains close relationships with portfolio companies, providing hands-on assistance through critical growth phases whilst respecting founder autonomy and vision.
The firm hosts regular events bringing together portfolio companies for knowledge sharing, relationship building, and collaboration opportunities. These gatherings create community amongst founders tackling similar challenges, enabling peer support and potential partnerships addressing complementary problems.
The Future of Impact Investing in the UK
The British Business Bank partnership positions Ascension to expand its impact during a period when social challenges intensify across the UK. The cost-of-living crisis continues affecting millions of households. Financial exclusion persists despite fintech innovation. Public health challenges including obesity, mental health issues, and preventable diseases strain the NHS.
These problems create enormous suffering but also represent massive market opportunities for businesses offering better solutions. Impact investing recognises this duality, directing capital toward ventures that can build successful businesses whilst meaningfully improving lives for underserved populations.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ascension Ventures
What does Ascension Ventures invest in?
Ascension invests in pre-seed and seed-stage technology startups addressing social issues including the cost-of-living crisis, financial inclusion, and childhood obesity. The firm backs businesses generating both financial returns and measurable social impact, typically writing initial cheques between £50,000 and £250,000.
Who founded Ascension Ventures?
Jean de Fougerolles founded Ascension and has led the firm in investing in over 150 startups since 2015. He established the firm with a vision of deploying venture capital to generate financial returns whilst addressing inequality and other social challenges.
How much funding has Ascension received from the British Business Bank?
On 27 January 2026, the British Business Bank committed up to £10 million to Ascension to support early-stage tech businesses outside London and the South East, helping address geographic imbalances in UK venture capital distribution.
What is the Fair By Design Fund?
The Fair By Design Fund is an Ascension fund focused specifically on businesses addressing the poverty premium, the extra costs poor people pay for essential goods and services including energy, financial services, insurance, and other necessities.
Where is Ascension Ventures based?
Ascension is headquartered in London but invests across the UK, with particular focus on supporting startups outside London and the South East following the British Business Bank partnership.
What are SEIS and EIS funds?
SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) and EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) are UK tax incentive schemes encouraging investment in early-stage companies. Ascension operates funds under these structures, providing tax benefits to investors including income tax relief, capital gains tax relief, and loss relief.
The Path Forward
The partnership with the British Business Bank provides Ascension with expanded resources to identify and support innovative businesses addressing society’s most pressing challenges. The £10 million commitment enables broader geographic reach, more portfolio companies, and enhanced support services strengthening the UK’s impact investing ecosystem.
As social challenges intensify and traditional solutions prove insufficient, impact investing offers a compelling model directing capital toward businesses building better alternatives. Ascension’s track record demonstrates that backing purpose-driven founders tackling real problems can generate attractive returns whilst creating meaningful social benefits, challenging the false dichotomy between profit and purpose.
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