As investors, we’re entrepreneurs at heart partnering with founders and managers to generate exceptional growth in their companies.
Sharing our history, our vision, our knowledge and our strength - the Synova team.
Let’s talk about…
Our Story
Launching in 2007, we went straight in at the deep end.
At the time, we were younger than all our peers, and in the midst of unprecedented market turbulence. But we had a vision for a new, more personal type of partnership. So, in spite of everything, we threw ourselves – and everything we had – into the business.
Because we had a plan, and we believed in it.
Our Vision
We’ve had a “sleeves rolled up” approach to business from day one.
Our first £50m fund took several years to raise – during which time we took no salary and worked harder than we’d ever thought possible. We fought tooth and nail to turn our dreams to reality.
And this embodied our vision: to invest something more than just capital.
Our Success
Hard work has been key to our success – yielding over a decade of market-leading returns.
Synova is also proud to have received several industry awards and accolades, including Investor of the Year at the British Private Equity Awards for four of the previous seven years and UK Private Equity House of the Year at the 2020 and 2022 Private Equity Awards
By all metrics, what we’re doing is
working. But the journey continues.
Our Team
After many successful years, we know precisely where our strengths lie. It’s clear: people are our greatest asset.
We are at heart entrepreneurs and business-builders. Directed entirely towards growth, our team benefits from diverse backgrounds spanning finance and law to consulting and software engineering. So between us, we know what it takes to succeed not only as business owners, but as business strategists and builders too.
Come and meet the team.
Meet the team
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Angus Abbott
Portfolio Manager
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Tim Ashlin
Partner
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Charlotte Bell-Irving
Executive Assistant
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Oli Bevan
Partner
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Alex Bowden
Partner
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Liz Cathelain
Value Creation Director
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Matteo Cefaliello
Investment Executive
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Jessica Collins
Investment Executive
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Harry Fitzpatrick
Investment Executive
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Alice Higdon
Executive Assistant
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Mao Isobe
Investment Manager
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Sunil Jain
Partner
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Jonathan Lavers
Investment Director
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Katia Mendonca
Investment Executive
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David Menton
Managing Partner
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Mike Mullally
Investment Director
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Charlie Mundy
Origination & Research Executive
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Adam Page
Investment Manager
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Philip Shapiro
Managing Partner
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Daniel Silverton-Parker
CFO & Partner
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Ben Snow
Director
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Chris Snow
Investment Manager
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Zachary Tsai
Partner
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Majid Tufail
Finance Director
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Thomas Usher
Investment Director
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Sally Wong
Fund Accountant
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Angus Abbott
Portfolio Manager
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Tim Ashlin
Partner
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Charlotte Bell-Irving
Executive Assistant
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Oli Bevan
Partner
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Alex Bowden
Partner
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Liz Cathelain
Value Creation Director
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Matteo Cefaliello
Investment Executive
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Jessica Collins
Investment Executive
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Harry Fitzpatrick
Investment Executive
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Alice Higdon
Executive Assistant
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Mao Isobe
Investment Manager
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Sunil Jain
Partner
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Jonathan Lavers
Investment Director
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Katia Mendonca
Investment Executive
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David Menton
Managing Partner
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Mike Mullally
Investment Director
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Charlie Mundy
Origination & Research Executive
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Adam Page
Investment Manager
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Philip Shapiro
Managing Partner
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Daniel Silverton-Parker
CFO & Partner
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Ben Snow
Director
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Chris Snow
Investment Manager
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Zachary Tsai
Partner
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Majid Tufail
Finance Director
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Thomas Usher
Investment Director
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Sally Wong
Fund Accountant
Angus Abbott
Portfolio Manager
Angus joined Synova having previously been Head of Corporate Development & M&A for Small World Financial Services. He has experience working with growth companies, having helped establish a strategic growth and investment team for Barclays Bank. Prior to this, he worked in M&A advisory at Rothschild & Co and Gleacher Shacklock. Angus holds an MEng in General Engineering from Durham University.
Tim Ashlin
Partner
Tim joined Synova in 2014 and has a broad range of investment experience across the UK mid-market. Prior to joining Synova, he was a Partner and Head of Health & Education at Phoenix Equity Partners. Tim also spent several years advising and supporting companies whilst working for Close Brothers Corporate Finance and for PwC, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Tim is focused on the Health & Education sectors and is a Non-Executive Director of Clyde Munro Dental Group, Oakland Care, Preventx and Charnwood Discovery.
Charlotte Bell-Irving
Executive Assistant
Charlotte was previously at Savills for 4 years before joining Synova in November 2021 as an Executive Assistant. Charlotte provides support for the Partners as well as the Investment Team. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a degree in French.
Oli Bevan
Partner
Oli joined Synova as a Partner in 2023. He has 17 years’ experience of investing in and supporting UK mid-market businesses, sitting on the Boards of 12 companies. Prior to Synova, Oli was a Partner at Dunedin and led Waterland’s UK business. He started his career in management consulting, before spending two years in industry. Oli is a Non-Executive Director of AllClear and co-leads Synova’s strategy in the Tech Enabled Services sector.
Alex Bowden
Partner
Alex joined Synova during 2011. He has over 17 years’ experience of successfully investing in and supporting UK mid-market companies. Prior to joining Synova, Alex spent a number of years at Lloyds Development Capital (LDC) and 3i plc investing in businesses across the UK. Alex is a Non-Executive Director of MK Test, Vistair , Fairstone Group, Avantra and Pacifica Group and oversees Synova’s strategy in the Tech Enabled Services sector.
Liz Cathelain
Value Creation Director
Liz joined Synova as Value Creation Director, bringing extensive commercial experience across both the mid-market and large corporates. Liz was previously at LOD, a private equity backed services & technology platform where she was Commercial Director.
Prior to this Liz held a wide range of leadership roles at Vodafone including large-scale P&L ownership, commercial, marketing and digital transformation. This followed an early career at Bain Consulting, and in the investment team at Cinven. She holds an MEng in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Cambridge.
Matteo Cefaliello
Investment Executive
Matteo joined Synova in 2023 as an Origination & Research Executive. Prior to joining, Matteo worked as a Strategy Consultant at IQVIA, having graduated with an MSc in Immunology from Imperial College London. Matteo focuses on origination within the Health and Life Sciences sectors.
Jessica Collins
Investment Executive
Jessica joined Synova in 2023 from the investment team at Bowmark Capital, where she focused on Tech Enabled Services and Software. Prior to this, she worked as a strategy consultant in Oliver Wyman’s Private Capital team, having started her career covering Financial Services Equities at Fidelity International. Jessica holds a degree in Classics (Lit. Hum.) from the University of Oxford.
Harry Fitzpatrick
Investment Executive
Harry joined Synova in 2021 as an Investment Executive. Prior to joining, Harry worked for Colmore Capital, a UK-focused real estate investor, having started his career as a Global Markets Analyst at Goldman Sachs. Harry holds a MChem from the University of Oxford.
Alice Higdon
Executive Assistant
Alice joined Synova at the beginning of 2018 having previously spent 5 years as an Executive Assistant at Lyceum Capital. She oversees office management as well as providing support to the Managing Partners. Alice graduated from the University of Bath with a degree in Sociology.
Mao Isobe
Investment Manager
Mao joined the Synova team as an Investment Executive in 2020. Prior to joining, Mao worked at Silverfleet Capital, where she was an Origination Executive and at Strategy& where she was a Senior Associate in the strategy consulting team. She holds a MChem from the University of Oxford.
Sunil Jain
Partner
Sunil joined in 2019 and has over 15 years’ experience of investing in growth companies and supporting financial services companies. Prior to joining Synova he was an investor at Blenheim Chalcot and Sovereign Capital and worked in financial services consulting with Oliver Wyman. He has served on more than 10 investee company Boards and has experience across the Financial Services, FinTech, Tech Enabled Services and Education sectors. He holds a MEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge and has also studied at MIT.
Jonathan Lavers
Investment Director
Jonathan leads Synova’s origination function. In this role, he has overall responsibility for sourcing new investment opportunities, as well as overseeing our thematic research efforts into various sub-sectors. His primary sector focus is in Software & Data and Tech Enabled Services. Jonathan joined Synova as an Investment Manager in 2017. He previously worked at the global organisational consulting firm, Korn Ferry, and began his career at Skillcapital, a boutique advisory firm to the private equity industry. He graduated from the University of Bristol in 2011.
Katia Mendonca
Investment Executive
Katia joined the Synova team in 2021. Prior to joining, Katia worked as an Investment Executive at Mobeus Equity Partners where she focussed on growth-stage technology investments, having started her career at venture-backed Fintech, Cleo AI. Katia holds a BA in History from University College London.
David Menton
Managing Partner
David co-founded Synova in 2007 having previously advised large corporate clients from a subsidiary of WPP before joining a prominent European family investment office.
David has almost 20 years’ experience of investing in and advising European high growth companies and was recognised in the prestigious Dow Jones '40 under 40 Rising Stars in Private Equity'. At Synova, he leads the Financial Services and FinTech sector working closely with owners and managers across the portfolio to support their growth ambitions. David currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of AllClear Insurance, JMG Insurance, DM Financial and 3173. He also serves as a Trustee of Level20, which leads the private equity industry’s gender diversity agenda; a leading London based anti-racism charity; as well as serving as a Patron of industry inclusion not-for-profit, 10,000 Black Interns.
Mike Mullally
Investment Director
Mike Mullally joined Synova as an Investment Manager from Alantra (formerly Catalyst Corporate Finance), where he spent three years focused on mid-market M&A transactions across a variety of sectors, including Healthcare and Education. Mike qualified as a Chartered Accountant with EY and holds a MEng in Civil Engineering from Loughborough University.
Charlie Mundy
Origination & Research Executive
Charlie joined Synova in 2023 as an Origination & Research Executive in the Software and Data team. Prior to joining, Charlie worked as a strategy consultant at Armstrong, focusing on Pan-European mid-market Software and Technology Services companies, having started his career at Analysys Mason. Charlie holds an MA in Economics from the University of St Andrews.
Adam Page
Investment Manager
Adam joined Synova as an Investment Manager from GP Bullhound, a tech focussed investment bank, where he spent several years advising on M&A and fundraising transactions with a focus on software and tech-enabled services. Prior to this, Adam qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte and is a graduate from the University of Exeter.
Philip Shapiro
Managing Partner
Philip is an experienced investor into technology companies. Prior to co-founding Synova in 2007, Philip worked at Phoenix Equity Partners. Prior to this, he advised some of the UK's leading mid-market technology companies whilst working at UBS and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. Philip is a Non-Executive Director of Mintec Global and NEG. Philip Chairs Synova's Investment Committee and leads the Software & Data sector.
Daniel Silverton-Parker
CFO & Partner
Prior to joining, Daniel spent four years at Zouk Capital, a private equity and infrastructure fund manager, where he served as Finance Manager & Head of Compliance. He previously worked at Samena Capital and Man Group Plc, both investment managers. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Ernst and Young, where he spent five years in the investment management team.
Ben Snow
Director
Ben joined Synova in 2020 as a Director with over 15 years experience investing in and supporting companies across the UK mid-market. Prior to joining Synova, Ben worked at LDC as an Investment Director and at RBS as a part of the Strategic Investment Group. Ben also spent several years advising companies whilst working at PwC, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Ben sits on the boards of Orbis, Pacifica Group, 3173 and Travelsmart.
Chris Snow
Investment Manager
Chris joined Synova as an Investment Manager from Horizon Capital, a tech focused private equity investor, where he focused on Tech Enabled Services. Prior to this, Chris worked in investment banking at Torch Partners and EY, providing M&A and fundraise advice to high growth companies and entrepreneurs across the B2B SaaS and Internet Infrastructure landscapes. Chris qualified as a Chartered Accountant at EY and is a graduate from the University of Nottingham.
Zachary Tsai
Partner
Zac joined Synova during 2013. Prior to joining, Zac advised private equity houses and UK mid-market companies on company sales, acquisitions, management buy-outs and growth capital fundraising whilst working at global investment bank, Alantra, and in the M&A division of PwC. He holds a Masters in Software Engineering and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. Zac is currently a Non-Executive Director of Mintec Global, Oakland Care and Charnwood Discovery and previously, Tonic Games Group and 4Ways Diagnostics.
Majid Tufail
Finance Director
Majid joined Synova as Financial Controller during 2014. Prior to joining, Majid worked at Augentius Fund Administrators, where he managed a portfolio of private equity funds. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over nine years of experience in financial reporting and fund accounting.
Thomas Usher
Investment Director
Thomas joined Synova from US growth investor, Summit Partners, where he invested in European technology companies and assisted with their expansion into the US market. Prior to joining Summit, Thomas worked for Boston based growth equity firm, Volition Capital, which specialises in Software and Tech Enabled Services. At Synova he focuses on supporting Software & Data sector companies with their US market entry strategies and currently serves on the boards of Avantra and previously on the board of Tonic Games Group. Thomas is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Sally Wong
Fund Accountant
Sally joined Synova in July 2023 as a Fund Accountant. Sally joined Synova from Langham Hall where she managed a portfolio of Private Equity clients as a Fund Accountant for 3 years. Prior to that, Sally worked in Practice at an accountancy firm based in Mayfair for 5 years, providing her with exposure to auditing, tax preparation and financial reporting.