How Future Planet Capital Uses Beauhurst within its Investment Process

"The rapid expansion in high quality data is going to fundamentally change the way that VC investing will take place over the coming decades. People that can use data efficiently are going to thrive, while those who cannot will be left behind. Beauhurst is playing a key part in facilitating these shifts within the UK ecosystem."

Peter Mitchell, Director of Data Science and Technology

Future Planet Capital is a data driven venture capital firm that invests in companies around the world that tackle critical global challenges in climate change, health, education, sustainable growth and security.

Working with Beauhurst delivered:

Support data-driven investment decisions

Run analyses to shape investment strategies

Build bespoke tools to expand deal pipelines across funds

Why Future Planet Capital chose Beauhurst:

The Challenge

As a global venture capital firm, Future Planet Capital needed a system to identify the most promising companies emerging out of university ecosystems around the world, without increasing headcount. To achieve this, they turned to data to empower their investment teams.

“I was brought into Future Planet Capital to build a scoring system that allowed us to identify the most promising companies operating around global universities, predominantly in the US and the UK,” Peter Mitchell told us.

As Peter built the system — later named DataLace — Beauhurst quickly stood out as the top source of high-quality data on British companies, becoming a key resource.

However, as the scoring system evolved, it became clear that Beauhurst’s data could support even more ambitious applications, leading to its growing role within the firm.

The Solution

Today, Future Planet Capital uses Beauhurst to

Factsheet for founder meetings

“Throughout the investment process, from the first meeting to later stage due diligence, it is always helpful to have a third-party source of information to consult, both for the deal lead, and for the investment team verifying their assumptions.”

The team at Future Planet Capital utilise Beauhurst data from the pre-pitch stage — for researching companies, finding valuation statistics, and getting an understanding of a sector — all the way through to support their own reporting and fundraising. For Future Planet Capital, engagement with founders is an important part of their strategy and approach, so access to accurate data via Beauhurst is vital for this.

Designing empirically grounded investment theses

“If you are pitching to LPs that you have the ability to fulfil a strategic gap, or that you know a sector particularly well, world class managers should provide empirical evidence to justify their approach that goes well beyond their own personal experience, or simple top line stats,” Peter explained.

Beauhurst data has been pivotal to Future Planet Capital’s commitment to empirical rigor. For example, when designing their British Co-Investment Fund, Peter ran over 10,000 simulations using Beauhurst data to identify trends and patterns among successful British growth-stage companies. This analysis was central to crafting the fund’s optimal model and investment strategy.

Pipeline expansion via targeted cold outreach

Future Planet Capital’s investment team uses Beauhurst data to proactively identify and contact companies that meet their investment criteria. Peter explained:

“Initially, setting up Beauhurst alerts to notify us about new companies eligible for funding was very helpful. Over time, we’ve expanded this approach by downloading Beauhurst data, enriching it with other sources, and uploading it into our CRM system to accelerate targeted outreach efforts.”

The Results

"For UK companies, there is no other data provider I trust more than Beauhurst."

Peter Mitchell, Director of Data Science and Technology

For Future Planet Capital, our data is a pivotal resource, centralising vital data on the UK venture ecosystem. Our comprehensive coverage of companies, sectors, and funding trends is essential for the firm’s investment strategy, empowering its teams to make well-informed, data-backed decisions.

Future Planet Capital has strengthened its ability to evaluate market opportunities effectively, maintain competitive awareness, and foster robust relationships with stakeholders, ultimately driving better investment outcomes, by integrating Beauhurst’s insights into their processes. Peter is adamant that this data driven approach will become ever more prevalent across the wider industry.

"In 10–15 years, a small percentage of experienced professionals will still identify promising early-stage companies through traditional methods. But the industry is changing. My advice to younger, ambitious venture managers in the UK is this: don’t emulate older generations. Embrace the changes new data sources like Beauhurst are enabling, and explore how you can use these tools to your advantage."

Peter Mitchel, Director of Data Science and Technology

Overall, Beauhurst is a crucial tool that provides comprehensive data set on the UK venture ecosystem, which is catalytic for Future Planet Capital’s investment strategy and decision-making.

See the platform for yourself

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