SAP agrees to acquire TechWolf
SAP has agreed to buy the workforce intelligence company. The purchase price has not been disclosed; the announcement is an agreement to acquire, rather than confirmation of completion.
Read announcement · ReutersFounder-led capital · Europe & beyond
Back founders early.
Stay useful afterwards.
Purexs is my personal investment platform. I’ve built companies, taken two to IPO and backed around 300 startups. Today I’m focused primarily on helping the companies I already back, while occasionally investing or advising where the fit is exceptional.
30+years building and investing
2companies taken to IPO
~300startup investments
1person making the decision
Portfolio news
Progress worth sharing.
Public announcements from the companies I back, with links to the original sources.
$50m Series B at a $750m valuation
Valor Equity Partners and Atreides Management co-led the round, with Sequoia Capital participating. Flow is expanding its AI platform for hardware development.
Read announcement · Flow EngineeringLunasonde and Earthineering sign lunar exploration agreement
The companies signed a memorandum of understanding to combine subsurface detection with resource processing technology for future lunar exploration.
Read announcement · LunasondeSelected for Defense Innovation OnRamp accelerator
Lunasonde joined the Fall 2026 Arizona cohort, a ten-week programme supporting the development of commercial technology for defence applications.
Read announcement · LunasondeAegiq advances quantum calibration with NVIDIA Ising 1.5
Aegiq reports AI-assisted calibration on its Artemis quantum computer at the UK's NQCC, reducing weekly calibration engineering effort by a factor of three.
Read announcement · AegiqSONA wins HOS London 2026 Startup of the Year
SONA (MindSpire) won The Hunt for the Next Health Unicorn at the London Health Optimisation Summit.
Read announcement · SONA / MindSpire€2.44m EIC grant for Paramorph
The EU awarded €2,441,694.94 to the Paramorph project, coordinated by Inephany Ltd, now Recurvia. The grant agreement was signed on 28 July 2026.
Read announcement · European Commission / CORDISOccuity secures £1.5m Innovate UK grant
The grant supports its SD1 programme to develop eye-scan technology for assessing diabetes and pre-diabetes risk.
Read announcement · Occuity$500m conditional loan commitment for rare earth production
The US Office of Strategic Capital conditionally committed long-term debt towards the Freedom Facility. Financial close remains subject to due diligence and other requirements.
Read announcement · Phoenix TailingsGreenpixie closes £4.7m pre-Series A
The cloud and AI efficiency company raised funding led by VERBUND X Ventures, with Green Angel Ventures, Octopus Ventures and Armajaro Holdings participating.
Read announcement · Green Angel VenturesNextSilicon passes key supercomputing tests at Sandia
NextSilicon, Sandia and Penguin Solutions announced a technical milestone in testing the company's chips for scientific supercomputing.
Read announcement · ReutersBlink announces Shake Shack partnership and $17m investment
Blink announced a global partnership with Shake Shack and $17m in funding from Enlightened Hospitality Investments.
Read announcement · BlinkVeremark acquires Risk Management Intelligence
The acquisition of Singapore-based RMI expands Veremark’s background screening presence in Asia Pacific.
Read announcement · VeremarkStrategic financing brings total funding above $45m
New investors include Chugai Venture Fund and the Gates Foundation. Cumulative funding now exceeds $45m. Ten63 also announced a Gates Foundation grant to support research into treatments targeting HPV.
Read announcement · Ten63 Therapeutics / PR NewswireCircuit Mind publishes Los Alamos evaluation results
In a published technology update, Circuit Mind reports a Los Alamos evaluation completing a PCB design workflow in 4 hours 13 minutes, compared with an estimated 60–80 hours of manual work. This is a case study, rather than a funding announcement.
Read announcement · Circuit MindLuminate raises $21m to expand home cancer treatment
The expanded Series A supports development of its technology and services for cancer treatment at home.
Read announcement · Luminate Medical / GlobeNewswireChecking for recent public announcements…
More recent announcements
My approach
I know what it feels like to build something from nothing. So I respect founders’ time, speak plainly and avoid adding process where it isn’t needed.
I started my first company at 22 and my first early-stage fund at 27. Since then, I’ve co-founded two listed businesses—including Intec Telecom—and invested across software, AI, deep technology, climate, health and frontier infrastructure.
I’m most useful when the stakes are high and the answer is not obvious: finding product-market fit, shaping a round, making a critical introduction or thinking through a strategic turn.
Built before backingFounder at 22; later co-founder of two listed businesses, including Intec Telecom.
Perspective across cyclesAround 300 startup investments, from first rounds through growth, exits and difficult resets.
Practical founder supportRound timing and structure, relevant introductions and calm judgement when the obvious answer is wrong.
People before pitch decks
I back unusual, driven founders with a clear view of the problem and the honesty to keep learning.
Selective, direct decisions
No investment committee and no theatre. When I engage, you get straight questions, useful feedback and a clear answer.
Help without interference
Founders lead. I stay close enough to be useful and far enough away to let them build.
Selected backing
A broad portfolio.
A consistent belief.
From category-defining software to climate, health and deep technology. I look for founders tackling hard problems with the potential to build something that matters.
Current highlights
Phoenix TailingsCritical materials
Phoenix TailingsCritical materialsFlow EngineeringEngineering software
Flow EngineeringEngineering softwareOkloClean energy
OkloClean energyBlinkEmployee experience
BlinkEmployee experienceLunasondeSubsurface intelligence
LunasondeSubsurface intelligenceLuminate MedicalHealth technology
Luminate MedicalHealth technologyAegiqQuantum technology
AegiqQuantum technologyAppFactorLegacy modernisation
AppFactorLegacy modernisationCircuit MindElectronics engineering
Circuit MindElectronics engineeringSepPureIndustrial decarbonisation
SepPureIndustrial decarbonisationMessiumAgricultural intelligence
MessiumAgricultural intelligenceDeepTech RecyclingCircular materials
DeepTech RecyclingCircular materialsFounder spotlight
AppFactor
Keith Neilson and his team are building an agentic platform that discovers, modernises and maintains the enterprise software businesses still depend on—with engineers governing every step.
I backed AppFactor because modernising the world’s legacy software estate is an enormous, unavoidable problem—and AI changes what is possible.
Explore AppFactorFounder spotlight
AIWorkify
Eugenio Zucal is building a different approach to enterprise AI: helping organisations become AI-native while retaining control of their data, systems and operating knowledge. He is an unusually imaginative founder, and someone I am very pleased to support.
Explore AIWorkifyFounder spotlight
Greenpixie
John Ridd and his team are making the environmental cost of cloud and AI infrastructure measurable and actionable. Greenpixie gives organisations granular intelligence to reduce carbon, water and cost as their computing needs grow.
Explore GreenpixieTrack record
Selected earlier backing and portfolio successes.
ZendeskSoftware
ZendeskSoftwareTessianCybersecurity
TessianCybersecurityOneLoginIdentity
OneLoginIdentityBraveConsumer technology
BraveConsumer technologyCognismSoftware
CognismSoftwareUmantisHR software
UmantisHR softwareloveholidaysOnline travel
loveholidaysOnline travelGluwaFinancial technology
GluwaFinancial technologyIndirect investments
Held indirectly, rather than as direct shareholdings in these companies.
OpenAIIndirect investment
AnthropicIndirect investment
CanvaIndirect investment
OverwolfIndirect investment
TechWolfIndirect investment
VSIMIndirect investment
VSIMIndirect investmentVenture ecosystem
I hold an equity stake in HomeDAO, an early-stage founder incubator in Oxford, and I am an LP in Acadian Ventures, a specialist US early-stage fund backing the new architecture of work.
HomeDAOFounder incubator
HomeDAOFounder incubatorAcadian VenturesLimited partner
Acadian VenturesLimited partnerSelected investments, past and present. Indirect exposure does not imply a direct founder, advisory or board relationship. Company names do not imply endorsement.
Where I help
Useful at the moments that matter.
Product and market
Pressure-testing the proposition, the customer and the route to product-market fit.
Fundraising
Positioning, pitch preparation, investor introductions and honest negotiation advice.
People and network
Thoughtful introductions to operators, customers, future hires and other investors.
Strategic moments
A calm sounding board for pivots, boards, partnerships, acquisitions and difficult decisions.
“The best founders don’t need another person telling them how to run their company. They need someone experienced, honest and available when it counts.”Tom James · Founder, Purexs
Start a conversation
A difficult decision, an ambitious company or a useful connection?
tom@purexs.com
My priority is the companies I already back. For an exceptional fit, a short, direct note is enough to start a conversation.