Damien Lane

Chair London Marathon Events, Trustee London Marathon Foundation, Venture Partner at UFI Ventures and NESTA. Former VC and Angel investor.

📍 London, England, United Kingdom🔄 Updated September 2026💼 27 investments📅 15 years investing🗓 Last invested Jun 2021
VC🌍 United Kingdom20+ investments
27
Total investments
22
Early stage
1
Mid stage
0
Late stage
15y
Years active

Portfolio

26 investments · sorted by recency
All investments
Early stage
Mid stage
Late stage
Investor and Adviser
Jun 2021
Our mission is to rebuild the homeware and interiors market around sustainable commerce.
NED and Investor
Dec 2020
Have you ever moved to another city or town, or even changed countries? Did you manage to do it worry and stress free (no eye rolling or swearing!)? Or if you haven’t ever relocated, how do you feel about the prospect of figuring it all out on your own? Finding a new home, sorting out shipping your stuff, organising utilities and bank accounts etc… The list of things to think about goes on and on. No matter where in the world you go, relocating is a crappy process that’s always time intensive and stressful. Perchpeek was conceived to change that. PerchPeek’s aim is to guide people through every stage of their relocation. Our fundamental belief is that we can use technology to make moving simpler, faster, more secure and even enjoyable. By combining our platform with our awesome Relocation Coaches we guide people throughout their journey. We start with helping them decide where to live and only finish when they are settled into their new home and community. You can find out more by checking out our website.
Seed Investor
Dec 2020
We believe that people having surgery deserve more. They deserve the chance to influence their own outcomes. Having surgery is like running a marathon—both require extensive preparation to get the best results. You wouldnt run a marathon unprepared. Why approach surgery differently? We empower patients to actively prepare—physically, mentally, and emotionally—for a smoother, faster recovery from surgery. Our evidence-backed programme, built on the latest science of behaviour change, helps reduce complications, accelerate recovery, and can sometimes even help avoid surgery altogether. In January 2025, Surgery Hero was acquired by Sword Health, a global leader in digital health. This acquisition not only brings us closer to our mission of helping 100 million people have a successful surgery, but also supports Sword’s mission of freeing 2 billion people from pain.
Seed Investor
Jul 2020
Mobilise is the new social venture transforming the support available for the millions of people who support and care for a member of their family. Our community, services and support are built on the wisdom, experience and knowledge of those with lived experience, to support those who are facing similar challenges. Supported by venture capital back social incubator Zinc.vc
NED and Investor
Jul 2020
Reinsurance decisions are made under pressure, with incomplete information, tight timelines, and real consequences if something is missed. Supercede provides reinsurance intelligence so brokers and cedents can see what matters while decisions are still open. We bring structure, clarity, and confidence to the placement process at the moments that determine outcomes. Supercede helps teams understand what they’re placing, what options are available, and where judgement is being applied before leverage disappears. For brokers, Supercede supports clearer client conversations, stronger preparedness, and visible control across complex placements, without replacing judgement or relationships. For cedents, Supercede delivers programme-level clarity and confidence as coverage is being secured. This enables informed sign-off, stronger governance, and fewer surprises. Supercede does not automate decisions or replace expertise. It accelerates informed judgement by making critical information usable, timely, and defensible. Better reinsurance outcomes depend on clarity at the right moment, not on hindsight.
NED and Investor
Jun 2020
leasle is the innovative solution for streamlining the negotiation of property leases from heads of terms to legal document completion, whilst simultaneously creating accurate data for efficient management of real estate. leasle enables faster completion of leasing transactions to bring forward occupation and income, and provides access to accurate data at sale to increase liquidity by speeding up due diligence. leasle saves time and effort by eliminating current repetitive manual processes both in document creation and in managing data throughout the real estate lifecycle. leasle creates complete, accurate real estate data which is fully traceable and intrinsically linked to source documentation, making it available for downstream use in analytical and operational systems.
early stageReal Estate
Seed Investor
Mar 2020
Tickitto partners with leading brands to build ancillary revenues and deeper relationships with their customers by giving them access to the world’s best events and experiences. Unlike affiliate models offered by conventional ticketing suppliers, our API is truly open, so our supply is easy to access.
Seed Investor
Jan 2020
Uptree is a professional networking platform helping to level the playing field so every young person has access and opportunity to progress their career based on their talent and potential (not their connection or background). Having worked as a teacher in a low-income community, our Founder was hugely disheartened by how many students would walk away with top exam grades but end up in under-skilled jobs. We work with: EMPLOYERS to enable them to inspire, attract and hire a workforce that is representative of the communities in which they operate STUDENTS so they can “get connected”, upskill and access opportunities that enable them to take their first steps into professional life SCHOOLS to deliver an industry-funded, comprehensive careers education programme that inspire inspire their students to aim high We’re proud to work with leading employers including arm, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, GCHQ, IBM, J.P. Morgan and PwC to support their diversity and inclusion goals, helping to build future talent pipelines.
mid stageEducation
Seed Investor
Dec 2019
CoMind is revolutionising brain healthcare with its non-invasive technology, redefining how the brain is measured and treated to optimise patient outcomes across the care continuum. Based in London, CoMind designs and manufactures a groundbreaking approach to brain monitoring, which provides a multidimensional view of brain activity using light. It enhances patient safety, improves healthcare economics, and improves clinical outcomes. Their AI-powered platform, CoVision, delivers predictive insights, enabling clinicians to anticipate complications. With a focus on precision medicine, CoMind is setting new standards in brain health, from intensive care to surgeries to the emergency room​. CoMind is backed by leading investors such as Octopus Ventures, LocalGlobe, Angelini Ventures and Crane Venture Partners, alongside several high profile angel investors. We are currently hiring for multiple roles: https://comind.jobs.personio.com/.
Seed Investor
Sep 2019
We exist to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, restore biodiversity and fight climate change. Our mission is to plant enough trees to remove 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2030. We help businesses achieve their sustainability goals: Whether that’s by working together on one of our biodiversity projects, hosting an employee tree planting event on-site, or supporting our UK reforestation projects. Our partners can visit us on-site for team away days and experience the positive impact of our partnership firsthand. The Future Forest Company also offer high-grade carbon credits from our sites in the UK. Contact us on hello@thefutureforestcompany.com Contact us at hello@thefutureforestcompany.com to find out more
Seed Investor
Feb 2019
Your one stop shop for Fleet & Customer Vehicle Care. Offering a large variety of Mobile services, ranging from Accident Repair to Mechanical services and repair to smaller, SMART Repair jobs. All done at a location that suits you.
NED and Investor
Jan 2019
Auquan is the market leader in agentic AI for institutional finance. Were redefining how finance works by eliminating the manual effort involved in complex, knowledge-intensive workflows—from credit analysis to portfolio monitoring, from ESG reporting to compliance. Heres what makes Auquan different: Other tools make manual research and reporting tasks more efficient. Auquan’s AI agents eliminate manual effort by autonomously completing entire workflows end-to-end, delivering outputs that meet your standards and templates, ready for review. 40% of the top 50 global firms trust Auquan to handle mission-critical work, and they’ve collectively saved more than 100,000 hours of manual work. Why finance professionals choose Auquan: Private credit teams evaluate 2-3x more deals without adding headcount. A European bank with 2,700 active credits turned a week-long portfolio review into a 30-minute task. Investment teams save 1-2 days per memo while maintaining thorough analysis. Our agents operate across front, middle, and back office operations. They process both internal and external data on any private or public company sourced from more than two million data sources in 76+ languages. Auquan covers credit and investment analysis, sustainability, risk, investor relations, and compliance. Our mission. We believe brilliant people do their best work when its inspiring, challenging, and impactful. But your best people are too often buried under the worst work. Were changing that by liberating them to bring meaning back to their roles. Named a 2025 Gartner Cool Vendor in Agentic AI for Banking and Investment Services. Headquartered in London with offices in New York and Bangalore. Backed by Peak XV, Neotribe Ventures, Episode 1, and Stage 2 Capital. Visit auquan.com to see how AI agents are changing institutional finance.
Investor
Oct 2018
We work with cities and water authorities across North America to help modernize their operations and future-proof their compliance programs against the changing regulatory landscape.
Seed Investor
Oct 2018
kencko is a smart food company, reinventing organic fruit and vegetable products to help people eat healthier, and waste less. Our no-fuss instant smoothies make it easy to add 2.5 servings of fruits and veggies to your daily routine. The only ingredients we use are whole organic plant foods, flash-frozen and slow-dried to retain their fiber and nutrients. Nothing added, nothing taken out except water. Almost half of the world’s fresh fruits and vegetables are thrown away uneaten. Our process cuts waste by capturing the nutrients of fresh produce in a shelf-stable form, until you’re ready to enjoy them. We also lighten our footprint by using compostable packaging and offsetting all emissions from shipping. kencko’s smoothies come in a rainbow of flavors to suit your unique nutritional needs. Plus, all members can access free coaching from a registered dietitian to provide the support they need to grow their healthy habits with kencko. kencko is currently available in the US, Europe, UK, and Singapore.
Seed Investor
Oct 2018
TRIM-IT’s journey began after the founder, Darren Tenkorang, realised the amount of time wasted waiting for haircuts at brick and mortar barbershops. Understanding the need for convenience and quality to match our fast paced lives, TRIM-IT has a fleet of mobile barbershops run by expert barbers ready for you to book using our app. Not only do we save the customer precious time, we are able to save them money in the long term through our subscription packages. All customers get to try the service out for free before subscribing and upon doing so, can save up to 40% on their trims. The BBC spotlighted us as the UBER for haircuts​, which we think is an apt summary of our companys aims.
Show all 26 investments ↓
Experience · 31 entries
All (31)
Investments (27)
Board (2)
2021
Investor and Adviser
Jun 2021
Our mission is to rebuild the homeware and interiors market around sustainable commerce.
2020
NED and Investor
Dec 2020
Have you ever moved to another city or town, or even changed countries? Did you manage to do it worry and stress free (no eye rolling or swearing!)? Or if you haven’t ever relocated, how do you feel about the prospect of figuring it all out on your own? Finding a new home, sorting out shipping your stuff, organising utilities and bank accounts etc… The list of things to think about goes on and on. No matter where in the world you go, relocating is a crappy process that’s always time intensive and stressful. Perchpeek was conceived to change that. PerchPeek’s aim is to guide people through every stage of their relocation. Our fundamental belief is that we can use technology to make moving simpler, faster, more secure and even enjoyable. By combining our platform with our awesome Relocation Coaches we guide people throughout their journey. We start with helping them decide where to live and only finish when they are settled into their new home and community. You can find out more by checking out our website.
Seed Investor
Dec 2020
We believe that people having surgery deserve more. They deserve the chance to influence their own outcomes. Having surgery is like running a marathon—both require extensive preparation to get the best results. You wouldnt run a marathon unprepared. Why approach surgery differently? We empower patients to actively prepare—physically, mentally, and emotionally—for a smoother, faster recovery from surgery. Our evidence-backed programme, built on the latest science of behaviour change, helps reduce complications, accelerate recovery, and can sometimes even help avoid surgery altogether. In January 2025, Surgery Hero was acquired by Sword Health, a global leader in digital health. This acquisition not only brings us closer to our mission of helping 100 million people have a successful surgery, but also supports Sword’s mission of freeing 2 billion people from pain.
Seed Investor
Jul 2020
Mobilise is the new social venture transforming the support available for the millions of people who support and care for a member of their family. Our community, services and support are built on the wisdom, experience and knowledge of those with lived experience, to support those who are facing similar challenges. Supported by venture capital back social incubator Zinc.vc
NED and Investor
Jul 2020
Reinsurance decisions are made under pressure, with incomplete information, tight timelines, and real consequences if something is missed. Supercede provides reinsurance intelligence so brokers and cedents can see what matters while decisions are still open. We bring structure, clarity, and confidence to the placement process at the moments that determine outcomes. Supercede helps teams understand what they’re placing, what options are available, and where judgement is being applied before leverage disappears. For brokers, Supercede supports clearer client conversations, stronger preparedness, and visible control across complex placements, without replacing judgement or relationships. For cedents, Supercede delivers programme-level clarity and confidence as coverage is being secured. This enables informed sign-off, stronger governance, and fewer surprises. Supercede does not automate decisions or replace expertise. It accelerates informed judgement by making critical information usable, timely, and defensible. Better reinsurance outcomes depend on clarity at the right moment, not on hindsight.
Show all 31 entries ↓
Investment activity
2011–2021 · 27 investments
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