David Newns

2x Exited Founder | Backing Founders, Building Platforms, Creating Impact

📍 Manchester, England, United Kingdom🔄 Updated September 2026💼 10 investments📅 14 years investing🗓 Last invested Jan 2022𝕏 @upgrade_to_unlock
VC🌍 United Kingdom
10
Total investments
6
Early stage
0
Mid stage
1
Late stage
14y
Years active

Portfolio

8 investments · sorted by recency
All investments
Early stage
Mid stage
Late stage
Board Member
Jan 2022
SME Capital offers a long-term funding solution to the underserved SME market by combining relationship led expertise with insightful business analytics and proprietary AI. We create bespoke solutions from £0.5m to £5m, taking the time to understand a business with a holistic approach to credit.
Investor
Sep 2017
OTTY is an award-winning and innovative mattress which mixes all the key ingredients for the perfect night’s sleep: comfort, support and temperature control. The concept was the idea of Michal Szlas – a keen free runner and athlete who was on the lookout for a new mattress and after undergoing a confusing experience full of false marketing claims and high prices, he decided to create his own. After more than a year of trials and prototypes, OTTY was officially launched in 2016. The mattress combines high-grade memory foam and 2,000 encapsulated pocket springs with an air flow system and the company’s unique Cool Blue Gel layer to provide the best sleep possible. Each mattress is compressed, rolled and folded, before being packaged into a small, easily transportable box – making the mattress easy to manoeuvre upstairs, into tight spaces or into apartments. As well as coming with a 10 year guarantee, customers have further reassurance with the company’s 100 night trial – if you’re one of the very few who doesn’t love the mattress, OTTY will pick it up free of charge and offer a full refund. Since its launch, the mattress has been praised by many journalists and customers, and received a Which? Best Buy Award in January 2018. Expanding on its popular mattress range, OTTY has also launched a pillow collection to fully enhance the sleeping experience, as well as a range of pet beds. Each OTTY product can be purchased on the company’s website (www.otty.com). The company has also recently entered a high-street partnership with Next, with the mattress being on display in Next’s Shoreham, Bristol (Cribbs Causeway) and Sheffield (Meadowhall) stores, with more coming soon.
Investor
Dec 2015
We work in partnership with the NHS serving more than 5.8 million patients by helping them to see a doctor face-to-face wherever they are at a time and place that suits them on their smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Push Doctor technology assists the NHS in managing demand and easing appointment backlogs, so clinicians can focus and spend time on patients who need face-to-face care. ➡️Bookings can be made 24/7 by the patient ➡️Appointments are available: weekdays | 8am -8pm & weekends| 9am – 5pm ➡️CQC rating of ‘GOOD’ across the board ➡️Fully integrated with clinical systems for maximum efficiency ➡️We work across all 7 of the NHS regions in over 100+ NHS organisations We are the longest-standing digital partner to the NHS and the only platform that can fully integrate across all NHS platforms and services. Find out how Push Doctor can help you by visiting https://partners.pushdoctor.co.uk/
Investor
Jun 2014
We are stronger together. Better off as a lender and better off as a borrower. Simple. Our Peer to Peer platform is 100% powered by the crowd. We are FCA authorised and have launched the JustUs ISA account. Exciting times!
Investor
Mar 2014
Property Moose created one of Europe’s first fully integrated digital property crowdfunding platforms. In our mission to democratize investing, our sophisticated technology allows you to build a diverse portfolio in just a few simple clicks, anytime, anywhere. On our property investment platform, you can become a landlord by investing in expertly sourced buy to let opportunities, lend directly to or alongside carefully vetted property developers, and sell your shares on one of the world’s first Property Trading Markets. Invest in UK property, £10 at a time. Capital at risk. Disclaimer and Legals Property Moose does not provide any advice in relation to investments and you must rely on your own due diligence before investing. Please remember that property prices can go down as well as up and that all figures, rates and yields are projections only and should not be relied on. If in doubt, please seek the advice of a financial adviser. Your capital is at risk if you invest. Property Moose is a trading name of DFI Financial Services Ltd which is an Appointed Representative of Resolution Compliance Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (no: 574048).
early stageReal Estate
Investor
Dec 2013
Life, with all its colour and craziness, sights and sounds, triumphs and tragedies, is a spectacle that demands boots on the ground, capturing its most memorable moments on video, so everyone can have a front row seat. Newsflare’s widespread and ever-growing global membership of video chasers and creators are constantly capturing life as it happens. And they trust us to connect them with a bustling marketplace of storytellers, across news media, publishing, and brands – all in search of the authentic, the quirky, and the downright brutal. Moments that matter are happening everywhere, all the time, and the world is hungry to see them on video. So, join us. And be part of the greatest show.
Investor
Nov 2013
SuperAwesome powers safe, authentic digital engagement with Gen Alpha and Gen Z. SuperAwesome’s technology is used by hundreds of brands and content-owners to safely engage with over 500M young people from Gen Alpha and Gen Z every month. The company's DNA of privacy, curation, and moderation helps keep Gen Alpha safe online, and enables brands to connect with Gen Z’s values of privacy, inclusive communities, and authentic content. SuperAwesome has reshaped the digital media landscape for young people with their tools and technology, including their AwesomeAds Marketplace (certified under the FTC's COPPA Safe Harbor programs and GDPR), SuperAwesome Creators (brand-safe influencer marketing), and Kids Web Services (parent verification). SuperAwesome was recently named the 8th fastest growing private technology company in Britain (The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 2017) as well as one of Europe’s fastest growing companies (Financial Times 1000: Europe’s fastest growing companies). The company was awarded a Breakthrough Technology Award at the Campaign Creative Tech Awards 2017 for REX, the world’s first kid-safe programmatic ad filter. In 2023, SuperAwesome won a Bronze Cannes Lion in Brand Integration for Games for its work with Frank's RedHot and was named one of the Top 3 Most Effective Independent Agencies by the Effie Awards. We have offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Singapore and Sydney. For more information, please visit us at www.superawesome.com Instagram (@gosuperawesome) or Twitter (@GoSuperAwesome). For more information on our jobs, please visit us at https://www.superawesome.com/careers. Möchten Sie sich unsere deutsche Website ansehen? Klicken Sie hier: https://www.superawesome.com/superawesome-de/
Seed Investor in Multiple Companies
Jun 2012
Mustard Kick is the family office of David Newns & Chris Lord. Through our family office, we invest our own capital in businesses. ​Our aim is to achieve superior returns on our capital deployed through a hands-on approach to incubating big ideas and using our experience to develop winning strategies for those companies. We have built two successful companies and sold them to FTSE 100 corporations. Our teams recognise us for our vision, leadership, and a deep understanding of the detail.
Experience · 12 entries
All (12)
Investments (10)
Board (1)
2022
Board Member
Jan 2022
SME Capital offers a long-term funding solution to the underserved SME market by combining relationship led expertise with insightful business analytics and proprietary AI. We create bespoke solutions from £0.5m to £5m, taking the time to understand a business with a holistic approach to credit.
2021
Founding Partner
Oct 2021
We are Fearless Adventures, shaping a future where fearless entrepreneurship can thrive. We invest in and support entrepreneur-led businesses with our expertise in growth strategy and support building great teams. Our founding team have built and scaled their own businesses from scratch to multi-million-pound exits and are now looking to use that capital and expertise to help new founders on their journey to reach the same peaks. Using a combination of best-in-class marketers, recruitment and data experts, we invest in and drive growth across our network of partners. Those who travel together, travel further.
2019
Board/Excom Advisor
Jan 2019
GE Oil & Gas, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dell, Johnson & Johnson and Cargill.
2018
Chargifi
Investor
Apr 2018
2017
Investor
Sep 2017
OTTY is an award-winning and innovative mattress which mixes all the key ingredients for the perfect night’s sleep: comfort, support and temperature control. The concept was the idea of Michal Szlas – a keen free runner and athlete who was on the lookout for a new mattress and after undergoing a confusing experience full of false marketing claims and high prices, he decided to create his own. After more than a year of trials and prototypes, OTTY was officially launched in 2016. The mattress combines high-grade memory foam and 2,000 encapsulated pocket springs with an air flow system and the company’s unique Cool Blue Gel layer to provide the best sleep possible. Each mattress is compressed, rolled and folded, before being packaged into a small, easily transportable box – making the mattress easy to manoeuvre upstairs, into tight spaces or into apartments. As well as coming with a 10 year guarantee, customers have further reassurance with the company’s 100 night trial – if you’re one of the very few who doesn’t love the mattress, OTTY will pick it up free of charge and offer a full refund. Since its launch, the mattress has been praised by many journalists and customers, and received a Which? Best Buy Award in January 2018. Expanding on its popular mattress range, OTTY has also launched a pillow collection to fully enhance the sleeping experience, as well as a range of pet beds. Each OTTY product can be purchased on the company’s website (www.otty.com). The company has also recently entered a high-street partnership with Next, with the mattress being on display in Next’s Shoreham, Bristol (Cribbs Causeway) and Sheffield (Meadowhall) stores, with more coming soon.
Show all 12 entries ↓
Investment activity
2012–2022 · 10 investments
20121201332014220151201712018120221
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