Praetura Ventures has named Mark Roberts as a new operational partner.
Roberts is the founder of online craft beer store, Beer Hawk, which he exited, following its sale to AB InBev. He later become Global CEO of PerfectDraft, before leaving in 2022.
“The Praetura team has such a great reputation across the whole of the North because of their ‘more than money’ attitude, and this is what drew me to the operational partner programme,” said Roberts, who earlier in his career was Marketing Director for Laithwaites Wine and Head of Customer Marketing at Lloyds Banking Group’s Insurance Division.
“It’s so easy for founders to obsess over money, but in reality you need more than an injection of capital to achieve sustained growth. I’m excited to share my network, knowledge and experience with some great businesses that are putting an entrepreneurial stamp on the region.”
He joins following the announcement that Praetura Ventures would be the fund manager for the £100m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II – Equity North West.
In the role, he’ll work with early-stage businesses, from customer success to business strategy, and recruitment to C-suite hires.
“Mark possesses all the qualities we look for in an operational partner, with an outstanding CV and scaling journey with Beer Hawk,” added Colin Greene, Partner (portfolio) at Praetura Ventures.
“He’s also incredibly passionate and enthusiastic about giving back to the ecosystem and supporting the next generation of early-stage businesses with ‘more than money’, which is the reason we launched the operational partner programme.”
