Praetura Investments has announced the appointment of three Octopus Investments veterans to its business development team as it looks to grow awareness of its EIS, VCT and BR qualifying offerings and connect with a greater number of investors and advisers across the UK.
Caroline Flagg, Peter Marsland and James Rochfort are all highly experienced business development professionals, having been part of the Octopus Investments business for approximately a decade each in various senior roles and departments.
Flagg, who rose to private markets distribution manager during her time at Octopus, also has experience at Huntress Group and Goodman Masson. In her new role as head of private markets she will support Praetura’s fundraising efforts by maintaining relationships with direct investors, family offices and Praetura’s Venture Partner network, made up of high-net worth individuals and angel investors.
Marsland, a former international rower and latterly wholesale private markets specialist at Octopus whose CV also includes work for Schroders, will manage relationships with financial advisers in London and the South-East as the firm increases its outreach following its recent expansion into Wales and the South-West.
Rochfort, who was most recently head of internal sales at Octopus, will head up Praetura’s new internal business development team as the company looks to help advisers across the UK with the resources they require in order to talk to their clients about alternative investments.
The trio will continue to grow the business across the firm’s investment offerings, including the Praetura EIS Growth Fund, the Praetura Inheritance Tax Planning Service and Praetura’s latest offer, Praetura Growth VCT, which is seeking to raise an initial £10m to invest in growth businesses primarily based in the North of England.
Jon Prescott, partner at Praetura Investments, said: “We are delighted to have attracted people of Caroline, Peter and James’ calibre to our business and I am excited to be working with them again having previously been part of the Octopus team. They are joining the existing business development team at an extremely exciting time and their appointments reflect the significant growth the business has undergone over the past five years. 2023 has been particularly exciting to date with the launch of Praetura Growth VCT in June.”
Praetura Investments is a specialist provider of alternative investment offerings and tax efficient solutions and an adviser and investor-facing division of Praetura Ventures, the Manchester-based venture capital firm which invests in early-stage, high-growth businesses across the UK, with a particular focus on supporting entrepreneurs across the North of England.
