Venture capital firm to unveil name-change after founder’s exit | Business News

One of London’s most prominent venture capital investors will this week change its name following the death and resignation of its two co-founders.

Sky News understands that Hambro Perks, which counts a stake in What3Words, the location-mapping service, among its holdings, is to rebrand as Salica Investments.

An announcement about the change of name will be made on Monday, according to an insider.

The new name combines salix, the Latin word for willow, and karpos, the Greek word for fruit, and is designed to communicate the firm’s reliability as well as its organic growth potential.

Hambro Perks was founded by Rupert Hambro, an investment veteran who died in 2021, and Dominic Perks, who left the firm last year.

It was established with a focus on backing promising British startups, although it has diversified since then into a broader set of private market funds investing in equity and debt across industry sectors and geographies.

Now run by Andrew Wyke, a source close to Salica said its funds were performing well, and that it recently held a final close on its first UK venture debt fund.

It plans to launch a range of further investment funds later this year.

Since leaving Hambro Perks, Mr Perks has incorporated Lexham Partners, another London-based firm.

Public filings show that he has joined forces with Sanjiv Somani, the former chief executive of JP Morgan’s digital bank, Chase UK.

Mr Perks is understood to remain among the largest shareholders of the renamed Salica Investments alongside the Hambro family and Phoenix Group, the FTSE-100 insurance and pensions provider.