Cambridge’s newest angel investor, Jonathan Pell, aims to leverage insight gained from Oracle’s $multi-million acquisition of his company Datanomic to boost the commercial prospects of UK technology startups.

Pell, who steered software specialist Datanomic from a four-man band to a global market leader by the time of Oracle’s swoop, has joined wife Vivien as a director in her consultancy powerhouse JVP, which can nurse fledgling companies from launch to growth to exit.

Pell says the “exhaustion to exhilaration” experience of the Datanomic-Oracle deal will prove valuable in his role as an angel investor and for JVP’s business building prowess.

JVP handles part-time and interim CFO and CEO placements, other management and advisory services and non-executive board appointments. It has a growing investment portfolio and is well placed to source growth capital and help UK tech startups follow Datanomic’s path to glory. Jonathan has joined the Cambridge Angels investment group to open up further opportunities.

In an exclusive interview with Business Weekly he said: “The Oracle deal was really insightful. You can see what a big company sees in a small business that makes it an acquisition opportunity.

“It is interesting to see what they value – the people, the processes, the product, the geographical fit and so on. Most VC and angel-backed companies  want to grow towards a crystallised event – an IPO or trade sale. I’d say 99.9 per cent of them have that strategic goal.

“I believe that, through JVP, I can harness the insight and experience from the Datanomic sale to help startups grow their businesses and realise their ambitions.”

Pell said that while angels were working overtime to fill a funding void for startups left by retrenching VCs, there remains much work to be done to generate the volumes of cash young technology companies in the UK require.

“VCs are moving higher up the food chain. Once they may have supported loss-making or pre-revenue companies with a great idea but that is not the norm any more.

“Angels have picked up a lot of the opportunities with early stage investments and moved up the food chain – but only to a certain level. Part of our job at JVP is to supplement what the angels are seeking to do and find more VCs who are still in the early stage marketplace. The investment market will rebound but a lot of work needs to be put in before it does so to desired levels.”

Vivien Pell not only laid the foundations of JVP but also put down markers for generating a successful investment portfolio. A chartered accountant, she worked for biotech and software companies for more than a decade along with a range of other businesses in a 35-strong client portfolio that also ranged from a taxi firm to a construction company.

JVP’s traditional role as Vivien built the business was to help clients strengthen their management teams, including directors and company secretaries, install useful management technology tools and systems – and to source VC or angel funding.

Jonathan was meanwhile FD of Geneva Technology, which was sold to Convergys, then Steve Newton asked him to take a look at a small data quality company – Datanomic.  At the time he joined – 2006 – it was a four-man band based in Swaffham Bulbeck near Cambridge. As CEO his brief was to build the business and create a trade sale.

“We were doing £10m revenues when we exited with international bases and a global clientele. We were the 11th fastest growing tech company in the Sunday Times 100. Oracle took over the Cambridge office and all our staff and the international growth has continued so it was a satisfactory outcome all round.”

Pell said the acquisition process itself was stressful and exhilarating in turns. Sworn to secrecy on the amount that changed hands, Pell said: “As CEO you are doing 60-70 hours a week through the due diligence process. It is exhausting.

“At the end of it you stop for a few weeks – I went on holiday for a fortnight – and you get into the mindset that one chapter has closed and another one is opening. The attitude was ‘let’s get on and do it again.’

“Running a business isn’t rocket science. If you have a good product, the people, the processes and the market validity, the challenge is to integrate all those ingredients into a strategy and ensure everyone involved is pulling in the same direction. Some people try to do several things too fast and never become successful.

“Moving into JVP was the logical next move. Vivien has made several angel investments in Cambridge organisations – among them Datanomic where we were both shareholders – PsychologyOnline, OpenCloud, Daniolabs and Biotica Technology. One or two have exited successfully.

“Now we are keen to work with other small, angel invested startups. We tend to make investments in companies we are involved in. Oracle’s purchase of Datanomic was a cash deal and relatively straightforward so we have also been able to make personal investments aside from those we have made via JVP.”

The consultancy has practised what it preaches about outsourcing by hiring Cambridge marcoms agency Ideas by Eden to help with the expansion of the business.

As JVP’s founding director, Vivien Pell, said: “Like our own clients, we have high expectations of performance and expertise, and I’m glad to say that Ideas by Eden has lived up to those expectations.

“We help growing companies as they are building their own commercial experience and expertise or when they need additional resources to achieve their goals. Ideas by Eden are supporting us in the same way. They are a great team to work with and so far we’ve been impressed with their creativity and strategic thinking.”

• PHOTOGRAPH SHOWS: Vivien and Jonathan Pell