Actia Capital Partners Research
Investment Thesis
Actia Capital Partners is a London-based specialist early-stage venture firm focused on infrastructure. Its tagline is "Venture x Infrastructure", and it backs entrepreneurs building next-generation, tech-native critical infrastructure from the early stages of commercialisation. The firm's manifesto argues that more than $100 trillion must be spent on infrastructure upgrades over the next 15 years, driven by end-of-life renewal, geopolitical reshoring, climate change, rare earths scarcity, the AI buildout and surging power use. Its view is that innovation that is venture-stage today will mature into core+ infrastructure over the next decade.
The i2x Framework
Actia's singular focus is what it calls infrastructure-to-x ("i2x") platforms, as opposed to business-to-infrastructure ("b2i") companies. An i2x platform is the infrastructure layer itself: it delivers a critical outcome rather than a product, is treated by customers like a utility, and holds multi-year contracts or assets that lower its cost of capital. The firm describes i2x assets (owning infrastructure with locked-in cash flows from blue-chip offtakers) as its sweet spot, i2x services as active, b2i products as opportunistic, and b2i suppliers as out of scope.
Sector Focus
The firm names recently minted core+ categories such as altnet fibre, smart meters, EV charging, data centres, modular build and electric fleets. It names the next wave as robotics, AI operations, water tech, energy abundance, outer space and edge connectivity. Its portfolio spans grid and power, carbon removal, compute and ocean-adjacent data centres, industrial communications, AI supply chain software, AI-powered roll-ups of building management, and soft robotics.
Stage Focus
Actia invests early, from TRL 6+ pilot through product-market fit and scale-up, with the aim of getting companies to core+ infrastructure readiness. Disclosed rounds include a pre-seed (XiniX AI) and a seed (Supa). Check size and fund size are not published on the website.
Lead Tendency
The portfolio page lists co-investors on every company and the firm's disclosed rounds describe participation alongside others (for example Supa's seed was co-led by 2150 and OpenOcean with Actia participating). Actia announced XiniX AI's pre-seed as a backer. Lead tendency is unclear, so it is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- November 2026: Actia portfolio company Supa came out of stealth with a 21 million pound seed round co-led by 2150 and OpenOcean, with participation from KOMPAS VC, Actia and HEARTFELT. Actia invested part of its first cheque into Supa (initial investment 3Q25).
- March 2026: Backed XiniX AI in a pre-seed round to commercialise Sprout, a soft robot for inspecting confined industrial spaces.
- Initial investments in Arcform and Piclo are dated 4Q25 to 1Q26 on the portfolio page; Heimdal was 4Q25.
- The firm has been selected as an Innovate UK Investor Partner, combining innovation funding with private investment (per its LinkedIn description).
- It publishes a steady stream of thesis essays through 2026 (Redesigning the Grid, Where Infrastructure Sectors Meet, Energy Tech history, the Manifesto, the Supa roll-up case study).
Portfolio Highlights
- Arcform (UK): independent owner, operator and optimiser of extra-high-voltage energy networks.
- Heimdal (US): scalable direct air capture; co-investors include Volo Earth Ventures, Y Combinator, Cathexis Ventures and Liquid 2.
- Magentic (UK): agentic platform for supply chain management; co-investors include Sequoia Capital and The Westly Group.
- Piclo (UK): independent marketplace for energy flexibility with 40+ GW of registered flexible capacity.
- Quadrivium Digital (UK): greenfield tier III+ data centres at subsea cable landing stations.
- Servicom (UK): communications technology for industrial and infrastructure sites.
- Supa (UK): AI-powered roll-up of residential building management services.
- XiniX AI (Belgium): soft robotics and an AI inspection platform for industrial confined spaces.
Several of the earliest positions (Magentic, Quadrivium, Servicom) are marked "GP commit" on the portfolio page, meaning the partners invested personal capital.
Team
- Shakil Karim, Founder and General Partner
- Michael Dirk, Technical Partner
- David Dekel, Founding Associate
- Advisors: Faisal Alhindi (GCC), Paul Hughes (Operating), Malik Karim (Senior), David Linsey (Venture), Ivan Markman (Operating and US), Maria Zaheer (Capital Markets)
The firm says its wider team includes founders, engineers, operators, policymakers, financiers and exit achievers who have taken companies from pilot to core+ infrastructure platform.
Decision Process
The site does not describe a formal process. The firm is a small partnership led by its founding general partner, with diligence supported by infrastructure experts. The partners back themselves with personal capital, and founder testimonials praise board-level strategic input, patient capital and network access.
Founder Preferences
Exceptional, entrepreneur-led InfraTech founders building i2x platforms with multi-year contracts or owned assets. The firm explicitly rejects consensus objections such as too non-consensus, too ambitious today, too asset-heavy or bad timing.
Geographic Focus
UK-centred with European and US reach. Portfolio headquarters are in the UK (five), the US (one) and Belgium (one). It is based at Shelton Street, London, and has a GCC advisor.
Gaps
Check size, fund size, AUM and the number of partners deciding are not disclosed. Stage for most portfolio companies is not sourced, so it is left blank.