EverQuest Capital Partners Research
Investment Thesis
EverQuest Capital Partners LLP is a UK specialist investment manager focused on what it calls Deep MakeTech: advanced materials, manufacturing processes and enabling technologies that can change how products get made. Its tagline is "Transforming industry. Creating legacy." It backs high-growth and scale-up businesses developing technology with the potential to transform industrial systems, and it favors university spin-outs and science-led companies where the technical risk is high and the market is large. The firm is authorised and regulated by the FCA (FRN 1044826) and registered in England and Wales (OC453092).
Structure and CPI Partnership
The firm's defining feature is a strategic partnership with CPI (Centre for Process Innovation), the UK technology innovation centre established in 2004 that has supported more than 1,000 businesses. CPI supplies technical due diligence, research facilities and scale-up infrastructure (national centres in biologics, electronics, formulation, biotechnology, medicines manufacturing and photonics). EverQuest portfolio companies get access to CPI services. The firm reports a track record of exits cumulatively sold for over 1 billion pounds across the team and the CPI partnership, 227+ qualified deals a year, and seven successful investments completed together. Deals are usually announced jointly as "EverQuest and CPI back ...".
Fund Vehicle
Capital comes from the EverQuest EIS Fund, aimed at eligible UK individual investors seeking EIS tax relief, with institutional investors also mentioned. A second vehicle, EverQuest EIS Fund II, was launched in January 2026. Because EIS rules require UK qualifying companies, the investable universe is UK-based companies.
Stage Focus
The firm invests at critical stages of commercialisation and scale-up. Recent evidence shows a pre-Series A round (Qkine, 1.5 to 1.6 million pounds) and a Series A (FluoRok, about 22.8 million pounds / 30 million dollars). Exact check sizes are not published.
Check Size
Not disclosed. Participation in rounds of 1.5 million pounds up to a 22.8 million pound Series A suggests small to mid-sized checks within syndicates.
Lead Tendency
In both of the most recent announced deals the firm was a co-investor alongside others: FluoRok's Series A was led by Orano Venture Fund / Supernova Invest, and Qkine's round included Parkwalk and EMV. Lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
- November 2026: EverQuest and CPI back FluoRok, an Oxford spin-out, in an oversubscribed 30 million dollar Series A for HF-free fluorochemical production.
- September 2026: EverQuest and CPI back DEScycle, which recovers critical metals from e-waste with a low-temperature solvent process.
- September 2026: EverQuest and CPI invest in Qkine's oversubscribed pre-Series A.
- January 2026: Launch of EverQuest EIS Fund II.
Portfolio Highlights
The site lists eleven companies: Q5D (robotic additive manufacturing of embedded electronics), TaiSan (sodium battery polymer electrolytes), FluoRok, BiologIC Technologies (automated biologics manufacturing), BioCaptiva (cell-free DNA capture polymers), Evoralis (plastic-depolymerising enzymes), QV Bioelectronics (implantable devices for glioblastoma), MarraBio (protein biomaterials), DEScycle, Qkine (growth factors) and Nuformix (drug repurposing for fibrosis and oncology). The mix is advanced materials, industrial biotech, battery materials and life-science tools.
Team
- Stephane Mery, Partner (at EverQuest since April 2022, entrepreneur and investor)
- Peter Smith, Partner
- Hannah Wade, Partner (also Managing Director of CPI Enterprises)
- Ian Smith, Director of Origination
- Ewa Hercyk, Investment Manager
- Frank Millar and Arun Harish, Strategic Advisors
Decision Process
A partnership of three partners with technical diligence supported by CPI. Timeline and warm-intro requirements are not published; origination runs through technology hubs, universities, innovation networks and accelerators, so warm introductions through those channels are likely helpful.
Founder Preferences
Teams with deep scientific or technical pedigree (the FluoRok rationale cites a founding team from a leading fluorine-chemistry group), differentiated patented processes, platform optionality across several markets, and a credible path to industrial scale. Founders get strategic support, commercial connections and access to CPI facilities.
Geographic Focus
UK only, with a stated emphasis on investment for the regions and UK supply-chain resilience. Headquarters location is not stated on the website.