Lift is an investment and acquisition company focused on high-growth sectors and emphasises responsible and compliant AI.

About Lift Global Ventures

Lift is an investment and acquisition company focused on high-growth sectors and emphasises responsible and compliant AI. Through its working relationship with Yorkshire AI Labs, the company gains early access to emerging founders and deal flow within a growing UK ecosystem, while supporting portfolio companies to scale nationally and internationally.

Every AI investment is subject to disciplined due diligence, board approval, and a clear post-investment value plan, ensuring alignment with Lift’s strategic objectives, risk appetite, and commitment to sustainable shareholder returns.

The company targets high-impact verticals such as healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and creative industries—areas where AI adoption is accelerating and where scalable technology can drive meaningful operational improvement and long-term value creation.

Investment Strategy

Strategic Focus and Rationale

Lift invests in and acquires opportunities in (a) artificial intelligence, (b) financial media and related technologies, and (c) energy.

These sectors sit at the intersection of data, digitisation, and decarbonisation. Our strategy targets compounding cash flows and scalable technology, where Lift can drive operational uplift and long-term shareholder value.

Within the AI Sector:

  • Back early-stage AI founders – Back pre-seed and seed-stage AI startups with strong technical founding teams and scalable product visions
  • Target high-impact verticals – Invest across high-impact verticals such as healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and creative industries where AI adoption is accelerating.
  • Prioritise applied AI with clear use cases – Prioritise companies applying AI to solve specific industry problems, rather than general-purpose infrastructure players.
  • Leverage Yorkshire AI Labs access; scale globally – Leverage the working relationship and access to Yorkshire AI Lab’s growing tech ecosystem while supporting portfolio companies to expand into national and international markets.

Our working relationship with Yorkshire AI Labs expands early access to founders and deal flow from a growing UK regional ecosystem.

Within the Media Sector, Lift will focus on the following areas for opportunities:

  • We aim to modernise financial media through data, automation, and AI-enabled production.
  • Financial news websites and other forms of “digital financial media platforms”.
  • Investment research providers.
  • Financial PR, IR, design and marketing agencies.
  • Production studios and visual content providers.
  • Technology platforms which facilitate capital raising and/or lending.

 

Within the Energy Sector, Lift will focus on the following areas for opportunities:

  • Energy infrastructure projects, particularly in developing jurisdictions
  • Brownfield energy projects
  • Renewable energy projects either as stand-alone or as a synergistic, piggy-back to infrastructure projects
  • Gas to power projects, including the concomitant midstream and downstream infrastructure

Investment Committee

The Board has established an Investment Committee (the “Committee”).

The Committee’s primary purpose is to assist the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities with respect to:

  • Reviewing, evaluating, and approving proposed investments, divestments, and related financial commitments.
  • Ensuring that investment decisions align with Lift’s strategic objectives, risk appetite, and long-term shareholder value.
  • Monitoring the performance of the investment portfolio and ensuring adequate oversight of investment risk and returns.

 

The Committee operates under delegated authority from the Board but remains accountable to the Board for its activities and decisions. The Committee ensures each decision aligns with Lift’s strategy, risk appetite, and long-term value creation goals.

Criteria for Investment and Acquisition Opportunities

All investment and acquisition opportunities will also be assessed for suitability against qualities such as:

  • Conformance with the sector requirements above;
  • A strong management team with a proven track record;
  • Investment-ready without material re-structuring;
  • Positive cash flow or clear medium-term line of sight;
  • A value proposition that can deliver significant shareholder returns through capital injection, operational improvement, or strategic transformation.

Investment and Acquisition Process

The Board leads sourcing and evaluation, engaging in-country experts where relevant. Lift commissions appropriate legal, financial, and operational due diligence and manages qualified advisers to assess each opportunity.

As part of the analysis of prospective investment and acquisition opportunities, appropriate legal and financial due diligence shall be commissioned and managed, where applicable, by the Board.

It will be the responsibility of the Board to instruct and manage appropriately qualified advisers so as to ascertain the legal and financial position of any opportunities.

  • Any investment or acquisition undertaken must first be approved by the Board. Any comments made by Lift’s AQSE Corporate Adviser, who shall review the potential investment or acquisition solely in light of any AQSE Rules implications, must also be addressed.
  • All transactions are subject to Board approval and disciplined capital allocation, with clear post-investment value plans.

Team

David Richards MBE

Executive Chairman

David brings 30 years of experience as a technology entrepreneur, including nearly 25 years as a technology executive in the software industry in Silicon Valley. David is the Founder and Managing Partner of Yorkshire AI Labs, an investment firm dedicated to supporting early-stage AI companies that leverage deep domain expertise, robust customer insights, and extensive data to build disruptive solutions. David previously co-founded and served as CEO of WANdisco Plc (now Cirata Plc) from 2005 to 2023 and co-founded and chaired IntelliamAI Plc, a listed company that specialises in AI and machine learning in the FMCG industry and is already servicing half of the world’s top 12 food and beverage companies.

Committed to social impact, David co-founded the Laptops for Kids campaign, serves as a trustee of the David and Jane Richards Family Foundation, which empowers young people through education, and also serves on the Economic Growth & Investment Group at the Cabinet Office Social Mobility Commission. He received an MBE in 2022 for services to the information technology sector and youth, particularly during COVID-19. David holds a computer science degree from the University of Huddersfield and honorary doctorates from Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Sheffield.

Mark Horrocks

Non-Executive Director

Mark has been regulated and working within the funds industry for 40 years. His career started as a financial sector analyst with a financial institution that was in the FTSE 100 and he then went on to manage the equity element of the life and pension funds, which was valued in excess of £2.5bn. A keen supporter of smaller companies, he is currently invested in a series of private investments in the technology, land and leisure sectors. Historically, Mark has had various non-executive director roles in public and private businesses, mainly in other areas of the financial industry, which have strengthened his knowledge of the regulated financial market. Mark is currently a director of Intrinsic Capital London Limited, which is an independent wealth management company.

Zak Mir

Chief Executive Officer

Zak’s career started in the City of London in the 1990s as a derivatives broker and markets strategist for the likes of Sucden and Union Cal, later part of Man Group. From the 2000s he entered financial journalism writing for Yahoo! Finance, The Investors Chronicle, Shares Magazine and Spectator Money. Zak is a well-known technical analyst and stock market commentator in the UK. He has published several books on his specialism, including a former number 1 on the Amazon UK Investing Bestsellers list. Zak has also amassed a Twitter following of over 22,000 people, who come to Zak for interviews and analysis of small cap companies.

Sandy Barblett

Non-executive Director

Sandy Barblett has over 20 years’ experience working with private and public listed international companies. He sits as a director and advises companies, both private and listed, in relation to raising private equity and general fundraising, admission onto public markets, strategy and management selection. Mr Barblett works predominately in the natural resources sector. Additionally, he has previously held senior leadership roles with former FTSE 250 company Pace Plc. Mr Barblett was a director of AIM listed Solo Oil and Gas up to 2016. Mr. Barblett has a bachelor of business from Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia and a bachelor of laws from the University of Queensland.