Henderson makes his way to Mercia

UK-based commercialisation firm Mercia Technologies hired Marcus Henderson (pictured) on Tuesday as an investment director at its Edinburgh office.
Henderson joins from venture capital firm Par Equity, where he had been an investment manager since 2014. He will be responsible for sourcing and closing deals in technology startups in Scotland and for building relationships with local universities and organisations.
During his time with Par Equity, he already led investments in spinouts in Scotland, including the $2m seed round for ultrasound sensor developer Novosound, the first spinout of University of the West of Scotland.
Henderson began his career at professional services firm Deloitte in 2009, first serving as a senior consultant before a promotion to corporate finance executive in 2012. He left the firm in 2014.
Mercia expanded to Scotland in 2015. In November 2017 the firm signed a non-exclusive partnership agreement with University of Edinburgh’s tech transfer office Edinburgh Innovations and committed to establishing a local team of four.
Mercia also has partnerships in place with Strathclyde, Napier, St Andrews, Heriot-Watt and Abertay universities. Its office in Edinburgh is led by Alistair Forbes, also the firm’s head of software and internet.
Henderson said: “Mercia has a strong track record for supporting breakthrough ideas and scaling young businesses and I look forward to working with the team and drawing on the substantial resources of the group.
“My role will be to identify new investment opportunities and nurture the next generation of Scottish tech businesses.”
Forbes added: “Scotland is one of the biggest and most vibrant tech hubs in the UK and Marcus’s investment experience and his extensive connections in the Scottish early-stage tech ecosystem further strengthen our capabilities here.
“His appointment will help us to continue to build our capacity and support our ambition to be an investor of choice for the very best early-stage tech businesses in the country.”
– Image courtesy of Mercia Technologies