Tapas Revolution - Gresham House Ventures

Spanish café, bar and restaurant chain

Tapas Revolution is on a mission to bring Spanish food and its culture to the UK.

Founded by celebrity chef Omar Allibhoy, its first restaurant opened in 2010 in Shepherd’s Bush and on the back of its success, a second site was launched less than a year later at Bluewater. There are now nine restaurants nationwide.

Investment rationale

In 2017, we invested £2.5m of growth capital into Tapas. Having launched two new restaurants, we invested a further £2m in 2018.

They have successfully opened new restaurants in Newcastle, Bath, Stratford, Brighton and Lakeside since the original investment.

Investment team

Clive Austin

Managing Director, VCT Portfolio

Clive has worked in the private equity industry since 1995, making investments including TeleCity and Kerridge Commercial Systems. Clive joined as part of the Mobeus VCTs team in 2021 and heads up VCT portfolio management across our VCT stable, sits on the Investment Committee and has responsibility for the portfolio valuations processes.

He is an investment management specialist with experience across a wide variety of sectors and stages of company development. He has been working in the VCT industry since 2008 with previous experience including running his own business and as a Director of NVM Private Equity, Catapult Venture Managers and 3i plc.

I’ve always considered what I do as a great privilege. Not only is it great fun, it’s also fascinating and the stakes are high. We get involved with a wide variety of interesting businesses and people at critical points in their development with potentially life changing consequences – what job could be better than that?

Having specialised in portfolio management, Clive has acted as non-executive director and Chairman of a wide range of private equity backed businesses such as Virgin Wines, Entanet and Equip Outdoor Technologies. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Applied Physics & Electronics, a DipM from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and an MBA.

Outside of work Clive can either be found competing in single seater racing cars, tinkering with classic cars or running / cycling around his native Teme Valley in Worcestershire.

Example portfolio

Bob Henry

Portfolio Director

Bob’s focus is on maximising the potential of a number of portfolio companies. Historically he has specialized in construction, food manufacturing and sports equipment

I have the privilege of working with some exceptional teams in businesses with real potential and continue to learn from them.

Bob joined as part of our acquisition of the Mobeus VCT contracts. He joined the Mobeus VCT team in 1998 and was one of the Partners when they completed a management buyout from the Matrix Group in 2012.

Bob was previously at HSBC where he was Head of HSBC Ventures and prior to that spent time at County Bank.

He holds a BA (Hons) in Business Studies.

Outside work Bob enjoys long-distance walking, travel, gardening, modern literature, theatre, good restaurants and family time.