Deborah Hudson

Deborah Hudson co-founded Shackleton Ventures in 2006 (the firm is generally dated 2006–2007) and serves as its Managing Partner and, on the group's board listing, as a Non-Executive Director. Shackleton is a London-based secondaries-led investor that acquires existing holdings from shareholders seeking liquidity — typically at a discount during downturns — restructures the balance sheet, takes active board roles, and reinvests capital for growth. Since founding the firm, Hudson has served on the boards of more than 20 growth-technology businesses.

Her earlier career combined operations and strategy. She worked in the technology department of British Gas plc before spending roughly a decade in international strategy consulting at McKinsey & Company. She was educated as an engineer at Imperial College London, where she held the Henry Ford II Engineering Scholarship, and earned an MBA with distinction from INSEAD.

Hudson chairs the board of Northern Venture Trust plc and has held board and chair roles across the Shackleton portfolio, including Panintelligence and (formerly) Pancredit Systems. Most recently, following Gorilla Technology Group's (NASDAQ: GRRR) February 2026 acquisition of Shackleton Finance Limited — a UK-authorised Alternative Investment Fund Manager — she was named Managing Partner (designate) of the newly formed Gorilla Technology Capital, a regulated fund-management platform intended to fund AI-infrastructure growth.

• Secondaries-first strategy: Shackleton buys existing equity holdings from investors seeking liquidity, frequently pairing the secondary purchase with new primary funding for the company.
• Buy in downturns, restructure, grow: The firm's characteristic approach is acquiring distressed or under-supported assets, restructuring the balance sheet, participating actively at board level, and reinvesting for growth.
• Balance-sheet investing: The firm "manages a portfolio of privately held investments from its own balance sheet and the personal accounts of its directors," rather than deploying from a traditional blind-pool fund only.
• Sector breadth: B2B technology/software, healthcare and medical devices, cleantech/sustainability, and industrial technology.
• Track record orientation: By 2021 Shackleton reported its 24th profitable exit; portfolio materials later cite 30 profitable exits, reflecting a returns-and-liquidity-driven discipline (e.g., Shackleton Secondaries II LP was reported at a 15% net IRR and 2.9x cash multiple around the OmPrompt exit).