Jenny Tooth

Jenny Tooth OBE is Executive Chair of the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA), the UK trade body for angel and early-stage investing. UKBAA says it represents more than 15,000 investors around the UK; other recent speaker biographies describe the UKBAA ecosystem as including over 110 angel groups and more than 20,000 angels, alongside VC funds, online platforms, accelerators, and national and regional stakeholders.

Tooth has more than 20 years of experience helping SMEs access investment in the UK and internationally. Earlier in her career she ran her own access-to-finance consultancy for SMEs, including nine years based in Brussels working closely with the European Commission. In a 2018 interview, she said she began as an economist, completed a master’s at the London School of Economics, and became focused on small-business finance and investment.

She became involved with London Business Angels around 2000 and later co-founded Angel Capital Group in 2009, incorporating London Business Angels. Angel Capital Group was sold to Newable in April 2017. UKBAA was established as a new trade body in 2012; Tooth served as CEO and later became Executive Chair.

She is also an angel investor herself. UKBAA says her current role focuses on building the UK angel community, connecting investors to deal flow, and helping entrepreneurs attract investors. She has sat on Innovate UK’s steering group for emerging technologies and innovations and on the advisory board for the London Co-Investment Fund. She was awarded an OBE in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to small businesses.

• Tooth’s angel-investing focus is early-stage innovation: she has described investing in entrepreneurs because “the innovation opportunities around Europe” were exciting.
• She places strong emphasis on founder quality. In a 2025 ESIL interview, she said evaluating startups is “all about the people,” including passion, ambition, skills, and the capacity to grow a business.
• She looks for market opportunity and scalability, including evidence of market research and the ability to build a company beyond the initial product.
• She advocates investing through groups and syndicates, especially for newer angels, and has advised angels to invest alongside others rather than alone.
• She is a prominent advocate for gender diversity in angel investing. Through UKBAA’s Women Backing Women campaign, she has worked to increase the number of women angels and improve capital access for women entrepreneurs.
• She has advised angels to take a long-term view, noting that angel investing lacks quick liquidity and that building a significant business can take many years.
• She has advised angel investors to diversify across a portfolio, with Sifted reporting her recommendation that new angels make at least 15 investments over their first few years.