Mike Tattersall

Mike Tattersall has spent roughly two decades in the retail and consumer sector. He qualified as a chartered accountant at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC), working with clients including BAT, Glaxo, SAB and Associated Newspapers. He then spent about ten years at stockbroker Cazenove as Head of European Food Retail, leading the research element of corporate advisory relationships with Tesco and Booker and working on the IPOs of Burberry and Inditex.

After Cazenove's sale to JP Morgan in 2010, Tattersall moved to UBS to lead the European Food Retail franchise in equities, advising Sainsbury's and Greggs and leading the IPO of online grocer Ocado. This deep capital-markets and consumer/retail equity-research pedigree underpins his current work bridging established corporates and early-stage innovators.

At True, Tattersall is a Partner and Managing Director for Innovation, serving as Chief Commercial Officer and, more recently, Portfolio Manager for the True Public Fund. He built True's advisory business and oversees relationships with major corporate partners — among them Shell, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health, TJX Inc., Marks & Spencer and Walgreens. His remit spans people development, sharpening True's proposition, and providing guidance to portfolio businesses. In his own words, he works with "clever, funny and kind people who all try to make shops a better place for everyone who visits them or works in them."

• Invests through True, a consumer- and retail-specialist firm operating two funds — a private-equity fund and an early-stage venture fund — across the retail, consumer and technology ecosystem.
• The venture arm backs digital-first breakout companies from pre-seed to Series A, investing up to ~£5M initially and reserving capital to re-invest in the strongest performers.
• Focus is on consumer brands and the enabling technologies that serve retail and consumer businesses — True describes its aim as "reimagining business" and making "shops a better place."
• A distinctive edge is True's network of corporate partners (Shell, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, J&J Consumer Health, TJX, M&S, Walgreens), which it uses to connect the "giants and innovators" of the consumer world — a strategic advantage founders gain access to.
• Note: the "angel investor / seed" label in the source stub reflects Tattersall's early-stage orientation, but his investing is primarily conducted through True's institutional funds rather than as a personal angel.