Paul Bedford

Paul Bedford is a Chartered Accountant whose career has spanned roughly 40 years in the leisure and entertainment sectors. He began on the operating side as a finance director, holding CFO/FD roles at ZTT Records, Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment Group, the Cream Group (home of the Creamfields festival), and later Impresario Festivals. His route into festivals came via the independent investment firm Ingenious, where he spent around 14 years and where the firm backed Cream around 2002–2003 — a sector he was new to at the time but went on to specialise in.

In 2011 Bedford co-founded Impresario Festivals with his team, securing roughly £9m of external investment and building it into one of the UK's largest independent festival operators, with events such as Boardmasters, Field Day, Rewind and SW4 in its portfolio. He has spoken candidly about the operational risks of the business — including major losses when a hurricane hit Boardmasters in 2011 — while emphasising the loyalty and resilience of festival audiences. The Impresario Festivals EIS was later exited, reportedly delivering returns exceeding £2 per share.

For the last ~15 years Bedford has focused directly on VCT and EIS fund management, at points overseeing media-focused VCT portfolios with more than £120m of assets under management. In early 2016 he co-founded Edition Capital with three other partners to continue investing in the leisure and entertainment sector. Edition describes itself as having invested in and advised on around £400m of transactions, including over £175m of EIS and VCT investments. The firm has since rebranded as Litchfield Associates, with its Edition EIS and Edition Capital Projects funds becoming the Litchfield EIS and Litchfield Capital Project funds.

• Invests through pooled EIS / Capital Project funds in the leisure and entertainment sector — live entertainment, festivals, hospitality, food & beverage, and cultural/experience venues.
• Does not back start-ups. Targets businesses "that have good proof of concept but need capital to accelerate their growth."
• Screens on three explicit criteria: People (belief in the team and mutual trust), Commercial Concept (a proven, de-risked business model), and Financial Processes (strong budgeting and reporting — and he's willing to help professionalise these).
• Takes a hands-on, sometimes "perfectionist" approach to portfolio companies, drawing on his own operating experience as a former finance director/CFO.
• Has a stated preference for independent operators over large corporates, arguing they are "more fleet of foot" and put more thought into product delivery.
• Personal motivation in his own words: *"I have always been driven by job satisfaction rather than financial reward."*