Stephen Chandler

Stephen Chandler co-founded Notion Capital in 2009 and serves as one of its Managing Partners. He graduated with an honours degree in Economics from the University of Exeter, began his career at Deloitte where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1994, and moved to UBS Investment Bank in 1995, advising leading technology and telecoms businesses on capital raisings and M&A.

In 2000 he joined the MessageLabs Group, serving as CFO of Star until 2004 and of MessageLabs until 2009. As part of the founding/operating team he helped build MessageLabs into what is often described as the largest European SaaS exit of its era, initiating and leading its $700m sale to Symantec in 2008–09 during the financial-crisis upheaval that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Chandler describes himself as an entrepreneur, investor and company builder with more than two decades of experience forming, funding, running, advising and investing in technology businesses, and has been a co-founder of over ten companies. At Notion — which he and his partners built to apply their shared SaaS operating experience to backing European startups — he has primary responsibility for the firm's external fundraising (LP relationships) and is active in deal origination across SaaS, fintech and eCommerce enablement, especially in the UK and Nordics. Notion Capital today manages roughly $1bn+ in assets and has made 150+ investments in business software.

• Backs European B2B software / SaaS and cloud companies, extending into fintech, cybersecurity, eCommerce enablement and cleantech.
• Core stage is Series A / Series B, with checks roughly $2M–$10M (sweet spot ~$6M); the founding thesis was that "software could now be developed, sold, deployed, and supported from anywhere to anywhere."
• Looks above all for ambition and vision: "I love the prickle down my spine when I meet a founder who articulates a massive vision and instils confidence they can inspire the diverse people and resources needed to execute upon it."
• Values founders with "real ambition and a desire to change the world," paired with the credibility to attract talent and capital.
• Operates on Notion's "say what you're going to do and then do it" and "have fun, make money" ethos — signalling a preference for straightforward, execution-focused teams and a value-add partnership model backed by Notion's Platform team.