We exist to make the right investment choices today, for tomorrow.
We invest in boldly ambitious deeptech entrepreneurs that solve complex problems using breakthrough solutions and we apply our domain expertise to build lasting value.
We invest in early and high-growth companies building the digital infrastructure to enable a 3D Urban mobility future.
Our previous investments have included innovative products and services that are improving our world, the way we live, and the way we do business.
PSION Team
Alain Gavin
Managing Partner - Chief Investment Officer
Alain Gavin brings a unique perspective to bear on investing through his experience, training and personal background.
Alain is an experienced Deep-tech investor, who runs a portfolio of 18 tech investments with 6 exits/IPOs and performs in the top 5% of VCs globally. He previously worked with Seraphim Capital, a Space-tech and Drone-tech fund which is backed by the UK Sovereign Wealth Fund and several big corporates including Airbus.
He has executed early’ and growth stage investments in European & US technology companies across a diverse range of sectors. He has deep transactional experience ranging in size from £1m to £10m for direct VC investments and up to €200m per deal for strategic corporate investments. He has also instigated and executed corporate M&A and carve-outs to other PE firms.
Alain understands operational challenges first-hand having had extensive experience working in high tech and industrial blue chip companies such as Siemens, Daimler and Schott, where he had full P&L responsibility and led teams of up to 40 people, as well as working within his own start-up in Berlin.
Being an engineer by training and having gained an MBA from London Business School allows him to understand the complex interrelationships across great teams, technology innovation and business model applications.
Alain was born and brought up in Nigeria with multiple nationalities, is trilingual (German, French & English) and has worked in Germany, Japan, the US and the UK, all of which allows him to relate easily and professionally to people across a range of international environments.
Prof. Robert Gavin
Senior Advisor
Seasoned Academic Leader with 30+ years of experience in developing academic partnerships with Industry to assist regional development and local regeneration.
Undertakes research for the Psion projects and helps in the planning and production of company documentation; uses his network to find openings for portfolio companies.
Professor Gavin was awarded a CBE in recognition of services to Higher Education in Northern Ireland. Appointed in 1979 as Dean of the faculty of Arts at Ulster Polytechnic (Belfast and Jordanstown), he was re-appointed as Provost of Magee College in 1984 when the Polytechnic and the New University of Ulster (Coleraine and Derry) amalgamated to form the University of Ulster. As Provost of Magee College in Derry, he planned the resuscitation and extension of undergraduate and post graduate courses with a business-oriented bias and collaborated in regional efforts to develop new industrial and commercial initiatives in the NorthWest particularly those with American and European dimensions. In 1988 he was appointed Pro ViceChancellor for Research.
In addition to his academic activity, Professor Gavin has devoted much attention to the development of University links with Industry, encouraging the companies’ partnership with the University in the promotion of technology and research. He was Chairman of Foyle Development Organisation 1991-2005 (Derry City Council's agency for promoting industrial and commercial development).
Prior to coming to Northern Ireland, Professor Gavin spent 9yrs growing and managing academic institutions in Nigeria (Zaria & Ilorin). He also spent 15 years university teaching in Cambridge Colleges, King’s College London & in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He was awarded an MA and PHD from Cambridge University and has published research on regional economic and political developments in Africa, the Middle East and Ireland.