YFM Equity Partners
YFM Equity Partners is an independently owned UK private equity (PE) firm investing in small, growing British businesses since 1982. YFM writes cheques of £3 million to £15 million for growth capital and management buyouts, and has invested in 2 UK water companies. As of January 2026 YFM manages over £750 million, and its partners have bought out the firm.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
YFM Equity Partners has been writing cheques to small British companies since 1982, which makes it one of the older independent private equity houses in the UK and a long way from the climate-fund crowd that usually turns up in water. YFM is a generalist, not a water specialist: it backs growth-stage businesses and management buyouts across software, services and industrials, and water appears only when a specific company fits its return maths, never because of a sector thesis.
YFM Equity Partners has put money into 2 UK water companies, and the two could hardly be less alike. StormHarvester sells AI software that predicts where a sewer network will flood, while Spotless Water runs a national chain of self-service stations that dispense ultra-pure water for window and solar-panel cleaners. One is data, one is logistics, and neither is a treatment plant, which tells you YFM is hunting growing UK businesses with real revenue rather than betting on water technology for its own sake. It backed both, and in 2026 came back for a follow-on round in Spotless Water.
YFM Equity Partners runs from Leeds with a regional network of offices, and as of January 2026 it is a different shape at the top than it was a year earlier. YFM's partners completed a buyout of the firm in January 2026, with managing partner Jamie Roberts taking the lead and long-serving managing director David Hall stepping back into an advisory role while keeping his seat on the investment committees. For a founder, the practical read is continuity of the people who do the deals, under fresh ownership.
YFM Equity Partners is the kind of investor a water founder reaches for when the company already has customers and revenue and needs capital to scale a proven model, not a lab to fund. Its bar is a growing business, and water is incidental to that bar, which is exactly why the two water names it backs look so unlike each other. Whether water becomes a deliberate theme or stays opportunistic is the thing worth watching as the newly independent partnership writes its next cheques.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Frequently asked
- What does YFM Equity Partners invest in?
- YFM Equity Partners invests in small, established UK businesses, putting £3 million to £15 million per deal into growth capital and management buyouts across software, services and industrial sectors. It is a generalist private equity firm, so its water investments sit inside that wider mandate rather than a dedicated water fund.
- Is YFM Equity Partners a water fund?
- No. YFM Equity Partners is a generalist UK private equity firm, not a water-focused fund. It has backed 2 UK water companies, StormHarvester and Spotless Water, but these sit alongside investments in software and other sectors, chosen for their growth and revenue rather than a water thesis.
- Who runs YFM Equity Partners?
- YFM Equity Partners is led by managing partner Jamie Roberts, who headed the firm's January 2026 management buyout. Long-serving managing director David Hall has stepped into an advisory role while staying on the investment committees. The partnership runs from Leeds with offices across Britain.
- What water companies has YFM Equity Partners backed?
- YFM Equity Partners has invested in 2 UK water companies. StormHarvester builds AI software that predicts flooding in wastewater networks, and Spotless Water runs a national network of self-service stations dispensing ultra-pure water for cleaning. YFM returned for a follow-on round in Spotless Water in 2026.
- Is YFM Equity Partners the radio station?
- No. YFM Equity Partners is an independently owned private equity firm based in Leeds, England, investing in small UK companies since 1982. It is unrelated to YFM, the Johannesburg youth radio station, despite the shared initials. The investor's full name is YFM Equity Partners, sometimes shortened to YFM.