Build a venture that moves the needle.
We build acquisition ready ventures with corporates, PE operators, family offices and professional services firms in regulated markets.
We optimise for ownership outcomes. Not deliverables.
Governance that prevents stall, compliance ready engineering, and pre-agreed buyout mechanics. So success doesn’t become a renegotiation.
Not a dev shop
Dev shops build what you specify. You take on the cost and risk of scope creep. We optimise for ownership outcomes.
Not an accelerator
Accelerators optimise for fundraising with mixed founder incentives. We structure for majority ownership from day one.
Not innovation theatre
Consultancies sell insight and pitch decks. We build acquisition ready ventures with governance, proof, and buyout mechanics baked in.
Build-to-Buy Venture Foundry.
We build new software ventures in regulated markets where speed matters, but security, control, and defensibility matter more.
Owner first
Built for your control. The venture sits outside your core business, limiting exposure while maximising focus.
Acquisition ready
Engineered to transfer cleanly. Every line of code, every process, built to withstand scrutiny.
Decision Rights
Mechanics, and triggers from day one. No ambiguity about who decides what.
Why is the website gritty?
Because this is what the work actually feels like. In regulated markets, the truth is usually buried under noise. Opinions, politics, vendor promises, and “innovation” that never ships. Our visuals are a metaphor for the job: find the signal, engineer it into something real, then make it ownable.
Noise
Complexity, uncertainty, competing agendas. The raw environment where most corporate innovation stalls.
Signal
The coordinated approach that can actually be measured. Find the thesis, validate it, build evidence.
Formation
Partners converge, the venture takes shape. Structure emerges from the noise. Ownable, transferable, real.
We’ve already shipped at scale, under scrutiny.
This isn’t theory. We’ve delivered in regulated environments.
View our ventures- Shipped at scale, under scrutiny
- Regulated market context by default
- Evidence-first execution
We did it for ourselves first.
Cleveland R&D is the sister company to Cleveland & Co, a specialist law firm in investment management. That proximity keeps us grounded in the practicalities of venture acquisition, clear contracting, and good governance.
- Real workflows, not hypotheticals
- Regulated market context by default
- Evidence-first execution
- Legal and governance proximity from day one
Builders who have done it before.
Grant Cleveland
Managing Director
gcleveland@cleveland-rd.comStartup success, 20 year corporate career.
- Led MXit's scale to 88m+ users (acquired)
- Led projects for Barclaycard, British Medical Journal, Accenture. Including Barclaycard Contactless Mobile Payments and London Cycle Hire Scheme
- Sales at Russell Investments
- Mentor at Techstars
- Course Evaluator at Imperial College London
Dias Jakupov
Senior Engineering Lead
djakupov@cleveland-rd.comFull-stack engineering leadership with deep applied AI expertise.
- MSc Software Systems Engineering (UCL, Distinction)
- Built and led software systems (incl. UCL + Microsoft)
- Deep experience in LLM/RAG workflows and reliable backend systems
Ready to build
If you want a venture that moves the needle, we’re built for that.
If your goal is a new product line, a defensible AI workflow, or a risk-reduced path to innovation at the right scale to really count. Then we’re here to build it with you.