As part of our 25th anniversary celebrations, we spoke with Greg Isbister, founder and CEO of Blis, a former ProVen VCTs portfolio company and now a global leader in privacy-first, location-powered advertising.

The ProVen VCTs, managed by Beringea, first invested in Blis in 2008 to support its early growth in the UK. In 2012, Beringea’s U.S. funds co-led a follow-on round to accelerate international expansion. The funds exited in 2022 as part of a significant investment by LDC, the private equity firm, delivering a 6.5x return to ProVen VCTs’ shareholders.

In this conversation, Greg reflects on how an early partnership with the ProVen VCTs helped Blis evolve from a London startup to a global scale-up - and how a timely shift to privacy-first innovation laid the foundation for its recent acquisition by T-Mobile.

Could you talk us through how your relationship with Beringea and the ProVen VCTs first began? What made you choose to work together?

Our relationship started in 2008, when we raised our first round with Beringea through the ProVen VCTs. We were a small company with a big vision in location-based advertising, and securing that initial funding felt incredibly exciting because of what it made possible. At the time, the sector was still unproven, and raising capital as a young startup wasn’t easy.

I first connected with Karen McCormick, now Beringea’s Chief Investment Officer, by picking up the phone. What followed was a series of in-depth conversations about the technology, the opportunity, and our long-term goals. It was never just a pitch - it was the start of a relationship built on mutual interest and understanding.

What really stood out about Karen and the team managing the ProVen VCTs was their conviction. Even when location-based advertising was still nascent, they could see its potential. Their belief in what we were building gave us confidence. And with teams in both the UK and US, Beringea’s transatlantic footprint meant they were well placed to support our global ambitions.

Looking back, how did Blis evolve during the time the ProVen VCTs were invested? What milestones stand out from that period?

We went through a complete transformation - from a small, London-based startup to a global business operating in multiple markets.

In the early years, we were experimenting with location-driven mobile ads using technologies like Bluetooth and Zigbee. Mobile was evolving rapidly - each new device brought different capabilities - and we made it a priority to adapt quickly.

A major milestone was our US expansion in 2016, following our Series B round, which was supported by both the ProVen VCTs and Beringea’s US funds. Opening our first office across the Atlantic and winning our first American clients was a surreal moment - seeing a concept that began on a whiteboard in London take root in a huge market.

Another major milestone was our pivot to privacy-first advertising. We made an early decision to move away from using personal data for ad targeting. Instead, we built technology that could deliver relevant, location-based ads without needing to track individual users. That positioned us well as privacy regulation and platform changes began reshaping the industry.

By the time Beringea exited in 2022, Blis had become a global leader in our space - working with major brands, scaling our team, and continuing to grow year on year.

Beringea supported your international expansion through their UK and US teams - how did that backing help Blis scale globally?

They were instrumental. Of course, the capital helped as it allowed us to grow the team, build out our platform, and expand our footprint. But the support went far beyond that.

Because Beringea had a presence on both sides of the Atlantic, we didn’t feel like we were entering the US cold. Charlie Rothstein, Beringea’s US-based Founding Partner, joined our board after our Series B round closed, and was very hands-on as we navigated that expansion.

Just as importantly, we were backed consistently throughout our growth - from seed to Series A through to our Series B - by the ProVen VCTs and subsequently Beringea’s US funds. That continuity was key. It gave us credibility with new investors, confidence internally, and the stability to scale at speed. Their belief in our potential was there at every stage.

Beyond funding, what kind of support or strategic input did you find most valuable from the team at Beringea?

It’s a cliché to call an investor a partner - but in Beringea’s case, it really was true. They weren’t just attending board meetings, they were actively helping shape the business.

Karen, in particular, was a key sounding board. She and the wider team consistently challenged our thinking, asked the hard questions, and helped us look at our plans through a sharper lens. That kind of guidance is invaluable - especially as you go from founder to CEO and the decisions get bigger and riskier.

They gave us space to lead but were always there to support and guide. That balance of challenge and trust really helped shape our journey.

With the recent acquisition by T-Mobile, what’s next for Blis? What opportunities or shifts do you see ahead?

In March this year, Blis was acquired by T-Mobile, one of the largest advertisers in the US. The acquisition marked the end of a successful three-year partnership with LDC, the private equity firm that acquired a stake in Blis following Beringea’s exit in 2022.

Blis will now become part of T-Mobile’s expanded advertising division, helping the company offer more targeted, omnichannel advertising solutions to brands - all built around our privacy-first technology that doesn’t rely on personal data or tracking cookies.

From my perspective, it’s a huge moment. We’ve spent years building future-proof technology that could deliver personalised ads in a privacy-conscious way, using data like location context, not personal identifiers. To now see that vision become part of a global platform like T-Mobile is something I’m incredibly proud of.

And it wouldn’t have happened without the early support of the ProVen VCTs and the team at Beringea. Their belief in our ambition, their continued investment, and their help expanding internationally gave us the foundation to build a business with global reach and long-term impact. This acquisition is, in many ways, the outcome of that journey and it really feels like just the beginning of what’s next.