Attracting B2B tech investors with Liam McLaughlin, Managing Partner, Europe at Clarity

Find the full transcript here:

Jodi Norris: Hi Liam! Welcome to the Finite Podcast. It’s great to have you here. You came to me with a really exciting idea for an episode, and one that I hope resonates with a lot of our listeners: preparing for your next funding round or IPO through comms and marketing. As an expert in this space, I can't wait to get into it. But before we do, why don't you tell us a bit about who you are and your career in marketing so far?

Liam: Thanks for having me, Jodi. I’m the Managing Partner of Clarity Europe. I’ve been a B2B marketer for roughly 20 years. While I’ve done a little bit of consumer marketing, most of my time has been focused on B2B brands in tech, health tech, and fintech. Throughout that journey, many of my clients have gone through funding rounds or public offerings, and communications has always been a key part of that strategy. I’ve been at Clarity for quite a while now, and we’ve taken some very exciting clients on that journey toward going public.

Jodi: Tell me about your current role and the team you're working with.

Liam: We work with a really exciting mix of clients across pure tech, deep tech, SaaS, fintech, cyber, and health tech. We have a fantastic team in both the UK and the Netherlands that knows this space incredibly well. The past five or six years have been tumultuous for everyone, so we’ve had to really rise to the occasion to do some fantastic work, especially in the growth and investment space.

The Current Landscape of Tech Growth
Jodi: I’d love to learn more about what you’re seeing in the market. Are more clients coming to you with the challenge of preparing for milestones? Where is the growth concentrated?

Liam: I’m seeing more interest from clients about how they elevate themselves to the next milestone, whether that’s a Series round or a public offering. A couple of years ago, the market had to correct itself—after events like the SVB bank collapse, funding dried up and the market wasn't quite such a hotbed for investment, especially in Europe.

While America is still the major market for investment, there are loads of exciting things happening in Europe. Clients are coming to us saying, “We’re on a two or three-year journey, and we want to start thinking about how we show up better as we talk to investors and engage stakeholders.”

AI has also transformed how everyone is working. It is going to be such a massive boom that it’s giving organizations the momentum to seek further funding so they can expand their innovation and really take hold of the moment.

Jodi: Should CMOs and marketing leaders be optimistic about achieving those funding rounds in the future?

Liam: You have to be pragmatic and realistic, but you should also be optimistic. Global VC investments crossed $500 billion in 2024—the highest it’s been since 2021. That significant jump shows there is money out there to help with growth and development. We’re seeing a definite upward trend.

Numbers vs. Narrative: What Really Moves Investors?
Jodi: With AI-driven investment decision-making, things can feel increasingly numerical or predictable. How should communications supplement that? Is it more important that the numbers are strong, or the narrative—or both?

Liam: Investors have always been number-driven; it’s part of their DNA. AI is now giving them the tools to make sense of those numbers and make decisions faster. However, the best investors also have a great intuition for what is going to work and what fits within their portfolios.

While they use AI for the "hard" end of decision-making, great investors are also looking for something that improves societal change or makes a positive impact. When I read investor stories that have gone well, it’s often the ones where people looked at the numbers, but then took a calculated risk on a space they were passionate about. Comms and marketing should nurture that intuition, making the investor feel like this is a "risk-free" decision.

Jodi: Exactly. Because in B2B tech, anything can happen—competitors gain an advantage or market shares shift. But if you’ve built a "moat" of authenticity and differentiation, those are strong signals for the long term.

Liam: I completely agree. Tech is moving so quickly, and AI has hastened that. It’s a rich field for the new and the unpredictable, which is why investors are so attracted to the bleeding edge of tech.

The Three Pillars of Investor Attraction
Jodi: Let’s look at the specific investor mindset. What do they look for in a company to fund? What should growth leaders be thinking about to attract them?

Liam: I think there are three things that are incredibly important:

Authenticity: What is your company doing, what problem is it solving, and who is it solving it for? To stand out in a competitive market, you have to be making a genuine impact. You can't just engage in "AI washing." You need credible proof points.
Narrative: You need a solid and consistent story across all channels—messaging, positioning, and how your executives show up in the media.
AI Visibility: This is the new stakeholder in the room. Investors are going to AI search (LLMs) as their first port of call for information gathering. How your brand shows up on AI platforms is now a vital part of an active strategy.
Jodi: I can see how that relates back to narrative—creating that consistency so that AI models pick up the same strong message across all sources. What separates a strong narrative from a weak one?

Liam: The major mistake is not knowing exactly what you are selling or giving too many conflicting messages to the market. A good narrative allows stakeholders to understand very clearly what you offer, why it’s different, and how you are growing—whether that’s through customer acquisition or product innovation. You have to give them a reason to stop and investigate your company.

Bringing it to Life: Case Studies in Success
Jodi: Can you give a clear example of how you’ve helped a tech client reach their next funding round or IPO through these narratives?

Liam: I have two examples. The first was a well-established EV charging infrastructure company. We worked with them as they were raising a significant amount of money for global expansion. Our job was to move them from being seen as "innovative and exciting" to being a "serious international player."

We were very selective about how we used their spokespeople to deliver a future-gazing story to the market. It wasn't about a "spray and pray" approach; it was a three-year roadmap to demonstrate proof points, partnerships, and tech innovation. We eventually helped them on the journey to go public, and it was a great moment to see that strategy come to fruition.

The second is a more recent fintech client. They have an amazing customer base but needed to scale quickly through external investment. We’ve had to take a completely different view of their comms to attract major players. As we discussed, AI visibility is at the crux of this. We are building programs where the message is consistent across executive LinkedIn profiles, owned channels, media, and analyst reports so that the AI models pick it up accurately.

Jodi: It feels like you really are at the frontier of this, learning how to navigate and measure this new space.

Liam: One of the major developments of AI visibility is measurability. It gives us an additional element to our PR work. We have hard facts; we can see how we are showing up and whether we are visible in the places that matter. Those are milestones we can constantly adapt and tweak until we are exactly where we want to be.

Jodi: I can't wait to hear how that journey goes for your fintech client. Liam, it’s been an absolute pleasure having you here. Thank you so much for joining us.

Liam: I’d love to come back and talk about it more. Let's check in again in a year!