Debora Fang on Building Businesses Buyers Will Care About

From assessing major acquisitions to supporting carve-outs, Debora Fang has spent her career thinking about what makes a business strategically valuable. Today, as a member of the Cambridge Angels, that perspective shapes her approach to angel investing in deep tech. In this interview, Debora talks about why she backs technologies with the potential to reshape industries, what she looks for beyond impressive science, and how she works alongside founders to help build companies that can endure and scale.

Could you give us a bit about your background?

I grew up in Brazil and work and life have taken me through the US, Paris, Amsterdam and now London. Along the way I’ve spent over 20 years in multinational consumer goods companies, mainly Danone and Unilever, in roles across strategy, business development, finance and M&A.

What really drove me was the work of scouting, assessing, buying, selling, integrating businesses and shaping strategies, working with multidisciplinary teams of diverse backgrounds. For instance, at Danone, I assessed the acquisition which is now the Specialised Nutrition division, worked on its integration and then worked on its operations. At Unilever I was both on the buy and sell sides, supporting on the decisions of what was really attractive and then executing on it, as well as preparing businesses for sale, crafting stories and coordinating carve-outs so that transactions could happen.

That experience left me with an ingrained way of looking at companies. Now I instinctively ask: what makes this business highly valuable to someone else in the long run? Not just “can it grow?” but “would it be of critical importance for an acquirer? Could it realistically be bought, integrated and justified strategically?” Today, I split my time between advising Private Equity and VC funds in Food and Wellness with Angel investing in deep tech.

Why did you choose to invest in deep tech deals and join Cambridge Angels?

I started angel investing in 2018 and made a deliberate decision not to invest in consumer goods as, in my view, the cycles in the industry have become very short. What feels exciting today can feel tired three years later, and in my view that doesn’t always line up with angel timelines.

Deep tech feels different. The companies I now back are often working on technologies that can reshape industries over decades. The UK, and Cambridge in particular, is a fantastic place to do this, given its dense concentration of scientific talent and increasingly mature pathways from lab to market. One of my first angel investments happened to be in a Cambridge-based company, which drew me into the ecosystem and eventually to Cambridge Angels.

What attracted me to join CA wasn’t just the deal flow though, it was the incredible calibre of the people. When I look at a deep tech opportunity, I am always asking three questions: will this technology solve an acute issue, is this the team with the drive and the capability to do so, and where this could go commercially? What I value about CA is that, very often, someone in the room has already built or invested in that exact space before. That depth of experience both improves our decision-making and the support we give founders afterwards.

What is your thought process around deals?

The Cambridge Angels investments I get most excited about are not “impressive technology” alone. Firstly, I develop a view on whether the company is solving an acute problem for the industry and/ or delivering on a highly critical need. Ideally the company is solving an “existential problem”. The acute problems are the ones that can focus attention within organizations for an extended period of time and unlock budgets, with priority - and later on, attract strategic buyers.

I also care about how founders understand their market. I want to see that they know how decisions are made in their industry, where power and value really sit, and what problem they are truly solving for the customer. From my M&A background, I know that buyers are interested in strategic positioning, filling gaps in critical markets, defensibility, and control points in the value chain. When a founder can explain clearly why a customer and/or a future acquirer would care, it is a strong signal they are thinking beyond the lab and the next round.

Sector-wise, I invest broadly within deep tech, in sensors, quantum and batteries, through to pest management and agri-related technologies. I am never the deepest technical expert in the room, so I lean on macro trends, industry structure and the Cambridge Angels network to benchmark the technology, while I focus on market reality and the strength of the team.

How do you get involved after investing?

My involvement tends to be most meaningful in the earlier years of a company’s life, when early strategic choices still have long-term leverage. It depends on the needs of the founders at different moments.

Often, my role is to be a sounding board and help founders think through focus, prioritisation and trade-offs. Also, given my background, I often support on conversations around M&A and exits. Not to “time” a sale, but to help founders shape their business so future exit options remain attractive and credible. I also get involved where my sector experience or geography can help. For instance, I recently supported one of the startups with introductions in Brazil and joined in a business development trip there.

I try to keep my involvement founder-led. I am very happy to engage at whatever depth is useful. That balance of support and respect for the founder’s role is something I see across many Cambridge Angels members and founders usually feel it quite quickly.

What has angel investing taught you so far?

Too many things to mention! One key element is patience though. Everything takes longer than you expect; finding real product–market fit, building customer trust, assembling strong teams and, ultimately, reaching an exit. Seven years in, I now have started to have exits in my earliest investments and some of the companies are really starting to show what they might become.

The second is the cliché that turns out to be so true: it’s all about the team. Technical excellence is essential but not enough. The teams that succeed combine scientific depth with commercial understanding and drive, resilience, customer empathy and the ability to adapt as reality diverges from the original plan. I’ve seen many successful journeys where the business that exists five to seven years later looks very different from the original pitch deck.

The third lesson is about who you invest alongside. If you are lucky enough to have strong angels around a company, both in assessing it and in helping to build it, the whole journey becomes more rewarding for all. For me, that is the real power of a group like Cambridge Angels: experienced people, embedded in a rich ecosystem, committed not just to picking impressive companies but to helping them become relevant and valuable over time.