In his second column, Steve Monnington, CEO of Mayfield Merger Strategies, checks in with the entrepreneur behind one of this month’s acquisitions and profiles a new accelerator for show development and exit.
The M&A trend I discussed in last month’s column continues. Six of the eight acquisitions recently announced were founded by entrepreneurs (the other two were non-core disposals). Their experiences, such as the one below, are often inspirational and will hopefully chime with other founders who are on the same journey.
The Stone family: Founders of Advanced Engineering and ChemUK
One of September 2025’s transactions was the sale of ChemUK to Easyfairs. Founder Ian Stone exemplifies the old-school independent show launcher, describing the thrill of starting the R&D for a show launch with “a big whiteboard and a ball of string.”
Stone began his career in magazine publishing, including a stint at Haymarket on What HiFi and LithoWeek, followed by roles at Reed, Turret, and UKI Media.
At UKI, he gained a broader understanding of the media, which provided him with his first experience in launching trade shows. He put off starting his own business several times until he found himself back at Reed after it purchased UKI’s ‘Aviation/Aerospace’ portfolio in early 2007.
Taking the plunge, Stone founded Aerotest America, which debuted in Fort Worth, Texas. The early years were, in his words, “financial catastrophe,” until his wife Jini left her advertising job to manage operations and finance. This partnership became a family affair, later joined by son James and nephew Duncan.
Gaining traction in the US proved difficult, partly due to dominance of major industry associations. At the same time, he was working on his first UK event – Aero Engineering – in Manchester.
Stone faced the classic entrepreneur’s dilemma: which opportunity to focus on? Preferring to stay small and maintain control, he discontinued the US venture after three editions to concentrate on Aero Engineering in Manchester.
From 2009 to 2015, the UK event evolved into the country’s largest Advanced Engineering series of events, validating his decision.
Deciding when to sell was clearer. Stone recognised the “biting point” when an event becomes highly buyable and when its further growth requires an experiential-led approach, beyond his capacity to enhance. A sale to Easyfairs followed, and in 2017, the family launched Smarter Business Tech Live in Manchester.
History repeated itself with the ‘opportunity cost’ decision having to be made again, this time in favour of ChemUK, launched in 2019 for the chemicals, process engineering, and formulation industries. Leveraging experience from Advanced Engineering and how the business was developed post-acquisition meant that there was no hesitation in selling ChemUK to Easyfairs as well.
Season three has had to be postponed as Jini has unfortunately been diagnosed with leukaemia, but the family will regroup and carry out R&D on the next three or four ideas just as soon as they are able.
Stone’s journey — founding two major market-leading events and achieving two successful exits — is a compelling example for entrepreneurs, showing that persistence, family partnership, and timing can transform a bold idea into market success.
Accelerators – supporting the entrepreneur
With entrepreneur-led event businesses changing hands every year, it’s no surprise that a mini-ecosystem has emerged to help founders build, scale and sell smarter. Business angels have long provided seed funding, and M&A brokers guide owners to the finish line. But a new generation of industry leaders is now reinvesting the proceeds from their own exits — adding capital, mentorship and hard-won experience.
The most visible player so far is the US-based Events Venture Group (EVG). Backed by more than 35 founders, serial entrepreneurs and top-tier operators, EVG supports and invests in entrepreneur-led event companies. Its early deals include Quantum World Congress in the US, Deep Tech Momentum in Europe, and UK-based analytics platform Explori.
Now a new name is entering the arena — Manta Media Capital, founded by Toby Duckworth, co-founder of 121 Partners, which sold its mining investment events portfolio to Hyve in 2021.
Duckworth sees Manta as a very different proposition. Whereas EVG operates as a subscription club of largely passive investors, Manta plans to take bigger stakes, invest more money and play a far more hands-on role.
“Capital is important for any startup, or even scale-up, but the real value is in the hands-on support we’ll be applying to businesses. Our team has experience in launching, scaling and exiting events in almost all sectors, formats and regions, and those experiences should help others grow faster. We want to bring real value to the businesses we partner with,” he says.
Manta’s sweet spot is either a founder who needs capital and doesn’t want to go it alone, or an existing event brand that needs a kick-start. Either way, an increasing number of founders I speak to recognise that early-stage investment, and the experience of those who have completed the journey themselves, can significantly accelerate both the timing of their exit and the value they achieve.
The model combines investment — typically up to £500,000 — with strategic and operational support. The aim is to act as an accelerator: wrapping experienced talent around a founder to fast-track growth and maximise exit value. M&A representation will also be included in the offer, providing founders with end-to-end support.
The Manta board features Duckworth’s former 121 Partners shareholders and industry heavyweight Doug Emslie, alongside at least two more exited founders.
Emslie — who also sits on the boards of several larger media companies such as Easyfairs, Jacobs Media and Life Science Connect — sees Manta as a bridge between startups and the global organisers who may one day buy them.
In Manta, Duckworth has created a fund that aims to “join the dots” on everything an event entrepreneur needs to turn a good idea into a valuable business.
I will be bringing you news of their investments over the coming months.
Meanwhile, here is a round-up of the recent transactions from the past six weeks.
| Buyer | Business | Country |
| Terrapinn | EV Charging Summit | USA |
| CloserStill Media | Billington Cyber Security | USA |
| Legal Business Review | Legal Geek conference portfolio | UK |
| EasyFairs | ChemUK Expo | UK |
| Nineteen Group | National Painting and Decorating Show | UK |
| Legal Benchmarking Group | Centaur Media legal portfolio | UK |
| Haymarket Media Group | Centaur Media marketing portfolio | UK |
| NürnbergMesse Group | O.MIND CREATIVES | Greece |