Nicholas Peter Collingwood Maughan CBE (born January 1980) is a British investor and philanthropist. Maughan is the founder of the venture investment firm Maughan Capital, the Geneva-based multi-family office Little Whale Capital, and the Nick Maughan Family Foundation, a charitable organisation supporting initiatives in education, the environment, and social inclusion. He is a trustee and founder member of The Centre for Social Justice Foundation, as well as a trustee of Tusk Trust and Dallaglio RugbyWorks. As the founder, patron, and funder, he supports various charitable projects, including BoxWise, StreetDoctors, the Charlie Miller Football Academy, and the development of social infrastructure projects in Eastern Uganda.

In the 2024 Birthday Honours, Maughan was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to philanthropy.^[1]

Maughan was born in London in January 1980. He gained a degree in religion and theology at Manchester University, followed by a master's degree in investment management from Cass Business School (now Bayes Business School).^[2]

Maughan began his career in 2003 as a quantitative analyst and then as director of research at Tamiso & Co., a New York-based investment firm. In 2020, he established Maughan Capital, focusing on early-stage investments with environmental and social impact.^[3][4] The firm's portfolio includes Forests For Mines Ltd, set up to transform old coal mines into forests; Climate Solutions Exchange (CSX), which develops carbon credit platforms;^[5][6] and Beobia Ltd (The Bug Factory), which produces mealworm-based protein.^[7] Maughan Capital has also invested in technology firms such as Sen, which provides AI-enhanced satellite footage of Earth for environmental monitoring, and Infogrid, a company working on building energy efficiency through artificial intelligence.^[8][9][10]

Maughan is the Chairman of Geneva-based multi-family office Little Whale Capital.^[11]

In 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maughan founded the Nick Maughan Family Foundation (NMF) to support projects in education, the environment, and community engagement, particularly targeting disadvantaged groups.^[8][2][12]

NMF's flagship initiative, BoxWise, offers boxing-based mentoring for young people across more than 50 locations in the UK, in collaboration with Frank Warren's Queensbury Promotions.^[13][14]

Maughan is a trustee of Dallaglio RugbyWorks, which supports young people outside mainstream education.^[15] Through his foundation, he funds scholarships in London for talented children from low-income families, as well as postgraduate scholarships for master's and PhD students.^{[16] [17]}

He also supports the Charlie Miller Football Academy in Glasgow^[18][19] and helped fund the construction of the Waterside Centre in Newbury for the Berkshire Youth Trust.^[20] His other initiatives include backing the Fair Shot campaign with the Refugee Council and education and employment programs for at-risk youth in collaboration with the Centre for Social Justice, where he serves as a trustee.^[21]As patron Maughan has supported first-aid training for over 25,000 young people via British charity StreetDoctors.^[22] He is also patron of the medical research charity Womb Transplant U.K.^[23]

As a trustee of Tusk Trust, Maughan has contributed to wildlife conservation efforts in Africa.^[24] He made an initial £1m donation to Tusk Trust,^[25][26] matched all donations up to £150,000 made to Tusk through The Times' Annual Christmas Appeal,^[12] sponsors the annual Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award (presented by the charity’s royal patron, William, Prince of Wales),^[27] and funds the Tusk Conservation Symposium.^[28]

Outside the UK, Maughan funds infrastructure projects in Eastern Uganda through the Nick Maughan Family Foundation.^[29] These include the Nick Maughan Maternity Centre, reportedly the largest such facility in the region, as well as the NMF Riverside School and the NMF IT Centre.^[30] He is also a patron of Spotlight on Africa, a UK-based development charity active in the area.^[31]