Portfolio
Focused vision.
Investments
Raccoon Media Group
Raccoon Media Group is a dynamic, high-growth media business focused on enabling healthy and active lives. Their media properties deliver year-round content and advice to specialist, self-identifying consumers that share a love of being outside, healthy and active. Their events are well-timed, community-driven, tightly focused and passion-led. They bring buyers and sellers together to see cutting edge innovations in a fun and exciting way.
Founded in 2016, Raccoon achieved acclaim with the launch of the multi-award-winning National Running Show. Since then, the company launched several more events in the U.K. and U.S. and experienced remarkable growth, transforming into a thriving, high-growth media business dedicated to promoting healthy and active lifestyles.
Jacobs Media
With headquarters in the UAE and London, Jacobs Media operates across five continents through nine market-leading brands, including 54-year-old Travel Weekly, and 10-year-old Connections which creates invitation-only experiences that connect senior decision-makers through meaningful, trust-based interactions.
Cuil Bay Capital owns a minority stake in Jacobs Media.. The stake has led to Emslie joining the board as deputy chairman alongside chairman and majority shareholder Clive Jacobs, who founded the business in 2009 with the acquisition of Travel Weekly Group from Reed Business Information.
EasyFairs
EasyFairs is one of the top 20 event companies in the world, with 110 market-leading events that gather more than 1 million visitors 23,000 exhibitors annually across Europe and now launching into the United States.
EasyFairs multi-format events cover a broad spectrum, from professional gatherings and trade shows to consumer exhibitions and fan fests. Plus, summits, congresses and conferences. Douglas Emslie recently joined EasyFairs as a shareholder and board member.
Life Science Connect
Life Science Connect facilitates mutually beneficial connections between their audiences and strategic partners that accelerate the advancement of life-improving, life-extending, and life-saving therapies and devices. They serve a loyal, satisfied readership that demands original, compelling content with utility.
Their suite of capabilities for B2B sales and marketing enablement contributes to the creation and maintenance of robust business development pipelines for our partners.
Cuil Bay Capital is an investor and Douglas Emslie is a board member.
Ventures
TrailCon
TrailCon is a new event for the trail running community formed in an equal partnership collaboration between Douglas Emslie, with Dylan Bowman, renowned trail runner and Freetrail podcast owner, and Brendan Madigan, owner of the Broken Arrow Sky Race and Alpenglow Sports. The event will run June 24-25 in Olympic Valley, Calif., and will feature a full-day conference, Hall of Fame Awards, Vendor Village, Networking and trail runs.
Quantum World Congress
The first-ever Quantum World Congress took place November 29-December 1st, 2022, in Washington, D.C., at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
The event welcomed over 700 attendees worldwide, including international delegations from 18 countries and has grown exponentially from there. The event showcases major trends in quantum solutions, research, education, workforce, thought leadership, policy, business, and investment.
PEAK 2026
PEAK 2026 is a launch event that will gather SportsTech’s top founders, investors, and industry executives in Las Vegas. Attendees will have the opportunity to discover advancements in athlete performance, fan content and engagement, management, organizations, stadiums and more. The event will have 1,500+ attendees, 100+ exhibitors and 8+ conference tracks.
Evolve
Evolve is a new show launching Feb. 17-19 in Las Vegas and focused on the $1 trillion reverse logistics industry.
Reverse logistics, also known as return management, involves the movement of products from the end-user back to the seller, manufacturer, or a designated location for purposes like returns, repairs, refurbishment, recycling, or disposal.
More than 2,500 attendees are expected on a 40,000sq. ft. showfloor featuring top exhibitors in the reverse logistics space.
Manta Media Capital
Unlike traditional investors, Manta Media Capital is an event accelerator and investment firm built by event entrepreneurs for event entrepreneurs. We invest early, stay involved, and help build event businesses to buyer specifications, backed by a global network of acquirers, strategic partners and industry specialists.
Manta Media Capital exists for ambitious founders who want more than funding —they want a true partner to help them launch, grow, and ultimately exit high‑value event and media companies with confidence.
Cuil Bay Capital recently joined as an investor.
Semafor
In this new interconnected world, journalism needs to deliver common facts to divergent audiences. Our biggest stories, and greatest crises, are now global: from climate change to pandemics, rising inequality to supply chain disruption, political instability to the influence of social media. Yet global trust in the media is at an all-time low. A new moment requires new thinking.
Enter Semafor. The world’s first news platform designed to meet the moment we are in. Providing audiences with an unparalleled level of journalistic transparency through innovative new forms, cutting through the noise of the news cycle with smart, distilled views and exploring competing perspectives across borders for a curious, new global audience.
Cuil Bay Capital recently joined as an investor.
The Nest Climate Campus
The Next Campus is a resilience-focused event platform connecting corporate leaders, innovators, investors, and policymakers defining and accelerating transformation across key sectors.
With a rapidly growing audience and multi-vertical approach, The Nest Campus is building an ecosystem designed to scale globally.
Cuil Bay Capital recently joined as an investor.
Manta Middle East
Manta Middle East, established as Manta Media Capital’s UAE platform, is focused on helping UAE-based event organisers scale into larger venues and stronger commercial platforms, while attracting international organisers looking to establish or expand proven event brands in the market.Manta Middle East will collaborate closely with government partners to develop the next generation of international business events in the UAE.
Faster Pace
Faster Pace is a strategic platform operator based in Abu Dhabi, focused on sectors shaping the next phase of economic growth.
We design and operate high-level platforms that bring together government, capital, and industry to enable strategic alignment, accelerate collaboration, and unlock long-term value.
Our work sits at the intersection of policy, investment, and industry development. Through carefullydesigned forums, partnerships, and engagement models, we help create the conditions for stronger coordination, greater market visibility, and meaningful economic outcomes.
Backed by a leadership team with deep experience across globally recognised brands, Faster Pace brings together expertise in strategic development, stakeholder engagement, operational delivery, and market-facing growth.
Built in Abu Dhabi. Designed for regional influence and global relevance.
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