Modern Slavery Act Statement 2025

What we stand for as a business

Ablaze Advisory Limited (“Ablaze Advisory”, “we”, “our”) is an independent corporate finance advisory firm incorporated in 2025 with a commitment to “Doing Things Differently”. What this really means is stepping away from the traditional model of investment banking-type services and corporate finance advisory practices, and tailoring our products specifically to the universe of new start-ups, fast growing businesses and their founders in a convenient way at a fair, accessible price. “Doing Things Differently” is also reflected in the empathetic way we treat our clients and each other, and our commitment to social and environment stewardship. This extends to ensuring that all our clients, contractors, suppliers and stakeholders follow the same principles, and are also committed to ensuring that their business practices are free from modern slavery and human trafficking.

Ablaze Advisory is incorporated and domiciled in the United Kingdom and is committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct and corporate responsibility. Ablaze Advisory’s principal activities include the provision of consultancy and advisory services focused on general corporate finance activities, Board accountability and governance, and investment-banking-type services (e.g. services adjacent to equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and private fundraisings) primarily to UK, but also international fast growing companies led by founders and serial entrepreneurs. We note that Ablaze Advisory Limited is not authorised and is not regulated in the by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), and does not provide any FCA-regulated services.

We do not work with mining, oil, gas and defence businesses. The companies we deal with are innovators in their fields, and are usually in sectors such as technology, digital media and consumer goods and services. We have chosen to work with this client base as we believe they share our philosophy of “Doing Things Differently”, and are dedicated to our five core brand principles: Independence, Knowledge, Transparency, Discretion and Responsibility.

Ablaze Advisory is committed to upholding the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “Act”). This statement is made pursuant to section 54 of the Act and outlines the steps taken by us to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking in its operations and supply chains for the future financial year ending 31 December 2025.

Our overarching policies on modern slavery and human trafficking

Ablaze Advisory is committed to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking within our business and supply chain. Recognising that supply chains are complex and multi-tiered, we apply a proportionate, risk based due diligence process.

Our supply chain

As a provider of advisory services, Ablaze Advisory is not a manufacturer, producer or retailer of any physical goods. Therefore, our supply chain is relatively low-risk compared to the majority of other sectors. We would still like to assure our clients and stakeholders that we remain committed to keeping our supply chain free of any slavery or human trafficking, and will never knowingly pursue any relationships that support any kind of modern slavery.

As a small, founder-led business, we aim to select our partners and suppliers from the universe of start-ups and growth business that are also our clients, and share our beliefs in highly ethical business practices. From time to time, our supply chains include, but are not limited to the following:

• Suppliers of banking, payroll and other related financial services;

• Suppliers of data and news services;

• Suppliers of hardware and software;

• Legal, accountancy and other professional intermediaries;

• Shared coworking building space and office facilities, virtual registers officer providers; and

• Other office supplies.

The nature of Ablaze Advisory’s supply chain means that a large proportion of our partners are based in the UK, Europe and the USA, although their own supply chains may extend beyond those jurisdictions. When onboarding new suppliers we consider country risks and perform additional due diligence where there is potentially a higher risk of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Our people and social impact

In our mission “Doing Things Differently”, we aim to democratise the world of investment banking-type and corporate finance advisory services by engaging colleagues on a ‘contractual’ or ‘temporary’ basis. This is probably the future of work – “fractional” advisers, on a pay-as-you-go basis; although we note that regulatory reforms are still to come to enable this at scale, and for all types of investment banking activities. Our approach ensures that all our colleagues are able to chose when and how they work; avoiding the classic ‘burnout syndrome’ and having to sacrifice all their time that could be spent doing things to enrich their lives and with their loved ones. We will be the first ones to admit that this keeps down costs for us, but also our clients by not carrying huge overheads like more traditional businesses in the financial services sector. Ultimately, we believe this produces a fairer ecosystem that enables start-ups and fast growing businesses, both private and public, to access vital advisory services that will help them scale. Secondly, this approach leads to positive social impact, allowing us to work with a much wider ecosystem of ‘City’ people who might be currently out of work, have domestic carer responsibilities, and those unable to (or simply no longer want to) work the long hours that are typically expected in the industry.

Our recruitment process is transparent and fair, and does not discriminate or give preference to certain schools, universities or family connections. We ensure all involved in recruitment understand the obligations relating to modern slavery and fair employment practices. Ablaze Advisory communicates directly with potential contractors to discuss opportunities and terms, and uses third-party companies that do contractor screening to ensure identification checks are completed and individuals are paid directly into their personal bank account or their ‘sole trader’ company account.

Our future commitment

Ablaze Advisory will always endeavour to maintain our dedication to highest ethical and social responsibility business practices as we pursue our mission of “Doing things differently” in the sector. We will continue all our efforts to combat modern slavery and human trafficking across our supply chain, recruitment and operations.

Alina Vaskina, Founder and Director