April 2017

I spoke at Master Investor on this theme about 10 days ago. This list went down a storm so it seems worth repeating it here. 

April 2017

Par Equity’s Andrew Castell looks at how and why the firm mobilises business angels to help assess potential investments.

It’s a puzzle.  Venture capitalists get very excited by innovation and disruption when it comes to companies we invest in, but there isn’t much innovation of our own business models.

Due diligence, the work we do to assess a prospective investment, is of critical importance to investors.  It has a direct bearing on the ultimate success or failure of an investment – unless, of course, you count “spray and pray” as an investment strategy.

A difficult question, particularly where amounts invested are relatively small or innovative technologies are involved, is how to conduct due diligence without loading up the prospective investee company, or the investors, or both, with costs out of all proportion to the amount being invested.

At Par Equity, our innovative step was to come up with a model that sees us crowd-source business skills from within our investor base.  The result is cost-effective assessment of the commercial aspects of potential investee companies by well-qualified individuals.

April 2017

Dr Arthur Krebbers asks whether certain character traits are more likely to make a successful entrepreneur.  

“Impulsive, impatient and hyperactive. I’m sorry to tell you Mrs Jones, but your son may prove to be a highly successful entrepreneur!” Businessmen with a (hypothesised) form of ADHD have given the world Ikea, Virgin and JetBlue, amongst many other household names. What is it about this condition that can help start-ups thrive?

April 2017

Untapped Unicorns

In 2016, The Entrepreneurs Network partnered with Barclays on the Female Founders Forum – a group of some of the UK’s most successful female entrepreneurs, who’ve joined heads to come up with tangible, actionable recommendations for tackling the funding issue. The project’s first report, Untapped Unicorns, outlines how Britain can scale up female entrepreneurship.

You can acess the full report here

31 March 

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) is pleased to announce two new appointments to its investment team. David Stevens joins as a Senior Adviser and Taylor Rampton as an Analyst.

30 March 

UK Bond Network, the alternative finance provider that specialises in structuring secured corporate bonds and distributing them via its online platform, announces the launch of its Innovative Finance ISA (IF ISA) – and a bonus for early adopters.

30 March 

30 March 

NVM has delivered a £3 million investment in Intelling Limited, a communications business which provides customer services support for companies such as Telefonica and Missguided.

29 March 

Scotland’s first dedicated pre-seed tech accelerator is to open in Edinburgh with a mission to trigger Scotland’s next billion dollar startup. Seed Haus is raising an innovative new angel-backed fund to create the hot-house environment needed to produce scaleable startups in emerging markets, such as fintech and internet of things (IoT). 

29 March 

Airangel, the Warrington-based company which is the leading provider of guest WiFi solutions to the hospitality sector - has secured a £1.7m funding package from Santander Corporate & Commercial to support its further growth.

29 March 

29 March

Low-carbon, clean-technology innovators due to exhibit at Cleantech Innovate 2017 have welcomed the £270 million investment into the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund announced by Chancellor Phillip Hammond in the 2017 Spring Budget. The fund is expected to foster innovation in clean technologies, in particular electric vehicles and offshore wind. Further details on the disbursement of the funds are expected to be announced soon.