James Murdoch takes a considered look at how his food and restaurant investments have performed in recent months.

An active experienced Equity Crowdfunder was talking, a few months ago, about mistakes novices make and stated that he thought investing in Food or Restaurants was the sort of mistake that novices make; he thought that experienced investors would only invest in tech. My initial reaction was to feel put on the spot; my portfolio contained a significant number of Restaurants and food related opportunities; my second was to think that it might be an idea to look at my investments to see how many are in this sector and to see if I could see a pattern e.g., Restaurants bad, Food tech good. And then I forgot about it.

The issue of startup diversity is well documented. According to the HMRC, only nine per cent of early-stage funding goes to businesses with a female founder and only 35 per cent is invested into businesses outside of the London and South East ‘bubble.’

David Mott, Founder Partner at Oxford Capital reflects on the themes that have shaped this year. 

As an interested observer of the unquoted UK funding market, I have long been curious about what is really going on around the symmetry between fundraising entrepreneurs and investors, be they crowdfunders, angels, VC or HM Government (via EIS, the Future Fund, £750m from InnovateUK grant funding, and £10bns from BBILs and CBILs). 

Stakeholderz Venture Relations Manager Megan Snijman explores the opportunity and sheer value being lost to investors as female entrepreneurs continue to be underrepresented and underfunded.

Steve Richardson, Sales Director at Reparo Finance, gives his perspective on why Government-backed COVID-19 loans aren’t necessarily helping SMEs address the financial disruption of the pandemic.  

Griff Williams, CIO of the British Innovation Fund, credits investing in early-stage science and technology in fighting the battle against the pandemic

Catherine Gannon of Gannons Solicitors looks at what SEIS/EIS can offer to investors.

The new world definitely brings new opportunities. Opportunities require funding. Rumour has it that taxes will rise but it would be a harsh (not to mention foolish) government that takes an axe to SEIS and EIS investment relief – one expects that Rishi will not go there.

Retail expert Dr Gordon Fletcher, of the University of Salford Business School, looks at what has gone wrong for the former titan of the high street and its boss Philip Green.

Envestors' Oliver Woolley discusses why angel investing should be considered by HNWs in a negative interest rate environment.

As we continue to deal with coronavirus restrictions, it is reported by Bank of Englandpolicymakers that the UK may be heading for negative interest rates . This would be a first in the bank’s 326-year history.

With interest rates already at 0.1%, central bank officials announced an additional £150bn stimulus package last week, in an attempt to boost consumer spending during the second wave of the pandemic.

Despite news of a vaccine, the BoE has taken the total stimulus to £895bn, as double-dip recession forecasts emerge.

 “It’s promising to see a multi-billion pound package of green investment announced by the Government 

Judith Hartley, CEO, British Patient Capital said: “The latest report from the British Business Bank, UK Venture Capital Financial Returns, builds on the findings of last year’s report, and for the first time gives analysis of UK fund manager performance by investment stage, size of fund and location of fund manager. It is an important contribution to increasing the understanding of the asset class.