July 2017

Selfridge started work at the age of 10, delivering newspapers. He had a genuine entrepreneurial spirit, starting his first business at the age of 12.

Kweku Ackom-Mensah Partnership Manager at GrantTree discusses the changing relationship between government funding and institutional investment.

Dan Somers, CEO of Boundary Capital, discusses why mammalian investment will become will increasingly important in the world of tech VC.

Tech businesses remain optimistic about their prospects over the next 12 months according to recent research from Smith & Williamson, the accountancy, investment management and tax group.  Nearly 90% of tech businesses were optimistic for their own prospects for the next 12 months with over half (55%) expecting the economy to improve in the next 12 months.

While a third electoral shock in less than a year has left the political arena reeling and there isn’t the sense of permanency we would want at the top in the UK, there is a silver lining for SME’s, scale ups and their advisers.  This group (pretty much) got the result they wanted. In new research conducted right up to polling day by Smith & Williamson, nearly two thirds of business leaders believed a Tory government would best benefit their ambitions.

So much has happened in the last two months that it is hard to absorb it all, but the recent acts of terrorism in the UK mean we must give a Shout Out this month to the Foundation for Peace.

Ian McGlinn wasn’t your typical angel, he didn’t have large sums of money to invest or any experience of investing more generally.

One of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries' heros of our industry, Howard Flight deserves acknowledgement. 

IPOS are much rarer than you think as a route to exit so the news last month that Octopus Ventures had successfully listed Eve Beds on the AIM market is a cause for celebration. 

What are the entrepreneurial lessons from Mrs May’s disaster?

Tim Mills of Angel CoFund explores the reasons why the angel funding sector remains robust in the face of economic uncertainty. 

Achieving an exit in less than two years is no mean feat in the angel community. This is Astia Angels latest achievement.