Luke Davis, CEO of IW Capital, discusses what can be done to encourage Unicorn creation, including extending EIS

The last 15 months has provided every aspect of society with an unprecedented challenge, not least to small firms and founders. The response of this section of business, however, has been nothing short of inspiring, with nearly 800,000 new firms incorporated in 2020. The response of the investors who back them has been equally stirring, new figures showing that small firms received a record breaking £8.8 billion worth of equity investment last year.

For angels and other investors interested in space, Rémy Astié, CEO of Vauban has advice on how to get involved. 

Jordan Dargue, Head of Access to Finance at Innovation SuperNetwork

Gavin Heys of Envestors Private Investment Club looks at the ins and outs of becoming an angel investor

Gary Stewart, founder and CEO of FounderTribes, looks at the blind spots inherent in early stage investment.

Does anyone still invest in pre-seed and seed-stage start-ups? And does it matter that the decreasing flow of early-stage funding disproportionately locks out women and minority founders?

Whilst nations around the world have adopted net zero commitments, there is still much debate about how to balance growth and sustainability in emerging markets.

Gannons' Commercial law expert Alastair Manning looks at creative solutions for cancelling shares in a private company.

Nadine Campbell, of the ACE Entrepreneurs Investment Program, reminds us that diversity can only have wider benefits

The news, as reported in The Times on 24^th August, that US VC investment in the UK hit £4.5bn in 2020 is significant.  That is more than the EIS Scheme and The Future Fund combined.  A sign of the great opportunities for investors certainly and a welcome sharing of the load required to spin UK companies into unicorns, of course.  But how does this inform angels about the nature of what they do?

Chantelle Arneaud of Envestors looks at how networks can best connect with investors and companies.

The UK Government has published its first Hydrogen Strategy, in a Policy Paper which has been greeted with a fanfare of publicity.

As we are curating the content for our upcoming Accelerating Investment and Innovation Summit on 23^rd September 2021, we gathered a group of investors from within and outside the North East to discuss specifically how we might better connect, through technology and networks, investors and innovators across our investment ecosystem. This round table discussion was another eye opener for me.