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.  

Howard Town Brewery has secured a £150,000 funding package from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) East & South East Midlands Debt Finance fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners and backed by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

Exus Management Partners, a leading expert in powering sustainable investments through operational excellence, 

Wolves Summit, the largest startup technology conference in the CEE (Central and Eastern European) region has announced its most expansive investor lineup, also sharing news of the speakers and partners that will make this 14th edition of the Summit the most impactful yet. 

Leading cash handling supplier Volumatic has released a new white paper 

Seneca Partners, the specialist SME investment business based in the North West, has invested £1.2m into biotech company, SolasCure to support the development of their wound cleaning product, Aurase® through the Seneca EIS Portfolio Service and Seneca Growth Capital VCT.  Seneca’s investment comes as SolasCure is developing proprietary technology leveraging biomimicry and evidence-based medicine to empower health care professionals to treat patients with chronic wounds. 

QVentures has announced their latest fund investment into Semeris, a legal AI startup that builds contract analysis products for the financial sector.

Due to the Covid Pandemic, the economy and SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises) are suffering and they need help. Which means money. There is a large pool of equity money locked up that can be freed and the faster the better.

New Office for National Statistics (ONS) statistics show the number of UK workers on payrolls rose by 182,000 between June and July, but UK universities and business warn that the battle is not yet won.

BVA BDRC has published its latest quarterly SME Finance Monitor findings. The largest and most frequent study of its kind in the UK, research findings have been gathered across 40 waves of interviews since 2011 and are based on more than 170,000 interviews with SMEs.

The British Business Bank has announced a further £62.4m of financing to Shire Leasing under its ENABLE Funding programme, which aims to improve the supply of finance solutions to smaller UK businesses for business–critical assets.  The transaction follows on from a first round of funding of £37.4m in 2017 - bringing the overall amount of money under the ENABLE Funding programme awarded to £99.8m. 

When it comes to awards and entering them, a question we regularly get asked is – what makes a winning business, what do the judges look for?