Let it snow. UK entrepreneurs launch Startup Britain discounts with PM’s backing – but not his money. This morning in London, the UK’s answer to Startup America launches, titled – guess what?
– Startup Britain. That similarity aside, the initiative has been put together by a number of existing UK entrepreneurs and is not being backed by any government money, unlike the Obama initiative. Instead, we have here a ground-up entrepreneur-led initiative which is seeing over 60 leading brands offer services to up-and-coming startups in the UK. This is not specifically about tech startups – but it may well appeal to that sector. The campaign is being launched by Prime Minister David Cameron, who is known to be very pro-enterprise. The UK has 270,000 businesses that start up every year but many fail due to a lack of support. So in effect the Startup Britain initiative is doing a few things much more differently. Also, not right now, but “in the future” it aims to offer “a living market place for the wide range of enterprise support that is already available.
It looks well intended. Others said: 365 Days, $10 Million, 3 Rounds, 2 Companies, All With 5 Magic Slides. Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Socialcast founder Tim Young detailing how he raised 3 rounds totaling $10M in VC money in a year’s time with a 5-slide deck.
This was originally published at “Knowledge Is Social.” “I have a short five-slide deck to share that provides a solid framework for understanding our business.” Since moving to San Francisco a little over a year ago, I have spent every day helping to build Socialcast and about.me. During this time, I have raised more than $10 million combined over 3 funding rounds for both Socialcast and about.me. Convincing venture capitalists to invest in two startups in less than 365 days was a challenging task, but one that quickly taught me the dos and don’ts of raising money.
Stop using the projector for initial meetings Most of my initial venture partner meetings ended up in a conference room. Understanding an investor’s perspective Every venture partner has his or her own ideal approach to learning about your business. 1. 2. Passion Capital emerges from White Bear Yard with $60 million fund to seed startups. A new early stage investment firm is de-cloaking in London today.
Three prominent Angel investors on the tech scene in London – Stefan Glaenzer, Eileen Burbidge and Robert Dighero – have been operating out of their White Bear Yard base in Clerkenwell for just under a year. Rumours circulated that they were looking to raise a real fund to continue their work, and now the news is about to break (ok, now it’s broken). Passion Capital (@passioncapital) is a brand new fund aimed squarely at early stage tech startups and has closed its first investment at £37.5 million ($60 million). They anticipate making about 50 investments, where the average investment size is likely to be £150k-£200k at a time. But they say they will go as small as £15k-£50k and also “most certainly higher” than £200k depending on the situation. This first fund for Passion comprises significant funding from the private sector, family funds and high net-worth individuals. We have… Learn More.