Access to capital continues to be a barrier to success with just over two thirds of tech entrepreneurs seeking to raise investment in the coming months.
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Yieldify, a London, UK-based marketing experience company, raised $6m in its second funding round. The round was led by Binomial Ventures with participation from John Giuliani, CEO of digital marketing leader Conversant, who has also joined the Yieldify board as Chairman, Tom Singh, founder of fashion chain New Look, and existing investors GV (formerly Google Ventures), SoftBank Capital, Hoxton Ventures and Data Point Capital. The company intends to use the funds to continue to scale in the e-commerce market. Launched in 2013 and led by Jay Radia, Chief Executive Officer,
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Stormburst Studios, a Birmingham, UK-based startup which develops game-inspired software for business use, raised £150k in seed funding from Mercia Fund Management. Co-founded by Derry Holt and James Heath, Stormburst Studios provides OneUp, which allows sales teams to pit themselves against each other in a fantasy sports competition. By using gaming concepts such as leaderboards and dashboards to replace spreadsheets, OneUp offers a new approach to sales management, helping to motivate and engage employees while allowing managers to gain detailed performance insights. The company will use the funds to further develop
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Raising capital from business angels and private investors isn’t as easy as some people think There’s no question about it: Raising funding for a start-up from angel investors or venture capitalists is hard. Some entrepreneurs seem to think that investors should be falling over each other to fund their project, but the unfortunate truth is that only a small percentage of entrepreneurs are successful in raising capital for their start-up. Unlike venture capitalists who invest other people’s money, angels invest their OWN money. It’s important to put yourself in the
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Companies currently raising rounds of venture investment are inevitably learning some hard truths. Primarily, VC money isn’t as readily available as in previous years, and for the companies that are receiving funding, they’re finding that the terms are becoming increasingly more onerous. The good news for startups looking for funding is that a new source of direct investment is coming to the rescue: the family offices of wealthy individuals and families. Single-family offices (SFOs) were first pioneered by the Rockefellers in the late 1800s as a way to centralise the management
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As an advisor to young and growing companies, there’s one major mistake I see inexperienced entrepreneurs make time and time again – moving too slowly. But the need for speed in launching a startup has little to do with being the first to market, and everything to do with having the necessary resources to actually GET your product to market. Often new entrepreneurs spend so much time trying to get everything perfect that they run out of money. To launch a startup, you need to be agile and you need to be
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The government is often talking about how it wants to help small business: the good news is there are some very real and practical ways it is offering its support to SMEs. The demands of being a small business can be enormous. You will often find yourself involved with all aspects of your venture – to the most minute detail. This can be exciting whilst at the same time very demanding. No one said it would be easy to build up a business from scratch. After all you have so
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With the Tax Year end looming now is the time for both start-ups and investors to take advantage of tax-efficient Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS). But is £150,000 per start-up really enough to succeed in today’s economy? Since its introduction in 2012, SEIS has helped some 1,250 businesses. However, with just £150,000 per start-up available to small and early-stage businesses, many of these start-ups will face fundamental problems due to the lack of follow-on capital. Whilst SEIS is helping to pave the way for business growth, more is required if
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When trying to raise money and even before pitching to investors many entrepreneurs make mistakes. Here are 7 of the most common mistakes which should be corrected before approaching an investor. 1. Pitching the wrong money Many people waste time sending business plans to any investor that they can find (Banks, Angels, VC’s, Crowdfunding etc). If you use this kind of “Shotgun” approach in your finance-raising strategy, you’ll experience rejection, frustration and waste a lot of your valuable time. Research the best source of finance for your stage of business
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is to regulate crowdfunding and peer-to-peer financing early next year. The FCA is the regulatory authority that oversees financial firms providing services to consumers and is the replacement body to the Financial Services Authority. The new regulator has published a consultation paper outlining its intended restrictions on traditional crowdfunding methods. It means products listed on crowdfunding websites may find it harder to source finance. Proposals include firms forced to disclose any potential risks and restricting sales to ‘sophisticated’ investors. It also intends on imposing restrictions
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