2014 - 4 Oceans Capital Ltd

5 Common Entrepreneur Mistakes

By David Yates on October 9, 2014 / Blog Post, business, Investment, PE/VC / Leave a comment

The road to starting and building your own business is a minefield with possible mistakes at every step, believe me I know. One wrong move, one wrong partner or contract, and everything could come crashing down around you. Since most entrepreneurs tend to be “all in” when it comes to starting a business, if you are considering taking the first step perhaps you should pay attention to the following list of the five most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make and how to avoid them. If you fall into any of these traps, it could

Top 5 Reasons why Venture Capital firms just don’t invest!

By David Yates on October 8, 2014 / Blog Post, business, Crowdfunding, Investment, PE/VC / Leave a comment

Venture Capital firms see a constant stream of start-ups telling them that they have developed a unique product that is going to disrupt their chosen market and deliver huge returns. To combat this, they will generally have developed a set of investment criteria that nine times out of ten will govern whether they decide to invest or not. To put it into context, a typical VC might review 2,000 or 3,000 plus ‘opportunities’ per annum and only invest in 10 or 15, while active angel investors might see 200-300 and invest in 4-5. The odds

The Hottest Startup Sectors

By David Yates on September 5, 2014 / Blog Post, business, Investment, PE/VC / Leave a comment

There’s a cyclical nature to fundraising. Certain sectors rise quickly and become competitive while others decline. So how do you know what is hot and what is not? If you work in the industry and are constantly gauging the state of the market like me you ask yourself a couple of key questions. First, which sectors are in vogue now in Seed investing and Series A investing? Second, is there a delay between the sectors attracting seed capital and Series A capital? In other words, do seed investors see

Silicon Roundabout tops UK startup chart with over 15,000 new businesses

By David Yates on August 29, 2014 / Blog Post, business / Leave a comment

For the second year in a row, Silicon Roundabout has created more new businesses than anywhere else in the UK. Research by UHY Hacker Young has revealed the area generated 15,620 new businesses in 2013/14 up to March 31st. The area, covered by the EC1V postcode, saw nearly five times as many businesses launched as the Canary Wharf area – though the tech cluster’s total is down slightly from last year’s 15,720 new businesses. Whilst the Silicon Roundabout saw the largest number of new companies, other London postcodes are growing fast too.

Crowdcube fuses venture capital and crowdfunding for latest investment round

By David Yates on July 17, 2014 / Blog Post, Crowdfunding, Investment, PE/VC / Leave a comment

Crowdcube recently closed a £3.8 million Series B round and topped it up to £5M by raising £1.2M in just 16 minutes using its own crowdfunding platform, a new world record! Balderton Capital, which has previously backed fellow alternative finance platforms Zopa and Wonga, is leading the transaction and has installed one of their partners as a member of the Crowdcube board. The £5 million that raised has been earmarked for investment in UK and overseas expansion. Crowdcube has doubled its team to 50 and opened new satellite offices in London and Scotland alongside its headquarters

500 Startups looks to crowdfunding for new seed fund

By David Yates on July 16, 2014 / Blog Post / Leave a comment

500 Startups will openly market its next seed fund, taking advantage of newly approved crowdfunding rules from the SEC allowing the broad public solicitation of investors. The pioneering move will make 500 Startups III one of the first major funds to sell itself in such as manner. Last year in the wake of the SEC’s September decision to lift the ban on general solicitation, ff Venture Capital announced it would follow a similar path. Beyond that, only a handful of small funds have experimented with the concept, said industry experts and lawyers involved in venture

Business finance: Where to find Enterprise Capital Funds – Government funding schemes

By David Yates on July 11, 2014 / Blog Post, Investment / Leave a comment

Bringing together private and public sector capital, Enterprise Capital Funds (ECFs) provide equity investments for businesses in the UK. Set up in 2006, there are now 16 ECFs in Britain worth £543.5 million, comprising £321.2 million of government funds and a total of £203.7 million has been invested in 169 companies to date. Managed by a number of well-known venture capital firms including MMC Ventures, Notion Capital and Passion Capital, new funds are determined by a rolling investment programme. In 2008, management of of ECFs, along with other

Are investors turned off by people jumping on the latest bandwagon?

By David Yates on July 10, 2014 / Blog Post / Leave a comment

Innovation or fad It’s undoubtedly true that outsiders must sometimes look at VCs ploughing investment after investment into certain ‘red hot’ sectors, such as the Internet of Things or messaging apps, and assume they’re simply jumping on bandwagons. Some investors might be; most are not. When VCs spot genuine innovation or disruption they know that things can move very quickly, especially when properly funded. New technology platforms enable businesses to scale much faster than ever before – just look at the rapid growth of companies like Funding Circle, Adyen and Just Eat.

VCs Don’t Think We’re In A Tech Bubble — Yet

By David Yates on June 28, 2014 / Blog Post / Leave a comment

At a conference recently, leading VC managing partner Scott Kupor argued that there doesn’t seem to be a bubble in tech. In a presentation that lasted a bit over 10 minutes, Scott Kupor of laid out a series of trends that, he argues, indicate things aren’t quite as exuberant as some fear. See the full article here it makes for some very interesting reading, if you’re into this kind of thing.

Balderton Capital puts faith in European entrepreneurs by raising new Series A fund

By David Yates on April 18, 2014 / Blog Post, business, Investment, PE/VC / Leave a comment

London-based venture capital firm Balderton Capital has raised a new $305 million fund aimed at investing in European TMT Series A deals. The backer of companies including LOVEFiLM, Wonga and MySQL has closed its fifth European fund and now has $2.2 billion of funds under management. According to the firm, the new fund is hoping to take advantage of ‘growing opportunities’ in the European technology sector and secured a contribution from the European Investment Fund. Set up in 2000 under its previous name Benchmark Capital Europe, Balderton Capital rebranded in 2007 and claims

Yearly archive for 2014