M&A fever epidemic hits UK Telecoms sector

By on May 20, 2013   /   Blog Post, business, Investment   /   Leave a comment
M&A fever epidemic hits UK Telecoms sector

There seems to be no end to the M&A fever in the Telecoms reseller marketplace in the UK and it seems to have reached epidemic proportions with new “deals” being announced almost daily. But what is driving all of this activity? The simple answer is that the major Banks have woken up to a sector which historically has generated very strong cash flows and have started to lend again. As reported in Comms Dealer recently, Chess Telecom has strengthened its role in the acquisition marketplace with a further £10 million facility

Read more →
Back to Top

Banks accused of sabotaging deals via Crowdfunding sites

By on May 20, 2013   /   Blog Post, business, Crowdfunding, Investment   /   Leave a comment
Banks accused of sabotaging deals via Crowdfunding sites

Banks have been accused of deliberately making it difficult for small businesses to borrow via crowdfunding sites by delaying paperwork and charging high fees. Crowdfunding sites like Funding Circle, which has arranged more than £100million of lending to firms, said that it is dealing with several cases of firms forced to wait months to receive funding because of hold-ups by high street banks. The problems arise because most loans arranged through crowdfunding sites require a charge over the firms assets in the event that the firm defaults on the loan.  

Read more →
Back to Top

TMT start-ups set to benefit from £440m investment boost

By on May 20, 2013   /   Blog Post, business, Investment, SEIS   /   Leave a comment
TMT start-ups set to benefit from £440m investment boost

TMT start-ups are set to benefit from a £440million investment in the Government agency for innovation and growth – the Technology Strategy Board. Every pound invested by the board returns £7 to the economy by helping TMT start-ups to develop and bring ideas to market, according to research carried out for the agency. Digital Shoreditch, which starts today in East London’s Tech City, was founded 3 years ago with the backing of the board.   The annual technology festival, the brainchild of Kam Star who also founded games firm Playgen,

Read more →
Back to Top

Crowdcube values itself at £7.1 million after ‘world record’ three-day fundraising

By on May 13, 2013   /   Blog Post, business, Crowdfunding, Investment, PE/VC   /   Leave a comment
Crowdcube values itself at £7.1 million after ‘world record’ three-day fundraising

Crowdcube has raised £1.5 million through what it describers as a new world record for funds raised via an equity crowdfunding platform.  Founded in February 2011, Crowdcube allows businesses to showcase themselves and secure growth capital from a large group of investors. Crowdcube says it first set out to raise £250,000 but, having raised that within the first five hours, made it live for a further three days to raise the rest of the amount. In total, 259 investors contributed to the round. When Crowdcube last tried to raise capital through

Read more →
Back to Top

EIS and SEIS failing on awareness and eligibility fronts

By on May 8, 2013   /   Blog Post, business, Investment   /   Leave a comment

The Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme are failing to register on the radar of UK entrepreneurs, despite having been around since 1994 and 2012 respectively. Entrepreneurs are not up to scratch with details, and also don’t know the basics. A quarter of British entrepreneurs have not heard of the Enterprise Investment Scheme EIS, new figures show.   A recent study found that 25 per cent of business builders have not heard of the funding incentive, and 35 per cent are not aware of the EIS tax relief available to

Read more →
Back to Top

Down but not out

By on April 30, 2013   /   Blog Post, business   /   Leave a comment

Most business start-ups fail. But countless failed entrepreneurs go on to establish further enterprises. Biographies of Apple co-founder and many-times-over millionaire Steve Jobs are best-sellers. The narrative of his life with its drama of highs and lows, friendships and fallings-out, makes compelling reading for anyone interested in what drives a human being to risk all in pursuing a dream. In his PhD research, my friend Dr Keith Cotterill, examined attitudes to failure in Cambridge, Munich and Silicon Valley. Read more about his findings here Down but not out | University of Cambridge,

Read more →
Back to Top

Six new deals for London Business Angels as the network uses EIS and SEIS schemes

By on April 23, 2013   /   Blog Post, business, Investment, PE/VC   /   Leave a comment

A sum of £1 million has been injected into six SMEs by the London Business Angels (LBA) alongside other co-investments of around £4.5 million. The six companies backed by the private angels network includes trunk mains monitoring company Syrinx, which is backed by LBA as part of a £2 million round, and Liverpool-based nasogastric feeding tube business Westco Medical, which has secured a £146,000 Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) commitment. LBA is part of Angel Capital Group and is also a founding member of the British Business Angels Association. A portion,

Read more →
Back to Top

More than £1m invested in start-ups through crowdfunding platform Seedrs in just 9 months

By on April 23, 2013   /   Blog Post, business, Investment   /   Leave a comment

More than £1million has been invested in start-ups through online equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs in just nine months. Seedrs was set up last year as a platform for entrepreneurs to raise funds from small investors in return for equity in their business. As bank funding to smaller firms dries up – figures show it fell £4.8billion in the first quarter of this year – demand for alternative sources of finance has soared, with £700,000 invested via Seedrs in the past three months alone. So far 21 start-ups have received up

Read more →
Back to Top

Funding Circle doubles the size of loans offered to businesses | This is Money

By on April 12, 2013   /   Blog Post, business   /   Leave a comment

Funding Circle, a lending website set up to make it easier for firms to access finance, will from tomorrow double to £1 million the size of loans that businesses can apply for. Last week it began lending £20 million allocated to it by the Government under the Business Finance Partnership. It also has plans to increase further the size of loans that firms can apply for. The site, which was set up in August 2010, connects individual investors with businesses looking to borrow. Investors, whose money is pooled across several firms to

Read more →
Back to Top

The Swedish bank that brought back the bank manager | The Times

By on April 12, 2013   /   Blog Post, business   /   Leave a comment

When a frustrated small businessman wrote to Sir Mervyn King recently to complain about the difficulty of raising a £10,000 loan to buy a van, he got a surprising reply. The Governor of the Bank of England sympathised about the “maddening” credit decisions of our big high street banks and urged the businessman to try a new lender instead, specifically suggesting Handelsbanken. Handelsbanken? It was a remarkable endorsement for the Swedish bank, which is little-known in Britain but is building a base of business customer fans disenchanted with the mainstream.

Read more →
Back to Top