We’re beginning to wind down for Christmas so we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
We’ve had a really great year and have been fortunate enough to support lots of fantastic founders in their funding journeys. We have also welcomed new angels from across the country (and the world!) to our groups and are looking forward to working closely with them and our current investors in 2022.
From everyone here at angelgroups, we wish you all a safe and Happy Christmas.
Online events… we’ve certainly ran a lot of them this year again. We have ran a total of 45 online pitch events, 2 physical pitch events and 4 SME educational events (also online!).
It doesn’t stop there either. We also hold all of our due diligence events online, which has actually turned out to be a fantastic asset for us. Our angel members are based all over the country, and abroad, so online events mean that everyone is able to take part. Even if they can’t, we then have a recording we can share amongst the interested parties so they catch up at a time and date that suits them. We’ve even had members compare these recordings to watching Netflix!
We’re hoping the figure for online vs physical will be closer together at the end of 2022, but either way we are so grateful for being able to continue to do what we enjoy doing most – bringing founders and investors together.
Yesterday we ran our Christmas Pitch Event in Leeds and what a fantastic afternoon it was. We had four businesses pitching, all at very different stages of their growth journeys but all with one commonality – great founders.
We also heard from our guest speak and prolific angel investor who discussed his portfolio strategy and shared his wealth of experience and his ‘enjoy it or don’t do it’ approach.
A big thank you to everyone who made it into Leeds and to our partners in supporting us as always. It truly was a fantastic day.
There’s less than a week to go until our Leeds Christmas Pitch Event!
It’s been 2 years since we have been able to run our end of year event, so we’re absolutely thrilled that this year will see it’s return. We have four fantastic businesses pitching with us as well as a great angel speaker to top off the event.
Roll on next week where we hope to see lots of familiar faces, new faces and the odd mince pie!
Funding COMPLETE!
We were delighted to support SMASH in their raise. In truth, it is always a pleasure to work with such a passionate team with such a clear purpose to make positive changes to the way we live our lives. We are confident that the business will be one to watch in the future.
SMASH (Save Money And Stay Healthy) is a business focused on the health and wellness of all young people.
The SMASH app connects restaurant, supermarket and D2C food brands to 13 to 24 year old’s with discounts on healthier food products, allowing young people to discover healthier food choices. Free to those under 25, SMASH also recently launched a paid subscription version for those aged 25+ as it steadily becomes the go-to destination for everyone to discover affordable, healthier food.
Chris Holmes, Founder & CEO at SMASH, commented on the investment, “Martin Avison and the angelgroups team SMASHed the corners off from our pitch document and helped us truly focus on the most important aspects of our story for investors. Routine communication and a managed process added structure to the follow-up and through Martin, we were delighted to meet a number of investors who have already added value to the business as we seek to help the nation, and young people especially, live healthier lives”.
You can download the SMASH app today by searching “SMASH” in a good app store near you, or visiting www.smash-app.co.uk
The countdown to the end of the year is well underway. We still have 6 weeks left until Christmas, at which point the mince pies go to everyone’s head and no-one knows what day it is until at least January 4th.
We’re focusing on these next 6 weeks and trying to achieve as much as possible before ringing the 2022 bells. We still have six pitch events left before the end of the year and we’re confident we can also squeeze in as many due diligence sessions as possible before people break up for the festivities.
Businesses are looking to excel their growth at the start of 2022 and we can’t wait to support them on their journey to securing funding and support.
Pitch Perfect – Getting It Right The First Time! We often say “people do not invest in slide decks, they invest in people”. So, keeping the content minimal forces your audience to listen to you, and not read busy slides.
A big thank you to Barclays Eagle Labs AgriTech for including us in their latest session on pitch preparation alongside Russell Copley from Greenborough Management Limited. We really enjoyed discussing some of the hints and tips of building the perfect pitch.
We are delighted to have secured Richard Hargreaves to deliver a talk to our angel groups at our Leeds Christmas event. Richard has a wealth of experience in investing and was previously the Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association and author of the book ‘Business Angel investing’.
Richard will be discussing his strategy for creating a portfolio of angel investments and the lessons learnt.
Our Christmas event is set to be the biggest event we have ran in 2 years and places are booking up fast!
Yesterday the British Business Bank released their report on Smaller Businesses and the Transition to Net Zero.
The report highlights ‘the crucial role smaller businesses can play in driving the changes required in the UK’s transition to a net zero economy.’
This report is a fascinating read, with access to finance being identified as part of the solution to drive more action. To read the full report, click here.
Today’s the day!
We are 30 minutes away from the start of our first physical event in over 18 months. To say we are excited is an understatement. The businesses are currently getting used to the lay of the land and we are ready to welcome the angels back around the table for what will be a great first session.
Good luck to everyone pitching!
A huge congratulations to Amy Whitell and the team at Collctiv in securing their investment. We are delighted to have been part of this funding round and introduce another board member to the team. We are confident that this team will be one to watch in the future
Collctiv makes it easy for groups of people to spend money together, by simplifying the process of collecting money from a group of people – and by making it possible for groups to split a bill at checkout.
Organisers can use their app to easily collect money from group members – who simply tap to pay without downloading an app or doing any banking – and Merchants who sell directly to groups can grow their sales by letting their customers split a group payment at checkout.
Collctiv, CEO & Co-founder, Amy Whitell commented on the investment, “It’s been a pleasure to work with the team at angelgroups and the investors that they’ve introduced us to. We are so pleased to have concluded the round and to have added to the team with non-exec experience”.
We have been out and about again this week doing some more face to face meetings and preparing for our first physical pitch event which is in 2 weeks time!
Yesterday we spent the afternoon over at Get Your Media’s offices doing some more filming. We always strive to work smarter not harder and video is one of the tools which enables us to do this. It was also great to see the team and have a bit of a catch up over some future projects we have planned.
We’re not the only ones who have been out and about this week as some of our angels made the trip down to London yesterday to meet with a business to discuss their investment opportunity. Exciting times ahead for that business – watch this space.
