Latest News Archives - Page 21 of 29

The number of women Angels is on the up, and we are thrilled to say we have welcomed several new women investors to our groups in 2020! We have also seen a rise in female entrepreneurs seeking investment.

Female entrepreneurs have made significant strides in what has been a predominantly male environment. We recently had 2 female founders come to us looking for funding, and received some of the best feedback any business has had at our sessions. We hope to finalise on their investment in the next few weeks.

We are looking forward to seeing the continued growth in both the female entrepreneur and women Angel sectors in the years to come!

Click HERE to read the latest UKBAA report on Funding statistics for UK female entrepreneurs.

EXCITING NEWS… we are opening up a new Angel Group in Newcastle!

We are thrilled to announce the opening of angelgroups-Newcastle, which will see it’s first event at the end of March. We can’t wait to get this group up and running and meet with local businesses and Angels alike.

We will keep you posted on the launch of what we hope to be a fantastic Angel group in a region that has some really exciting growth.

“Excellent idea – huge potential”. It was our Sheffield pitching session yesterday and with comments like this from the Investors, we know it was a great one!

We ask our Investors to score the businesses in various areas and provide written feedback for them. We then give this feedback to the businesses – the good, the bad and the indifferent. If it’s a no from the Investor, then it’s important to know why.

We had 4 fantastic businesses pitch yesterday. We’re excited to follow their investment journeys and help them secure the funding needed to excel their growth plans. Roll on the next events!

The sun made an appearance this week when we were over in Hull running our second pitching session of the year, and that’s not the only thing that has brightened up our week!

We are working hard completing several deals in the hospitality, construction material, interior design technology and food manufacturing sectors.

Our Angels invest in all sectors, which is what sets us apart from other funding groups, meaning our pitching events are incredibly diverse. It also means the businesses that pitch with us aren’t in direct competition with each other, because they will appeal to different Angels.

If you would like to find out more just get in touch, we love discussing all things funding related!

We’ve had a great week back to work following the festive break, and are full speed ahead with our 2020 plans.

This week has been jam packed, as we ran our first pitching session of the year over in Leeds. Our Leeds events seem to get bigger and bigger every time we run one. We even had to bring more chairs in the room, which is brilliant – the more the merrier!

We then spent 2 days over in Manchester making some fantastic connections and getting some exciting plans underway (watch this space!).

We’re looking forward to the upcoming weeks where we have more pitching sessions and an Angel Only Event. Let’s start as we mean to go on.

The wonderful world of technology has made it so much easier for us to connect with businesses who are looking for funding. We are finding more and more of our time is being spent having ‘virtual meetings’ when businesses can’t make it in to the office for one reason or another.

There’s nothing like sitting down face to face with a business, coffee in hand, to discuss all things funding. We appreciate however that occasionally this can be a challenge for businesses, especially if they have other jobs separate to their business venture. That’s why we try to be as flexible and accessible as possible, and try to ‘move with the times’ wherever we can!

The latest Angel research found that 39% of Angel Investors look for an investment opportunity where they can contribute to the success of the business.

The support an Angel can provide can add significant value to a growing SME. The support can include:

Strategic
Access to the supply chain and contacts
Operational
Further rounds of investment
Recruitment
Management
Sounding board

Having an Angel Investor involved can even increase the company’s valuation because of the skill set they are bringing to the team.

If you are interested in pitching to a room of Angel Investors just get in touch. We have pitching sessions most weeks and are always looking for businesses with high growth potential to introduce to our groups.

We hope everyone had a wonderful time over the festive period and hopefully you feel adequetly rested and ready to tackle whatever 2020 has in store.

We are starting the New Year with a nice big coffee and a meeting to refresh our 2020 plans. We’ll be firing on all cylinders in no time!

We hope your first day back is great and if you’re looking for funding this New Year, just get in touch.

As 2019 draws to a close it makes us wonder what 2020 has in store, and you’re probably thinking the same.

We often ask companies “what difference would funding make to your business?” and the answer is fairly unanimous – “it would enable us to grow”.

Profitable growth is the aim of the game, so it feels great when we are able to facilitate this by putting the right Investors with the right businesses. After all, that’s what makes Angel investment different. It’s the people behind the money and the added value they bring.

If you’re looking to scale in 2020 and seeking investment/support then let’s have a chat.

We had a great time over in Sheffield yesterday delivering a workshop on Pitching for Investment. It was great to meet and answer questions from local founders who are looking to scale their business.

There are so many fantastic businesses in Yorkshire – it really is a great place to grow your company!

“Invigorating, exciting and emotional”

Feedback is so important. We take all comments and suggestions on board, but we have to admit when we get feedback like this we want to shout it from the rooftops!

We asked the businesses who pitched with us this week how they found the event and were thrilled with their comments:

“The event was great, strong group of Angels with plenty of time to chat to them before and after”

“The day itself was very supportive, friendly, professional and full of customer service”

We are ending the week with a great big smile on our faces.

A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enought to be invited to record our next podcast on Angel Investing as part of Nick Bramley’s Impact Sessions.

If you’re a business looking at Angel Investment as a route of funding your SME, then we’re hoping you will give this podcast a listen and hopefully you find is useful.

If you have any questions following this podcast please just get in touch, we love talking all things Funding related!

Click HERE to watch the Podcast on YouTube.