Equity investment - the bottom line
Doug Richard left the audience in no doubt that securing equity funding is a tough challenge - he openly admits to having knocked on 47 doors before successfully securing funding for his second venture. Sarah Montague chaired a lively Q & A session with a wide range of questions put to the panel of investors which included:
Boyd Mulvey, CREATE
Steve Mahon, Low Carbon Accelerator
Hugh Parnell, NW Brown
Mark Gracey, SEP
Questions included:
Where does angel funding stop and vc funding start?
Answer: there are no hard and fast rules but if you're looking for over £1m it would almost certainly be vc funding. Some vc's will invest smaller sums (from £50,000) but this would depend on the business/concept and is not common.
Is the sector important when you approach investors? How do you know who invests in what?
Yes it's very important. You need to target the right investors. www.bvca.co.uk is a good source of information on who does what.
