Due to our Student VC network we are uniquely placed to invest into early stage, growth focused businesses across the UK that have a strong emphasis on scientific, creative digital and technology enabled innovation Although we will consider most technology business, we believe that truly scalable business models display one or more of these core traits:
Especially when you are focused on using this to address global problems
With a focus on providing your customers with an economic benefit
With a focus on investing into product rather than sales & marketing
Although this may be many years away, we look for a teams with the focus, drive and want to reach this lofty goal
Raising investment can be frustrating and time consuming, especially if the round isn't progressing and you don’t know why We tell founders the amount of funds we have left to place, how many investments we’ve made so far this year, and how we come to our investment decisions
The worst investment decisions are made because investors see all their peers ‘going in’ on a round and suddenly have the ‘fear of missing out’ We will make all of our investment decisions based on our own thesis, research and knowledge and not whether there are other investors on board or not
Starting up is hard Scaling up is harder Our partners and board members have been through this process themselves and vicariously through the startups they have mentored We don’t pretend to know everything, but we do have knowledge and experience which will help you avoid the startup version of a 5-car pileup
A good way to stomp all over the morale of a startup’s founder is to give them a never-ending MAYBE We believe the 2nd best answer after 'Yes' is 'No, because' This not only saves time, but also provides insight to build on Our decisions are always careful and considered, but prompt and to the point
The world of Venture Capital and high growth startups is certainly in vogue right now, but is often misunderstood and distorted by Silicon Valley-tinted glasses Our aim is to show how UK venture capital really works through our crystal-clear processes and experiential learning programme
No founder should accept 'dumb money' An investment from us means we’ll do everything we can to help you to the next stage Whether that’s with our own industry experience and expertise Or through opening up our little black book and connecting you to our university knowledge networks
Hidden fees suck, especially when you only find out about them at the end of the process We will never charge companies a ‘management’ or ‘close’ fee beyond our fixed legal costs
It’s insane to raise £150k just to pay out £15k in legal fees Our standard terms and industry partnerships mean we can keep legal costs low, and get deals closed quickly This increases your runway and gets you back to focusing on building your company as soon as possible
A set of bad terms can be detrimental to a founder, investor and even the company as a whole Because of this we've had multiple lawyers collaboratively create a set of documents which are founder friendly, but provide us with the necessary protections