Luke Johnson, chairman of private equity firm Risk Capital Partners, which recently took a sizeable investment in leading business Angel company Beer & Partners, said that the new rate could hit angel investing at a time when it is becoming the only viable source of risk capital for start-ups.
Octopus Ventures has announced an investment of £1.3m into Gymbox, a highly distinctive London based health club business. The deal with Gymbox represents the tenth deal Octopus has completed this year, heralding a clear resurgence in venture funding.
Four London Business Angels investors actively participated in the most recent £580k round of funding for London based AudioBoo with the lead angel from the syndicate joining the Board as Chairman. Coined as the Twitter-for-audio, LBA investors now join Channel 4’s media 4iP and Imagination Technologies (supported by both Apple and Intel) in backing this early stage business.
Online customer reviews site TrustedPlaces.com has been acquired by the international directories business Yell Group Plc for an undisclosed sum just four years after it was founded.
Anyone with a good idea and adequate common sense can start a business, but establishing and growing it is another matter.
In the current climate, where money lending has all but dried up, orders are falling, and firms are trimming all the fat possible by cutting costs, the hard part is often working out how to grow your business.
Place some of the UK’s most influential businessmen and women in a room with a group ambitious and driven entrepreneurs and what do you get? Answer, the UK’s first Speedfunding event, which recently took place in London.
