This is the time you can enter the pitching competition by submitting your pitch. Our investment panel are providing advice & then 5 successful businesses can pitch to the panel. We will need a 1 min video by 20th January & the pitch on the day. 5 will be selected.

Please join us for tean and coffee and meet fellow founders

Securing Fund Investment: How do you get in & succeed?

The Investment Panel will highlight what they look for specifically; the aspects that will attract their attention & that will put them off; what you need to be able to demonstrate and how the process works for each type of investor. Present will be an Angel Platform; Broker to a Fund; Family Office; VC; syndicate and EIS funder.

The Angel Investment Network; Sam Louis from AIV Capital; Lisa Fox Head of Private Growth Capital WH Ireland; Stephen Stanton-Downes deal advisory KPMG but also leads Bridging X; David Horne Funding Focus; Francesca Dickinson Foresight Group; Martin Taylor ARIE Capital Group (full profiles below)

Securing Fund investment is hard and time-consuming, be it 500K or 6 million. Understand how a fund and their investors operates ; what they are looking for and how do you get their attention. What should you do to win them over / what puts them off. When do you apply, how much money do you need to be seeking, what will the process & timescales be – ask how you can get your foot in the door

Read more about the funders below

Are you ready for investment ?

A look in the mirror from a legal and commercial perspective : Karen Holden Founder of A City Law Firm

Being prepared so you succeed means concise documents and understanding the legal requirements ; what an investor will request & want to see; protecting your IP and yourself as a founder during the process & negotiating the right deal.Having worked with thousands of businesses and having successfully navigated a scale-up over 14 years Karen running a female led firm will share her experience ; practical know-how and stories of success and let downs.

Maybe Equity Investment is not the only way? Is debt finance something you should be considering ?

Michael Cass Seller Funding discusses : What options are available to new businesses ; how can you avoid personal guarantees ; how can you protect and secure the businesses cashflow and how does this work alongside investment

Read more about our speakers below

1. IP Protection / Branding / PR / Marketing

Director and IP lawyer Jackie Watts: How do you protect your IP and Patents; what if someone is infringing your IP or you have made a mistake and attracted another company objecting to yours. Do you register in the UK or Global, what does it cost and how long does it take. What can you do to be sure the investor is secure that you are in control of your IP?

Emma Heley Founder – Thinking Hat PR who manages Amazon’s account, Sam White and many others small and large : How to attract investment or customers, by understanding how you look or should look in the market – how to sell and use your story. The team and its journey is essential to an investor.

Francois Reynior Founder of Acacia – Branding for Purpose and for Growth is his speciality. How to create a successful brand ; the 3 secrets of winning pitch decks and making sure you articulate and get investors to buy into your vision, mission and purpose. 

Read more about these amazing entrepreneurs and leaders below

The Effective Business Plan & Pitch deck

Kevin R Smith Author Start up to Scale up  and CEO of Boom and Partners – information that must be included & how it should be presented ; how best to sell yourself & the business ; content v format. How do you evidence your forecasted figures and success? He takes you through all the tough questions an investor will ask so you can be prepared and ready to present.

Elizabeth Parker Natwest Enterprise advisor : We know pitching isnt easy , sometimes you only get 60 seconds to make an impact, how do you do this? What can you do in a short time ; what is the key selling feature of your business and this pitch ?

Read more about our speakers below

Free Money for your business how can you say no? Grants; R&D and so much more….

Carly Northwood from RIFT : R & D tax credits – how do you qualify and apply ; when can you apply and how and when could this give you free money back for your business growth?

Matilida an expereinced Innovate UK advisor will discuss grants ,awards and the support open to many more businesses than you think in the UK even non-tech companies – without strings. This is about Innovate UK and Innovate Edge and all the resources and free money and support that is available for businesses.

Mel Alfieri MPA: Patent Box saves you tax/earnings on your IP do you know if qualify , are you claiming back all you can ?

Explore what may e available for you; how you apply, timescales and processes. How do you prepare & make sure you are eligible & attractive for these benefits

Read more about our speakers below

Infrastructure how you build and scale your business effectively

VOR Founder John Dickinson has 20years in this sector so he can guide you though recruitment v outsourcing, developing your technology ; how to govern and structure your business so that its stable and scalable . How do you allocate the investment ; budget and secure your place in the market and beyond. Prove to your investor you are ready to scale once they invest ; have the money now what ? These are the things this workshop will work through with you so you are prepared and have support as you grow

Read more about our speakers below

Hear from our amzing inspirational panel of female founders as show – Hosted by David Horne a true allie 

Jill Pay Chair of The Gender Index broke through a glass ceiling when she became Britain’s first female Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons in the position’s 607-year-history…

Elaine Gold GEN UK hosts a platform for entrepreneurs across the globe & helps many launch or secure an eco-system across multiple jurisdictions

Karen Holden foundered A City Law Firm law 15 years ago , an award winning practice and in one of the more male-dominated / regulated sectors

Our allie and support the Business Funding Club and Business Funding Show will moderate our chosen founders.

3 Minutes will be afford before our investment panel who will give constructive feedback and then be available after for private consultation on the night. 

You are welcome to bring samples and send us a powerpoint in advance – good luck , be brave and go for it!

Closing Talk about the program and SBREC Host who will highlight the amazing the free benefits afforded to founders 

Drinks wine and nibbles with partners and investors

The firm was established 15 years ago by Karen Holden a Female Founder and is an award winning practice which offers specialist areas of law, an exciting an array of clients and expereinced innovative lawyers. We specialise in getting companies ready for investment, scaling up, negoitating commercial arrangements, exit plans and everything in between.

Our clients are a mix of fintech and regulated companies undergoing merges and sales ; disruptive technology businesses undergoing investments ;  franchises and high networth entreprenurs running a number of start-ups and scale-ups . The firm’s culture and ethos is to support client’s throughout their entire journey . This is very important to us and we work hard to nurture and develop our relationships. We offer transparency regarding costs throughout and, where possible, offering services at a fixed fee, detailed at the onset and payment plans over 12months.

We are continually looking for alternative and innovative ways of helping clients, especially since many are disruptive technology businesses. This maybe monthly retainer plans ; training masterclasses ; sitting on their board ; programs . In taking steps to advise and protect clients, we take a progressive approach, using commercial and lateral thinking to present them with all the options: the pros, the cons and the risks associated with each. Our creative approach to problem solving has won us awards in the industry and our founder was given freedom of the city for our innovative and equality work.

David B Horne is Founder of Funding Focus, a social enterprise whose mission is to level the uneven playing field that female and underrepresented entrepreneurs of all genders face when raising capital. We do this by raising awareness and providing education to founders, investors, NGOs and governments worldwide. We are committed to supporting UNSDG 4 – Quality Education and UNSDG 5 – Gender Equality. https://www.funding-focus.com

Funding Focus is currently seeking a London Stock Exchange listing for a new investment fund that will support female and underrepresented entrepreneurs.

David is also Founder of Add Then Multiply, a consultancy working exclusively with business founders who want to grow fast. David trained as a Chartered Accountant with PWC and his career includes being CFO of two companies listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market. During his career he has raised more than £100 million in funding and bought or sold more than 25 companies. https://addthenmultiply.com

He is author of Amazon #1 bestselling Add Then Multiply – How small businesses can think like big businesses and achieve exponential growth. It sets out David’s proven FACE methodology – Fund, Acquire, Consolidate, Exit – which supports rapid growth. His book won the Business Self Development category at the Business Book Awards 2020 https://www.businessbookawards.co.uk

David’s second book, Funded Female Founders was published in June 2022 and is also an Amazon #1 bestseller. The book is written in three parts:

1. “Addressing the Uneven Playing Field” looks at the reality of the challenging situation for female founders, shares the stories of seven female founders in seven industries from four countries who have successfully raised funding, and delves into cognitive bias.

2. “Raising Funding for Your Business” takes entrepreneurs step by step through the different types of funding available and gives a clear guide on how to ensure they raise funding successfully.

3. “Making Fundraising Fair” looks at the economic, social and political changes that are needed to ensure everyone has fair access to funding to grow their businesses.

His TEDx talk “The Fight for Fairer Funding” has over 2.5 million views.

Head of Private Growth Capital

Lisa has an extensive background in this field. Previously she worked at Dabbl Global, the fintech app for retail investors, where she was Global Head of Sales; this followed over 25 years of investment banking and securities experience in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo, building client franchises and developing network and brand partnerships.

Between 2015-21 she worked for Haitong International, the investment bank and one of China’s largest brokers, in both Hong Kong and London, latterly as the London office Chief Executive Officer.  Lisa started her career at JP Morgan Securities in 1996, joining Japaninvest (Ji) in 2004; having IPOed in 2006, Ji was acquired in 2015 by Haitong. During this time she held senior sales and managerial roles in both London and Hong Kong, significantly building the client bases and franchises of the respective firms.

Lisa is also the co-founder of Hakuba Advisory, an accelerator in build/exit strategies for female founders.

Lisa leads WH Ireland’s existing private growth capital team, which has recently completed a number of transactions, and operates in a wide variety of sectors. The team’s distribution has been reinforced by the relaunch of the WH Ireland Investor Forum in September 2021, a platform which enables our high net worth clients to participate in both our private (and public) offerings.

Elaine has been involved in the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) for over 11 years, and is an Adviser to the Global Board of GEN.

In returning to the UK 4 years ago, after living in the Middle East for 8 years, Elaine became a Co-Founder and Executive Director of GEN UK and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences on entrepreneurship, diversity, innovation and creativity. Whilst in the Middle East Elaine held the post of Director of Organisation and Strategy for Silatech, a Qatari social enterprise supporting youth entrepreneurship and the development of employability skills across the MENA Region.

This role involved many joint partnerships and programmes delivered in collaboration with a variety of internal NGO’s, Government funded programmes and partnerships with international organisations.  Elaine has travelled to over 40 countries and delivered workshops and speaking engagements in over 20 countries.

Elaine understands the complexities and demands of working cross-culturally and in diverse organisations.

Stephen is Deal Advisory to KPMG UK , Partner in Finding X and founder of Bridging X. He has vast expereince preparing companies to scale – take in investment and transform. He works with you on strategy , the transormation , technology development and investment coordination. As a founder, investor and advisor he offers practical and commercial solutions

He specialises in tax reclaims for SMEs under the Research & Development (R&D) rules and advises on Innovate UK and European grants, as well as the Patent Box corporation tax concession. He also recognises that the tech SME and start-up community requires much more information regarding EIS branding, pitching, IP and general access to the debt/equity money world.

Having previously worked in personal and corporate finance for more than 35 years, John has spent the last 10 years building an impressive network of contacts in this area. He presents widely on the subject to non-exec organisations, professional intermediaries, accelerators, start-up groups and the mentor community.

You need advice that you can trust, but not the sell. You want a place where you can get a steer on what’s out there to take your business to the next level. And now it’s time for all your bright ideas to pay – but where do you start?

At Accelerate Funding, we’ve got the answers you’re looking for. From finding the right funding expertise and connecting you with professional grant writers, to submitting complicated R&D tax credit claims, accessing the commercial and asset finance market, and putting you in touch with the right legal, tax or bridging support, no other company brings everything together in one place.

So, you don’t have to spend hours searching for the right experts – we’ve done it all for you.

Arina founded and built the largest business funding show in Europe (BFS). It was the first time VCs, angels, and grant bodies came together with the debt industry in all its guises. Brokers and niche lenders, along with mainstream and secondary banks, joined forces with the start-up and scale-up community of SMEs to explore the many faces of funding. She now runs the Business Funding Club which has many investors and funders as members.

Arina added a group of grant writers, S/EIS experts, lawyers and non-execs to provide the full 360° range of support that any SME might need on its journey. She has since brought in property finance development providers, trade finance and asset finance specialists to the BFS cohort, which managed to unite a network of more than a hundred thousand SMEs and several thousand finance and support organisations.

Supremely well networked and highly experienced, Arina knows her way around the world of debt, equity and property funding.

Sam has worked with the funding and investment world for over 20 years . He is part of the Angel Investment Network, Angel Investment Ventures and AIV Capital. He specialises in private equity and venture capital into businesses. He focuses presently on growth into later stage opportunities with AIV whereas the Angel Network looks at those starting out and scaling.

He works across various sectors and helped thousands of companies secure investors and is passionate to help SME’s and female founders grow

My name is François Reynier, I am the founder of Acacia.

Acacia is a specialist branding and marketing agency working with founder-led businesses.

 

ABOUT YOU

Are you an ambitious founder seeking to boost growth in the next 18 months?

Do you feel overwhelmed by all the conflicting advice you see online on how to build your brand?

Do you need more sales from digital marketing and social media?

Do you want to spend less time on marketing and have more time to run your business whilst attracting high-value clients?

If so, I can help…

ABOUT ACACIA

 

Over the 20 years, I have helped my clients generate millions in revenue by enabling them to become a leading brand in their field.

Here is what Acacia’s clients say:

” I would recommend Acacia to any organisation looking to rebrand because they took us to a perfect end result.”

 

Kelly Orford, IAB

See Kelly’s video testimonial at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF–BJTQF6g&t=1s&ab_channel=AcaciaBranding

I only work with ambitious founder-led businesses committed to boosting growth in the next 18 months.

WHY ACACIA?

 

At Acacia, we do things differently.

Many founders find branding confusing, so we have created a simple brand-building framework for busy founders like you.

We’ve refined brand-building to what works best so you can forget the rest. It’s just noise.

Acacia’s proprietary brand-building framework is informed by decades of international branding expertise.

For over 20 years, I’ve worked with leading brands such as Barclays, Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce and Smart Cars in five countries.

How about giving your business a lasting competitive edge using the same brand-building strategies I’ve used for these well-known brands?

GET STARTED WITH BRANDING IN 5 MINUTES

To get started with branding, take Acacia’s Brand Performance Scorecard.

The Scorecard is free and only takes 5 minutes to complete

You will get a brand performance score, instantly clarifying how well your brand supports your goals and vision.

I will personally review your results and email you a brand performance report within 48h.

Start building your brand today by taking this free brand audit at: 

https://form.jotform.com/221523471342346

Kevin R Smith is the founder of an award-winning boutique business consultancy firm that helps start-ups and SMEs grow and scale. With more than 37 years experience he has considerable knowledge of all aspects of business and is now a very active mentor for the UK’s largest Entrepreneur Accelerator, Virgin start-ups and Prince’s trust. He is able to apply that experience and knowledge to most circumstances granting founders the ability and confidence to progress their dreams and reach their milestones. 

He has also written many published articles for numerous publications, including a regular column for Startups Magazine, and has also written books specifically addressing key areas that start-ups face when trying to scale. 

About Us – BOOM & Partners – Founder/CEO Kevin R Smith

Senior Investment Manager

Small Business Research and Enterprise Centre (formerly City Business Library) a specialist SME support service based in the City of London. Our dedicated space for small businesses in the Square Mile is where you will find business information, events, and expert assistance to help you grow your business.

Business information

We are the only dedicated space for business information offering free access to the UK’s most comprehensive collection of business databases and publications, including general start up advice, information on market research, plus national and international coverage for statistics, company data and business news.

Membership
Access some of our most sought after business information remotely with a SBREC membership.

Seminars, Workshops and Events

SBREC run business support events almost everyday with the aim to help new/existing businesses with online marketing, networking, social media, presentations and more. View upcoming events on our website or apply to become a speaker.

Expert assistance

Our expert staff are here to help – so if you are sole trader; start-up; micro-enterprise; entrepreneur; SME; charity; social enterprise or anyone who needs business information

Help SMEs to build increased business resilience and position the business to grow as conditions and markets recover.

Make a significant contribution to the competitiveness of ambitious, high-growth businesses in London by providing tailored support across our Innovation and Growth services, to enhance their innovation management capacity.

Newable and Innovate and Innovate Edge are all in place to help businesses with Grants; Awards ; Support and Growth

Newable has over 40 years’ experience of making sustainable profits by helping other businesses to thrive. Each year, we support over 43,000 UK businesses take the next steps with their business. We provide an unrivalled platform of products and services in three key areas: Money, Advice and Workspace.

Innovate Edge

We will help you to identify the most effective strategy to accelerate your business’ growth and maximise its potential. And we aim to give you access to the resources to deliver, from investor networks to IP expertise and international partnerships.

So, if you are an established innovative small to medium sized business with great potential, take the next step on your growth journey with us by identifying your growth stage and how we can help.

Experience matters

The VÖR concept has been percolating in my mind over several years; borne of the knowledge that experience in founding and building businesses is key to success. Research shows that a 60-year-old founder is 3 times more likely to build a successful start-up than a founder in their 30’s (Kellogg Insight, 2018).

Which means that the most successful founders either have significant experience or cleverly surround themselves with people who do – OR BOTH!

I have spent 20 years working within senior level recruitment and talent management in the worlds of corporate finance, venture capital and private equity. Working with that most valuable element of a business – people.

Right person, right fit, right place, right time

In the early days of my career I realised that recruitment is not really about matching skills to roles, it is about the fact that people are the most valuable ‘asset’ a business could have. And that the real magic of recruitment is in ensuring a business finds the right person, who is the right fit and can put them in the right place, at the right time.

Through VÖR I have brought together a high value team of professionals – from investment round strategists to governance specialists to marketing and digital experts – with vast experience of driving business success and a unique alchemy. The VÖR Growth Team is dedicated to helping ambitious founders and their businesses to thrive through the key stages of growth – seed to series B and beyond.

Together we work with founders to power businesses to deliver high-growth; faster, more easily with less risk.

ite” where she candidly discusses successes and failures with fellow business owners.

Michael J. Cass is a sales leader with a track record of growing FinTech businesses in the UK; with a particular specialism on debt financing. He is currently Director of Sales at SellersFunding – a U.S. Headquartered, international financial services business and direct lender into the e-commerce and consumer sector verticals. Mike heads up UK and European sales. Previous to this, he was employee #3 at successful UK Fintech Capitalise.com, where he grew various sales functions & desks within the business, having most recently focused on venture debt, property financing and event-driven transactions. He also has extensive debt financing experience across the SME lending landscape, through to UK mid-market.

“Martin serves as the Head of Business Development for Taurus Asset Finance and Sales Director for the ARIE Capital Group and Aquarius Tech Ventures. Martin can leverage his strong relationships with accountants, IFA’s, Wealth Managers and Family Offices as well as high-level contacts within the banking sector and has raised more than £1bn of equity for various assets including media, property & technology during his career.

​Martin previously held senior roles with Lloyds Private Banking, PwC and the Scion Investment Group, among others.”

“Martin serves as the Head of Business Development for Taurus Asset Finance and Sales Director for the ARIE Capital Group and Aquarius Tech Ventures.

Martin can leverage his strong relationships with accountants, IFA’s, Wealth Managers and Family Offices as well as high-level contacts within the banking sector and has raised more than £1bn of equity for various assets including media, property & technology during his career.

​

Martin previously held senior roles with Lloyds Private Banking, PwC and the Scion Investment Group, among others.”

LinkedIn trainer to B2C and B2B companies as well as solopreneurs, Sarah offers a no-nonsense, accessible approach to her teaching whilst injecting some fun into learning. Sarah’s specialism is working with entrepreneurs and business owners to help them get more leads from LinkedIn.

An award–winning social media trainer and strategist, Sarah has over 10 years’ experience heading up marketing and PR departments. Sarah ran her own social media agency ‘Sarah Clay Social’ looking after social media for all sizes of business before focusing on training business owners how to love and leverage LinkedIn to accelerate their business growth. Sarah is a guest lecturer at Westminster University helping the students establish themselves on LinkedIn. 

Sarah publishes a regular newsletter on LinkedIn and on her website, www.sarahclaysocial.com. She has been published in AgoraPulse Social Media Pulse, Brand You Magazine and Social Media Examiner. 

Sarah has appeared on numerous LinkedIn live events and podcasts. Sarah is currently speaking in zoom rooms around the world and in offices, co-working spaces and live events including: 

To book Sarah for speaking, as a podcast guest or for LinkedIn training, please contact her via heyhey@sarahclaysocial.com