Crowd Funding – nearly legal?

Moves are afoot in the USA to legalise crowd funding. Senator Scott Brown wants to allow startups to raise up to $1m via crowd funding. Read the article here… Similar, in the UK, the government is conducting a high level review of finance for SMEs lead by ex 3i director Chris Rowlands. This review is [...]

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Business Angels Gearing up for 6th April – 78% tax breaks anyone?

Business Angels investing in startup UK companies are gearing up for tax breaks of between 50 and 78% for investments which are made after 6th April 2012.

Find out how it works and how you can benefit…

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Crowdcube raises £300k – with its own website

Crowdfunding website Crowdcube has raised £300k using its own website. No business angel networks were involved.   Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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BBAAs Winter Workshop, London, 25th Jan

British Business Angel Association’s winter workshop will be held at NESTA head quarters in London on the 25th January, 2012. More info here… Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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UK Goverment offers up to 78% tax relief on Business Angel seed investments

The UK goverment has announced that it will rebate 50% of any money invested in a startup business in the 2012/13 tax year – commencing 5th April 2012. In addition, any capital gain realised in 2012/13 will be exempt of the 28% capital gains tax if that money is invested in starups. Recommend on Facebook [...]

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Justin Bieber – youngest business angel?

Justin Bieber – the teenage popstar – is reported to be about to become a business angel investor according to the Canadian Financial Post. The story doesn’t tell us why – other what we can guess – that most wealthy people are unable to achieve any returns on their money from banks or deposits, in [...]

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London Major backs Accelerator Academy

As if business angels and entrepreneurs falling in love with business accelerators wasn’t enough, key politicians are now getting behind these method of fast incubation too.

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Entries to IBMs Smart Camp close on 14th Oct

Applications for IBM’s Smart Camp in London on the 16th and 17th Nov are open until the 14th Oct. IBM’s SmartCamp is an exclusive global event aimed at identifying early stage entrepreneurs who are developing business ventures that align with IBM’s Smarter Planet vision – that the world is becoming increasingly instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent. [...]

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Business Accelerator for NW England

Business accelerator Idea Alive is currently planning a launch in the NW of England – more news expected shortly. Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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Acceler8, West London, Business Accelerator

Acceler8 a West London business accelerator for digital businesses have announced that they will be opening soon. Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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EV Group invest £500k in anti-reflective coatings specialist

EV Group, running the NW Fund for Venture Capital have made a £0.5m investment in Cheshire based Power Vision. Power Vision has already secured a licence agreement with Vision Ease Lenses Inc. in the US to sell its equipment in North America and the company is looking to continue this growth into both UK and international markets. [...]

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Business Accelerator for Barcelona

Athena Seed is a newly launched business accelerator in Barcelona Spain. It is backed by private venture capital and not public funds. Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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Startup Workshop and equity partners call

Startup workshop announced for 15th September in Manchester, England to include a call for equity partners to launch 4 new businesses. Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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First investments by Spark Invest’s NW Biomedical Fund

TopCat Research and Aventé Medical Products were announced as the first investments by the NW Fund’s biomedical fund, run by Spark Invest. The investment is for an initial £50k to fund a proto-type, market and business proof stage, to be followed by further funding if successful. Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit [...]

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New report shows Business Angel activity shrinkage

A new business angel report was released by the UK government. Activity in the business angel sector shrank in 2009/ 10 – with a 3.7% drop in the funds raised. This was on the back of fewer business plans (8% of all received) going foward to investors vs 9.5% of plans from the previous year [...]

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Fund 4 Digital and Creative invest £285k in Autology

The NW Fund 4 Digital and Creative has made its first investment of £285k into Chester based company Autology. This was alongside a ‘substantial’ business angel investment. Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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Do startups need more talent or more money?

I’ve heard it said that startups run out of time before they run out of money.

Equally, Seth Godin says that the purpose of startups is not to raise money but to be successful – which suggests that talent is more important than money (but both are needed, of course).

What do you think?

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Startup Genome Report

Hunches are great, but the lastest report into the early stage and innovation market attempts to quantify the importance of the different aspects. You can read the Startup Genome Report here. Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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Continental Brands secures business angel investment

Continental Brands – a continental beer distribution business – has secured a ‘modest’ investment from Yorkshire Association of Business Angels Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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ResusPod secures funds from two YABA angels

ResusPod – providing emergency medical equipment to dentists – has secured funding from two business angels from the Yorkshire Association of Buisiness Angels Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Tweet about it

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