Fabrizio Zappaterra

Scale-up business guide to getting investor-ready: THE FINANCIALS (2/7) Before approaching investors, you need to get your management accounts and everything associated with how you make money and spend money in order. This article explains the essentials of your business’ financials. #Business #investorready #financials

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"Funding Collapse sends investment in start-ups to six year low" The Times today covering the shocking stats that VenturePath uncovered, with our partner Beauhurst. Great quotes from supporters Michael Moore CEO, BVCA and Julian David CEO, techUK. * UK VC funding at Series A is -44% from last year, and worsening * Q3 24 is down a staggering 57% from Q2, itself down from Q1 * 9 in 10 seed funded startups cannot access Series A VC funding, the next 'rung on the funding ladder' * Just 32 future scaleup companies across the whole of the UK were able to access their first VC funding round in Q3...a 6 year low * Half a billion less capital is going in to UK scaleups at Series A, than just 2 years ago! As the UK scaleup funding gap widens, we are losing ground against other countries, at both startup stage (a position the UK worked hard to achieve, since 2011), and for scaleup support. OECD data: 13th in the world for scaleup support, and that's before Series A funding access dried up. I get that its confusing. Another report (BBB, Nations & Regions) released this week spoke of positive trends in private investment, stating "The data for Q2 2024 shows that investment value has continued to grow". Great, I love to see optimistic data. But under analysis that bundles venture with private equity (later stage), where a few megadeals skew the numbers. Otherwise the exact opposite is true. Our independent research here, for the UK ScaleUp Investment Mission, is laser beam focussed on Series A. The funding round where companies move from the c.1m startups launched each year, through the 2,179 that access seed funding, into the rarefied category of being recognised as future scaleups, attracting Series A funding (£2-10m). The UK venture landscape is currently funding just 248 pa of these companies, and declining. We've been sharing this urgent call for support with the new Government since the day after the election. I've personally met with several Ministers, and spoke to all the relevant Government departments. I will shamelessly repeat loudly what is at stake. UK scaleup funding at Series A has nearly halved in a year, and continues to decline steeply, more than halving in the last quarter. VenturePath developed The UK ScaleUp Investment Mission to convene the scaleup support ecosystem and £7bn of funders to help address this problem, to improve nationwide access to VC investment, and create more venture-backed successes. We have clear support, clear recommendations to reverse this decline in UK scaleup investment, and have made a clear ask of Government for participation in this, to ensure immediate action is taken to create the conditions for success for UK scaleups, ensuring the focus on growth isn't undermined by lack of capital, or equitable access to it. Government decision makers, we'd love your interest, to progress to action. HM Treasury: Rt Hon Rachel Reeves Spencer Livermore James Murray & CC Poppy Gustafsson (welcome to the debate).

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📣 We’ve got a big ESG_VC event planned for Tuesday next week – featuring the latest updates to our measurement framework, news of our 2025 benchmarking with the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA), and an introduction to our new platform partners… 📣 On the afternoon of Tuesday 26 November, we’ll be gathering 200+ VCs for the latest update on the ESG_VC Measurement Framework – from what it covers to how it informs industry-leading research, and how you can now work with our accredited data collection partners. This will be our first event delivered in partnership with our cohort of platform partners: Apiday, Novata, and PortF. I’m excited to share with our members how these partners can support a big step up in your ESG initiatives. Join us for a jam-packed event that will feature: 🟢 An update from Suzi Gillespie of the BVCA on how you can take part in our 2025 research – we analysed ESG performance in c.600 VC-backed companies in 2024 and we’re looking to deliver an even more ambitious piece of research next year… 🟢 Insights from Emily Havers of Fidelity International Strategic Ventures on the updates that have been made to the framework and what it means for our members, their portfolio companies, and the broader ecosystem. 🟢 Perspectives from Emily Matthews of Oxford Science Enterprises and Nina Foote of Volution on how the ESG_VC Measurement Framework has supported their work on ESG. 🟢 Presentations from our platform partners: Edouard Audi of Apiday, Conor O'Laoire’Laoire of Novata, and Alex Lu of PortF. It’s going to be a good one so do register. Link to sign up in the comments! #ESG_VC #sustainability #venturecapital

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Great conversation yesterday at Preqin with Preqin's Cameron Joyce, CFA, CAIA, Blue Owl Capital's Cara Griffiths, Bain Capital's Tom Sargeant on the future of fundraising for private markets. Where will AUM come from going forward? What are the challenges that funds will face in fundraising? What strategies will be most popular going forward? It was fascinating to hear the perspectives of some of the industry's biggest platforms in Blue Owl Capital and Bain Capital from Cara and Tom, respectively, as to where fundraising is headed given their purview on the market and from Cameron on his data-driven insights from market research and plenty of numbers crunching on what it will take for private markets to grow to $30T AUM by 2030.

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I couldn’t be prouder to be a Venture Partner at Isomer Capital (aka the best European FoF - at least for me) as we just announced the launch of our pioneering £100m secondaries fund. This fund is dedicated to acquiring stakes from LPs in various VC funds, tapping into a massive and largely unexplored market. 🌟 Key Highlights: - Focused Investment: Primarily targeting stakes in VC funds, with selective investments in private companies. - Robust Funding: Already over 20% funded, thanks to strong support from Nordic family offices and a German foundation. - Market Potential: With a growing number of private tech companies and a VC liquidity crunch, Europe's VC secondaries market is poised for rapid growth. - Track Record: This isn’t Isomer’s first foray into the secondaries market. As a firm we’ve done several secondaries deals with portfolio companies and VC firms, including early-stage VC Seedcamp (in 2021) and mobility giant Bolt (in 2023). - Expert Team: Welcoming the amazing Omolade (Rachel) A., formerly of Coller Capital, as a principal to lead this initiative. 💡 Investment Strategy: - 65-75% of the fund will buy "LP interest" stakes in VC funds. - 15-25% will be directed towards stakes in companies. - Up to 15% reserved for flexible investment opportunities. 📈 Looking Ahead: We're targeting returns of 2-3x, with significant distributions expected in the next 4-7 years. As one of the few players in this space, we're not just participating in the market—we're driving it forward. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/dc7sbC3G #VentureCapital #SecondariesFund #EuropeanVC

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The British Business Bank produced a great report last week on the performance of UK VC funds (link in comments) over the last 20+ years. As with all reports like this, it's really important to dig into the detail and not just rely on the headlines. In particular, I was keen to compare the performance of the best UK funds to those in the US. While accepting the limitations of the data (all performance data on VC is based on a very low sample size), it's still interesting to see how the UK funds in the BBB report compare to the Cambridge Associates US VC benchmarks. As you can see from the chart below, the top quartile benchmark for UK funds exceeded the US funds for the period 2002-2007. But the sample size for UK funds in this period is particularly low (eg just five funds for the 2004/05 period). Since 2008, the top quartile UK funds have underperformed the US benchmark, and since 2010 are much closer to the US median return than the upper quartile. There are some outstanding founders and companies in the UK and some strong-performing VC funds. But the reality of VC is that performance is driven by a small number of outlier investments. Without these, it's almost impossible to deliver 3x net returns to LPs. For the UK to really become competitive with the US, we need to see more UK-based companies able to scale and exit at valuations in excess of $5bn. Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions to achieving this. We consistently hear from our VC managers that there is no shortage of capital for the best UK companies. Where there is a shortage is in the number of world-class founders looking to build in the UK. Get this right and the capital (and returns) will follow.

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What’s the future of private equity? And how might this impact you? The FT / Brooke Masters mention employee share schemes, and points to changing business models and deal structures. Frankly, stunning PE firms have been able to get away with taking the upside and sharing very little (read: nothing) with employees and stakeholders. With the industry forced to evolve, we’ll realise just how bad legacy PE firms were at long-term value creation. (Already research on this, Bain & Co’s latest global PE report estimated zero value add when you remove leverage.) It’s a good thing - for sustainable business building and society - when more have ownership and share in the upside. #privateequity #openequity

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Very proud to see the WVC:E dream team - Anisah Osman Britton MBE & Rachel Drapper - alongside long time friend and rockstar Ekaterina Gianelli on stage at TechBBQ discussing "Fixing the Talent Exodus in VC". Key Takeaways: 💰Impact of Consolidation on Culture and Talent: The ongoing consolidation in the VC industry is reshaping company culture, affecting morale, and influencing talent. 🚀Emerging Managers Aren’t Diversifying VC: Despite the rise of emerging managers, the industry remains largely homogenous, with many new managers still coming from the same traditional, non-diverse backgrounds. ⚠️Perceptions of Diversity as High Risk: Many in the VC industry continue to view diverse hires, investments, and business models as "high risk," "too time-consuming," or "too costly," perpetuating a cycle of exclusion. 🚼 Parental Leave Inequality: Inequities in parental leave policies are disproportionately affecting women in venture, creating additional barriers to progression. But there are funds, investors, LPs and organisations (like us!) that are trying to change this!

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Fashion giants stay ahead by not only owning brands but also by investing in Private Equity and Venture Capital. That’s why: 🔸10 fashion companies generate 81% of the entire industry's profit 🤯.  🔸And in luxury, just 4 companies capture 98% of the total economic profit. Even when you feel overwhelmed by choices while shopping for fashion, you’ll likely end up buying from these companies. Understanding these broader industry opportunities is crucial for entrepreneurs and investors as it provides a competitive edge in decision-making, helps identify potential bottlenecks, guides capital allocation strategies, and pinpoints potential acquirers. Let’s explore how LVMH maintains its lead with a diversified investment strategy that includes investments in complementary brands, startups, tech, and much more. 🐼To read the full article, click the link in the comments below. ✴️ Share this with other founders and investors. #FashionIndustry #LuxuryBrands #LVMH #PrivateEquity #VentureCapital #FashionInvesting #FashionBusiness #IndustryLeaders #InnovationInFashion

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The secondhand and alternative goods market is growing at a clip. Think Facebook Marketplace and Depop. Shopfront one of Antler's recent investments, is capitalising on this growing market, with a new platform that enables users to do everything from creating listings and selling products across multiple marketplaces in one place. Launching within the APAC region where competition is still limited and green, Shopfront is striking at the right time to succeed. With already 50 users using its MVP and plans to secure 500 sign-ups for its waitlist and roll out its beta platform next month, this business is certainly one to keep an eye on. Read more via Startup Daily👇 https://lnkd.in/gyD5St6e

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As a Partner at Antler, one of the most active early-stage investors in the world, I’m thrilled to announce our latest round of investments—£840k across seven exciting new British startups! The eleventh UK residency brought together over 2,400 applicants from across the globe, with 78 founders making the cut. This group reflects incredible diversity, representing 24 nationalities and 18% female founders. After a rigorous selection process that included over 200 hours of due diligence per company, we’re backing just under 1% of applicants, confident in the impact they’ll have. Here are the seven ventures joining the Antler family: 🔎 Vente AI: Changing the recruitment game by automating how agencies discover roles and optimize their candidate pipelines. 💡Distillery: Unlocking rapid insights for businesses, providing crucial product and marketing data 25x faster than traditional methods. (Vasil Yakov, Edward Louth) 🏦 Banqora: Uses AI to automate document processing and streamline post-trade operations, saving financial institutions significant time and money. 🏠 AskVinny: Simplifying property management with AI, making tenant-landlord interactions effortless and improving service delivery. 🪲 Omma: Supporting sustainable farming with AI-driven insect incubation, reducing the need for pesticides in large-scale horticulture. 🧑‍🏭️ Tradestack: Helping trades businesses quote quicker and win more jobs with an AI-backed productivity tool. 🏨 Inntelo AI: Transforming hotel operations with AI that automates guest services, making every stay smoother and more personalized. With some of them already speaking to follow-on investors and closing investment rounds, I’m personally excited about what lies ahead for them all. If you’d like to connect with any of the founders or learn more, drop me a message! 🚀 🦄 #VentureCapital #Investments #Founders #TechStartups

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The UK investment market allocates less than 1% to impact ventures. ...Let that figure sink in. So many of the brands we read about on LinkedIn are purpose-driven, and while they are rightly celebrated on the platform, the investment market is yet to catch up. Wondering why? Many institutions still believe that purpose and profit can't coexist. ❌ But the data shows that this is a myth. Our goal is to close this perception gap and fast-track impact founders towards investment. At Unrest, we've connected with 700+ purpose-led businesses, and supported 60 companies through four cohort programmes, we know what impact founders are capable of. That's why I'm so excited that we've launched the first round of Impact <> Investor Office Hours, an opportunity for 60 impact founders to pitch their businesses to an investor from Speedinvest, Seedcamp, Octopus Ventures Molten Ventures and many more in a 30-minute virtual session. Applications close this Friday 18th October – and it takes less than 10 minutes to apply. Get your application in now! (link in comments)

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Corporate Venture Capital is becoming a vital tool for large company innovation - but it needs encouragement from the C Suite. Investors interested in seeing their large company investees innovate more effectively should make this a key topic for senior management discussions. Global Corporate Venturing's June 2024 Symposium in London included many important, encouraging insights: “Corporate venturing units are increasingly focused on helping their portfolio companies work with business units at the parent company …” “But you do need a push from the C-suite to make this happen, investors told us in more informal talks over drinks. Without business units being given specific performance targets by the leadership to work with startups, it is hard to get the startups any meetings in the first place.” James Mawson, Maija Palmer and the team at Global Corporate Venturing’s summary of their symposium and the posted videos are a fantastic resource for anyone wanting to understand CVC's fundamental transformation of innovation investment and venture capital.

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𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐈𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐋𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐝 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭 💸 In 2023, Croissant launched with a bold vision armed with 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 $24𝐌 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: give shoppers a guaranteed resale value at the point of purchase. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚? Imagine turning your everyday shopping into liquid assets ready to resell with just a tap. No hassle, no guesswork, just pure transparency. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬? 🔥Retailers gain resale benefits without lifting a finger on second-hand inventory management. 🔥Shoppers feel incentivized to buy more if they know exactly when and how much they can resell their purchases. 🔥𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠: 50% increase in average order value for partnered retailers like Nieman Marcus and Shopbop, to name a few. 🔥𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: +26k customers on-boarded. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜? Croissant isn’t competing with The RealReal. Instead, it’s “resale-adjacent”—bridging retail and the $2.1 trillion resale market by offloading inventory onto other second-hand platforms. It’s a fresh approach that reframes shopping from debt-driven splurging to asset-based investing. Shifting consumers' mindsets from debt-fueled spending to asset-based purchasing. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬? Changing consumer perception is key, and they accomplish this by positioning each shopping experience as an “investment.” Croissant Address Key Pain Points in Resale: 🌀Ensures 100% transparency for both buyers and sellers. 🌀Reduces authenticity issues (a significant concern in the counterfeit market - $1.7 trillion) 🌀Offers users frictionless "liquidity" to consumer 🌀Eliminates supply chain logistics and inventory management for its retail partners 𝐁𝐮𝐭, 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭? 🤔 Calling every purchase an “investment” is a stretch; only a few items appreciate over time – like a Birkin bag. Croissant’s Instagram shows that full returns on purchases are very rare. But the concept reshapes consumer mindsets—and that’s powerful. 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝: Blockchain & DPP Compliance The EU’s Digital Product Passport is to be implemented by 2026. This regulation will require full traceability and transparency throughout a product’s lifecycle. Unlike competitors like Aura Blockchain Consortium, backed by LVMH and Richemont, Croissant’s lack of blockchain technology might make it hard to meet these stringent standards. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞? Are guaranteed resale values a game-changer we need? ___ 🐼 Follow Suad Fakih for more insights! 👻 Repost for others interested in the space!

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When the first alphabet in these conversations changes from 'M" to 'B', you know the funding winter is transforming into spring 🌱 #VC #VentureCapital #Earlystagefunding Read more about the latest monthly funding report for VC funding in July 2024 here: ttps://https://lnkd.in/dhdWF8fP

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Recent M&A market performance is showing significant signs of recovery from the lows of H2 2023, with the growth in PE and PE-backed deals leading the charge.

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The #BVCASummit2024 held in London last week was a huge success. I was delighted to have been given the opportunity to speak about the need to unlock more transition financing in the UK, to target our most promising high-growth businesses. The state of UK financing for growth and innovation was the headline, around which the mood feels optimistic – as James Wise of Balderton Capital pointed out, fundraising is up significantly compared to a decade ago. But barriers to domestic investment for private investors still exist – as an example, just 40% of Balderton’s funds are invested domestically. The same is also true for British pension funds, from which we need to channel much more capital into innovation. We know there needs to be a focus on closing the scaleup gap between the UK and abroad, which is currently pushing some of our best innovators and ideas to look beyond our shores. The BVCA’s interim report into suggested solutions to increase investment in fast growing businesses, also published last week, echoed this. The report’s findings are welcome, and I’m encouraged by the continued acknowledgement of the need to support the UK’s high-growth companies – but the next step is action. It was great to discuss with other attendees Future Planet Capital’s plans to launch a new British Co-Investment Fund (BCF), which will allow us to support just that. Elsewhere, a personal highlight was Former Darktrace CEO, Poppy Gustafsson receiving the BVCA’s Inspirational Women Award – a pioneer in technology and innovation and exemplary leader of one of Britain’s most successful unicorns, amassing £4bn in value within a decade. Unsurprisingly, AI was discussed at length. It was interesting to hear such consensus from investors on the potential impact of this technology, both as a source of returns, as well as a means for boosting productivity. And the takeaway was clear – we must act now to nurture and retain other high-potential companies similar to Darktrace, which is not only a global leader in AI, but a stalwart of British science and technology. Thanks to my fellow panellists Harriet Assem, Maria Carradice 👀, Henry Jones and Henry Philipson for a great discussion, and to the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) for organising.

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Did you know that a number of private equity firms request their incoming non-executive or chair to commit some capital as a show of commitment, often referred to as having "skin in the game"? At Virtualnonexecs.com, we make sure to understand the appetite and ability of our chairs and non-executives to co-invest, should the need arise. 📈 To date, over 4,700 of our members have indicated they can and will invest, with the aggregate total reaching an astonishing £400,000,000! In June alone, this figure increased by £12,000,000. 💼 This collective firepower and the vast sums of indicated funds highlight the strength and commitment of our network. 👼 💸 Are we the largest Angel Network in the UK by accident? #Virtualnonexecs #AngelInvestors #PrivateEquity #Investment #NonExecutiveDirectors #Leadership #SkinInTheGame #BusinessGrowth

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Interesting thoughts from Houlihan on Direct PE (and the maturation of the market around independent sponsors) - "global volume (will) rise from $6 billion in 2019 to an estimated $50 billion this year, with annual deal numbers tripling over that period. We’ll see over 780 transactions this year... Directs have the promise to account for half of all annual capital raised for private equity in 10–15 years." #privateequity #independentsponsors

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