Will Brooks

Counting down to launch :) Eva, Sam and I are hosting a webinar tomorrow at 1300 UK time on cold investor outreach. We'll cover best practice, along with investor + founder perspectives. Now at ~800 registrations - sign up link below. #capitalraising #startups #fundraising #founders

62

10 Comments

TLDR: EIS should be scrapped as a fund structure but retained for Angel investments by individuals. Alex Chalmers has done all the work which in 10 years I've never got around to doing: why 95% of EIS/VCT funds are bad for our tech ecosystem, rip #startups off, and why as a Founder you should push back against their stupid fees or not take their money. https://lnkd.in/dnq9ZScS

34

6 Comments

If you want to raise money, you need vesting schedules that allow investors to exit at least some liquidity during the bull run. Nobody will invest into a project with an 8 month cliff whilst expecting the bull market to end in January 2025. Not only do they miss out on huge gains by not deploying capital elsewhere, but they also start getting their tokens as the market is falling to $0. Pointless.

4

4 Comments

🚨 EGYM attracts nearly $200 million in primary funding from L Catterton and Meritech at a valuation of over $1 billion 🚨 I'm excited to announce that EGYM / EGYM | DACH / EGYM Wellpass has recently secured nearly $200 million in primary funding from L Catterton and Meritech Capital, valuing the company at over $1 billion. The fundraise last year with Affinity Partners marked a significant achievement for EGYM: we were profitable, debt-free, and maintained a big chunk of the fundraise in the bank, all while experiencing rapid growth. That meant that we no longer relied on investor funds for survival; instead, we could take the time to focus on building relationships with the best possible investors to support EGYM's mission. Phew 😅 that was quite a relief as a founder, and the next round ended up happening much faster than expected. We are a fitness technology company: In my research, I identified L Catterton as the ideal partner for EGYM on the fitness and health side, given that they are the world's largest fitness investor. For the technology piece, Meritech Capital stood out as the best fit, given its deep understanding of SaaS and its success stories with leading companies like Facebook and Salesforce. Therefore, I started reaching out to both firms with the intent of building a long-term relationship, which has turned into a round of funding. I had the pleasure of meeting Marc Magliacano, a Managing Partner in the L Catterton Flagship Fund, and was impressed by his extensive experience in fitness investing. His deep industry knowledge will be invaluable as he joins our board. On the Meritech side, I was equally impressed by Paul Madera, a co-founder of the firm. His sharp questions and focus on the important elements of our business convinced me that he is the right fit for EGYM. The EGYM team has earned the trust of what I consider to be the best possible investor partners for our mission to get to where we are today, and we are much more capitalized than we were planning. However, this trust now comes with even greater responsibility. Our mission to build the leading global platform at the intersection of fitness and health is not just a business goal but a commitment to driving sustainability into the world's largest market—healthcare. We are 120% dedicated to making it happen and are grateful to our existing investors for their continued support. 👋🏻 Welcome aboard, Marc and Paul. 🚀 Let's go, EGYM team!

1,782

427 Comments

Here is a snapshot of the top European funding rounds and exits in September 👀 347 funding rounds were completed in September €4.2bn was invested into European Startups 53 exits occurred, 49 undisclosed, 4 were valued at €3.3bn The UK raised €1.1bn across 68 deals More fundraising data on the last update from Isomer Capital on EUVC Insights! 🔽 https://lnkd.in/dTys96rP #venturecapital #startupfunding #Europe

3

1 Comment

Striking: Zenobē, a UK climate tech startup, raised £600m from KKR and £270m from Infracapital, bypassing VC entirely. Zenobe captures excess energy from wind farms to stabilize the grid and reduce gas power reliance. This means: Zenobe secured one of 2023's biggest startup fundraises — without any venture capital. #battery #fundraising #venturecapital #energystorage #infrastructure #growthinflection Sifted: https://lnkd.in/g8wF-xA5

5

Venture capitalist and podcaster, Harry Stebbings, has closed a $400 million fund for his firm, 20VC, which focuses on backing startups in Europe. Stebbings aims to use his media influence and connections to bring attention to the potential in the European tech market. Key takeaways: Despite the tough climate for founders, there is still money available for investing, with the pot growing bigger. U.S. limited partners are interested in investing in European startups, with a majority of the backers in this fund being from the U.S. 20VC has a unique selling point in bringing operational experience to its investments, as well as sub-funds run by experienced operators. Counter arguments: The uneven math of the venture capital market, where 1% of companies make 90% of the gains, may discourage risk-taking and failure in Europe. The IPO market is still relatively quiet, and some of 20VC's investments may still be pointing towards the U.S. market. #venturecapital #vc #venture #startups

4

1 Comment

Taavet Hinrikus and I made the Financial Times Due Diligence email. https://lnkd.in/ez2AuGQx One 'unintended consequence' is that if there is a 45% tax on carry and CGT (raising £40m per year, remember) it for all intents and purposes closes the door on new VCs in the UK. Especially started by teams from non-traditional backgrounds. To meet the GP commit, you need to be already part of the 'wealthy' as you cannot rely on the value you create - nearly half of it will disappear - to fund it. We have both had extremely successful startups which are few and far between. The smaller number of new VCs will therefore more likely increasingly be for people who have inherited the capital or can draw it from their already rich family. Probably not want they have in mind with this policy.

32

2 Comments

Why UK investors are going to ask you about “SEIS” and “EIS” 🚨 Confused about SEIS and EIS? 🤔 Don't worry, we've got you covered! 💡 Our latest podcast ep with Sam Simpson breaks down these UK government tax incentive schemes for investors, designed to encourage investment in early-stage startups. Think 50% tax relief, CGT exemption, and more! 🤑 But, can you invest in your own company using these schemes? 🤔 The answer might surprise you... 👀 Have you used SEIS or EIS for your startup? Share your experiences in the comments below! 💬 #SEIS #EIS #startups

9

1 Comment

🔥 UK’s Top 10 Conscious Angel Investors 🌱 It's inspiring to see angel investors backing tech for good, driving positive change and innovation. Today, I'm excited to highlight the UK's top 10 conscious angel investors making a difference. These investors are not just funding startups; they’re empowering ventures that aim to make the world a better place. Sarah Drinkwater Chris Adelsbach Nick Lyth Amina Ahmad Vera Elizabeth B. Oksana Stowe Meganne Houghton-Berry Andrea Sinclair Scott Mackin Andy Ayim MBE These visionaries are investing in tech that addresses social, environmental, and economic challenges. Their commitment to conscious investing is setting a new standard in the industry. #ConsciousInvesting #TechForGood #AngelInvestors #Sustainability

173

24 Comments

I don't go in for 'building in public' in general, but every now and then I think it's worth sharing what I'm seeing in the market. The below graph shows the average time to close a deal over time at EmergeOne and you can see that this has been creeping up since last year (adjusted for seasonality) and is currently close to 3 months to close a deal. So what's happening? Well, I was recently at an CFO event where we got a bit of a data driven view into the state of private markets. Some key points that came out: 🏷️ Median post money at Series A has dropped from 80m USD in 21/22 to 65m USD in 2024. This is still up from 40m from circa 2020. ％ Top quartile is significantly over at 107m. 📈 Series B median post money is $137m, top quartile $287m USD, but bottom quartile significantly struggling. 🚀 Deal velocity has slowed but started recovering. 💰 Lots of deals are happening but not priced - bridges abound. So how does this therefore relate to what we're seeing in terms of time to close? Firstly, we are a consultancy providing fractional CFO support to venture backed tech startups typically post Seed and pre Series A so this data reflects what we are generally seeing in the market as well. But the two main issues that are seemingly impacting our numbers are around deal velocity and bridge financing. There are simply fewer deals being done and they are taking longer to close, so the volume of potential clients we can target has dropped significantly. This does, however, mean that the quality of deals we're working on is significantly higher this year. Secondly, as companies struggle to raise priced rounds, they are raising lower amounts of capital on convertibles. This impacts us as CFOs are only truly valuable when there is a significant balance sheet to manage, less capital = less need for CFOs and hence the decision as to when to bring us in gets pushed out. But equally, that insecurity over funds means that founders are much more hesitant to make significant hiring decisions, prioritising hires that can directly influence revenue / traction in the near term. But they also know that they need the support so are often waiting for the 'magic moment' where they hit an inflection point that gives them confidence to pull the trigger. Outside of the deal data, we are also seeing venture indexing towards more R&D heavy businesses (life science, hardware etc.) and these sort of companies are often not commercialising for several years. They have security over spend and regard finance as a future problem. We are seeing a lot of companies approaching Series B without anyone in finance, deferring that decision till they close. But we are also seeing leads come through from a multitude of sources proving there is appetite for strong commercially minded CFOs to support and grow these scaling businesses. So as the market stabilises, I would expect to see these numbers come back. Business wouldn't be any fun if it was all easy, would it?!

12

7 Comments

"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).

738

195 Comments

Investors must be back from holidays…content has taken a termsheet negotiation lean. — Going to be lots of people putting their opinions out to influence deal terms. Founders need good advice from service providers to seperate BS from Inspo. Two Legals POV’s I’d recommend: Patricia Wing’s SuLe for UK. OR Kristina’s Lawlace for US. Startup specific advice, specialised by geography. Generalists can be good but specialists are best. #fundraising #season #GoGetEm #femalefounders #startuplegals

15

5 Comments

In a recent Sifted article, I share thoughts on emerging managers esp. Solo-GPs, here's what I think 👇🏽 https://lnkd.in/eYx7h5Qv I’m a solo-GP building OpenseedVC, here’s what some think this means; 🔻That there is key-person risk 🔻That there is little accountability or governance 🔻That it is a one-person show Here’s what it ACTUALLY often means; 👇🏽 ✅ We've set up governance that foster accountability, not bureaucracy ✅ As a fund, we have a dizzying depth of complementary skillsets ✅ We build conviction and move quickly; critical for early stage ✅ We are process geniuses, automations and efficiency is in our DNA ✅ We have a lean, mean team optimised for high for efficiency There is no "founder-like fund" quite like a Solo-GP emerging manager. For us at OpenseedVC, we invest up to $150k at the angel stage, and are flexible. We can lead your angel round. We can follow if the terms work for us. We don't take board seats. Whatever it is, we are first investors in ambitious and experienced operators just as they start their technology companies! We are founders ourselves, and have parallel experiences to the most ambitious and resilient founders, and this is ultimately superpower 💥 Solo-GPs are outliers, and in the business of #VC #venturecapital, outliers signal potential for outsized opportunity. #operators #openseedvc #europe #africa #soloGPs

77

3 Comments

⏰There is a Tick Tock pulse in fundraising and sales⏱️ If Tick is fundraising, Tock is sales. ❌ The problem is most founders go Tick Tick Tick > Tock Tock Tock ❗️Now the next Tick will be much harder because your valuation has now priced in all that past revenue (fair) but without a clear line of sight to future revenues that drive venture-scale growth. 🕥This can prolong the fundraising process as investors wait to see your next batch of contracts come in. 💡One solution is to fundraise after signing a contract but before servicing it. In other words, pre-A/B rounds. It’s a short window but this is the Tick Tock pulse that works incredibly well if you get it right. Here’s the narrative: 1️⃣We have $x in signed contracts and will have to service them over the next 12 months 2️⃣We’re raising now so we can focus on pleasing our customers when the time comes. 3️⃣For this peace of mind, we’re willing to take a 20% discount on our next round valuation given the contracts are already signed. 4️⃣Of course, you are welcomed to join after we’ve closed the revenues. We might be raising at 20% discount to the following round by then. 💡As an added benefit, founders get to focus on one thing at a time - fundraising > sales > fundraising > sales (Tick Tock Tick Tock!) ➡️As with most things I share, works for B2B deep tech. I think? 🧐 💸Don’t try this at home (consumer tech).

32

2 Comments

One of the best things about being +7 hours ahead of your founders is being able to plagiarise their analogies before they wake up. Good morning, Stuart Dale 🌞 We're about to bring in several top-tier fractionals to help support growth here at OrbitalX Catching up on recent interviews to give my perspective. I came across this absolutely cracker about startup life and early stage building of SaaS. (see below). 🤣 -------- BTW, if you know of a CMO or fractional leader who is world-class at storytelling and wants a unique opportunity to work across several progressive companies driving performance, a POD P&L, and an amazing culture with everyone in the team winning under your guidance, please get in touch. Founder life! early stage building SaaS. At first, You're the SAS. You're at the frontline dealing with complex problems, often on solo missions to figure stuff out, moving at pace, taking huge bets on yourself and your small team. The risk is high! The reward is high! You then evolve into an army; you know who your commands are, quite a bit more structure and formation. Teamwork and culture need to be strong, but a lot less of a focus is on quick attack, and a more considered mindset is needed. Positive steps consistently win the game rather than heroic moments of greatness. As you grow you evolve into the police. Where you spend more timing policing situations to drive the best outcome. Police get a bad press but the good ones are calm, controlled, pragmatic. Get in touch ------- we're hiring! Mark Choueke James Ford

9

3 Comments

What to Include in a Data Room for Investors? — Advice From VC Fund GP https://buff.ly/4eEUahI Investors look for comprehensive data rooms to make informed decisions. A well-organized data room should include financial statements, legal documents, market analysis, and growth projections. Providing detailed information on past performance and future strategies is crucial. Additionally, incorporating visual aids like charts and graphs can enhance understanding. According to a study by PwC, data rooms with thorough documentation increase investor confidence by 40%. Ensuring the data room is secure and easily accessible is also essential. #InvestorRelations #DueDiligence

4

1 Comment

Emerging GPs📢 We all know it is a difficult time to raise your first (or second) VC Fund.😟 But AlphaQ Venture Capital is here to help you with the Global Allocator Alliance Pitch events and invite-only GP and LP matching Discovery platform.🎌 With an incredible team of Jocke Martelius, Amina Bijedić, Zerina Zimić and Marius Weber, be sure you will get unmatched support when you most need it. Check how they supported our partner Vadim Balashov of US California-based Viaduct Ventures, raising their Fund II.👇 DM me for a warm intro.🤝 ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #VCfund and increase the international pool of your LPs?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments (Series A/Series B)?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE   #VentureCapital #VentureFunding #VentureDebt #Fundraising #Innovation #Technology 

17

1st thing I say in every 1st board meeting - you're not selling to me anymore, we're partners 🤝 This can be a hard transition for founders to make But it's crucial to have an effective, useful board You need to do a hard reset Stop telling your investors only the good stuff And start telling them the bad stuff, the difficult things, the challenges, your worries This enables the board to help, and builds a culture of transparency, trust and mutual respect #startups #venturecapital #entrepreneur #entrepreneurship #founder #technology #innovation #management #board

264

44 Comments