Startup predictions for 2021: Why the climate will be key January 4, 2021 The overarching story of 2020 for startups was the pandemic and the battle to innovate and to survive. This year the rise of healthtech and fintech startups will inevitably continue after record levels of investment last year with IPOs on the horizon for many. But away from the pandemic another crisis will become just as, [...]
Beringea: VCs will regret overpaying during the pandemic December 23, 2020 2020 is on track for a record year of VC investment but after a slow start followed by an avalanche of deals in September VCs should be in self-reflection mode. City A.M. spoke to the refreshingly honest Karen McCormick, chief investment officer of Beringea about the lessons learned from the pandemic and where VCs went [...]
Ada Ventures closes first fund for overlooked founders at $50m December 9, 2020 Just a year ago Ada Ventures launched its first fund focused on impact investing. Today it has announced it has closed $50m. Ada Ventures positions itself as a “first-cheque seed fund” which looks to make venture capital more accessible and diverse. The fund is aiming to have the “most diverse pipeline, and portfolio, of any [...]
Data first: How tech startups build trust and tap investment November 19, 2020 When Phil Marshman set about launching his health startup Sentai this year he faced a challenge. For the serial entrepreneur, it was not the pandemic or the intricacies of artificial intelligence or even getting to market that posed a challenge, it was customer data. “For any product team you need to be data first… We [...]
Early stage VC funds play catchup with later stage peers November 12, 2020 Early stage VC firms are playing catchup and have the potential to generate higher returns than their later stage peers, according to new research. British Business Bank (BBB) research shows early stage funds have generated a pooled Distributions to Paid In (DPI) multiple – the amount paid to investors – of 1.43, 0.73 per cent [...]
Virtual events company Hopin raises £125m leading to £2bn valuation November 10, 2020 Hopin, the UK virtual events provider, has raised $125m from venture capitalists, including Tiger Global and Accel, helping to drive a surge in its valuation to $2bn from $43m less than a year ago.
Mesut Ozil joins US venture capital firm Class 5 Global November 2, 2020 Mesut Ozil is moving into the world of investment joining San Francisco-based VC firm Class 5 Global, as he looks to a career beyond football. The Arsenal midfielder joins the firm as a strategic adviser having already been an investor in Class 5 Global, according to Bloomberg. “I am excited to shape and work on [...]
Augmentum Fintech raises £28m in oversubscribed placing October 30, 2020 Listed venture capital firm Augmentum Fintech hit its £28m fundraising target through an oversubscribed share placing launched this week. The firm said demand from both existing and new investors exceeded the maximum issue and applications have been scaled back accordingly. Augmentum Fintech raised £28m through the issue of 23.37m shares at 120 pence each. The [...]
Octopus Ventures ‘extremely optimistic’ about investment landscape October 28, 2020 Investors have spent most of this year looking inwards as they sought to shore up their portfolio companies in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. But even as the UK continues to grapple with uncertainty amid another round of lockdowns, some investors are starting to look for opportunities to expand their portfolio. London-based VC firm [...]
Octopus Ventures leads seed funding round in pet-tech firm Katkin October 28, 2020 London-based pet food company Katkin has secured £4.5m of funding in a seed round led by venture capital firm Octopus Ventures. Katkin was set up by siblings Brett and Nikki O’Farrell to produce healthy cat food after realising the options available didn’t provide cats with the nutrition they needed. The wet food contains 95 per [...]