Category: Latest News

It has been a pleasure working with Jon Preece, FRSC and his team to secure their funding. This is a ground-breaking technology that will really impact on the sector, delivering real benefits to the supply chain and the end consumer.

Chromatwist is developing novel patented tunable fluorescent dyes, for the high growth flow cytometry reagent market ($2.9Bn by 2027), with a focus on the premium UV dye sector. Flow cytometry is a diagnostic tool which analyses cells characteristics and is used in diagnostics, drug discovery, vaccine development, cancer research, and immunology, to name but a few. ChromaTwist’s patented dyes have unique light absorbing and tunable light emitting properties which are being developed in their laboratories to significantly enhance the capability of flow cytometry.

Jon Preece, FRSC, CEO said, “I cannot praise the angelgroups approach enough for bringing early-stage companies together with potential investors. Martin Avison added value every step of the way: from the advice on our initial pitch deck, to the discussions with the investors after the pitch, right through to negotiations and completion of the investment with a very engaged group of Angels. I recommend Martin and angelgroups without reservation to any start-up, with an innovative technology, who are looking for a real value-added experience in the quest for investment in their product or service.”

We wish them every success in the future and are expecting great things.

Yesterday was our first in-person pitch event in Manchester!

After nearly two years of hosting Manchester events online we finally got the group together for what was a great afternoon. It was a brilliant event, with a fantastic group of founders who each delivered strong pitches.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended yesterday and to our partners Barclays Wealth Management, BDO and Weightmans in supporting the event. We also want to say a special thank you to Richard Hargreaves for being our speaker and sharing his wealth of experience with the group.

We’re really looking forward to future events in the region.

Looking to accelerate your business? Perhaps funding is the key to unlock your business growth?

In this video hosted by Barclays Eagle Labs we discuss the differences between grant, debt and equity for all those founders out there who are beginning to review the funding landscape.

We also discuss the difference between passive and active investment, so you can weigh up which option best suits your business and your team.

Click here to view the full event.

 

Happy Earth Day 2022.

We receive over 100 pitch decks per month and are lucky enough to see first hand the hard work that founders put in to tackle climate change and sustainability both on a local and a global scale.

Environmental impact now takes center stage when founding teams are innovating, and that comes across loud and clear during their pitch.

We’re really looking forward to seeing what these businesses achieve in the coming years, as they’re doing a terrific job.

We are delighted to join the syndicate to fund the business Artikuno!

Artikuno pursues a buy & build strategy in the highly fragmented e-commerce ecosystem of Shopify stores, coupling it with numerous tech components.

With such a great team and unique technology we are confident that this business will be one to watch in the future.

A huge congratulations to the Artikuno team, we are looking forward to following their success in the months and years to come.

We are delighted to announce that we have just funded AVGO Biotech Ltd!

This really is a perfect example of angel investment. Take a great founder with a super business opportunity, add in some angel experience and strategy refinement and we have a great result.

Through a revolutionary process, developed with Nottingham Trent University, Avgo convert eggshell waste into valuable Pharmaceutical products. They reduce the egg industries costs and environmental impact of landfilling 1,000’s of tones of waste, while improving the Pharmaceutical industries carbon footprint and corporate social governance.

Andrew Stacey, CEO and Founder said, “angelgroups have contact with a wide range of potential investors, with very disperse and varied backgrounds and experience. This makes finding investors who aligned with the companies needs and interests straightforward.
Avgo found this very useful, providing thorough questioning from sales, financial and technical angels during due-diligence from interested parties and ultimate investors.
We were also able to work with a number of keen and supportive Angels who coached the company between due diligence sessions and ultimately became investors and NEDs for the company”

We wish all involved the very best in what we are sure will be a successful business.

The businesses who are pitching with us today pitched at our online event yesterday and ALL received investor interest, which is fantastic. They should feel really confident delivering their pitches again this afternoon and meeting with our Leeds investors to showcase their investment opportunities.

We’re looking forward to another great event and supporting these innovative founders through the funding landscape.

Have you read the Small Business Finance Markets Report 2022 yet?

The report is a fascinating insight into small businesses and covers topics including:
– Finance and equity
– Ethnic Minority Businesses
– Environmental impact
– Female-led Businesses, and more!

We were disappointed to see that geographic imbalances in access to finance persist, but are working hard to roll out our angel groups across the country.

If you have a chance to read this report we highly recommend it. It’s a fascinating insight into the small business market and where more effort needs to be focused.

We finally did it… we ran our first in-person event in Newcastle yesterday afternoon!

A huge well done to the businesses who pitched and a big thank you to the investors who attended. There was some fantastic questions and feedback for the businesses (as well as lots of interest). Some of the feedback included:

“Fantastic pitch, strong proposition, very interested to learn more”

“Brilliant go to market plan, huge potential”

We’re delighted the event was such a success, and it was a pleasure working with our partners in the region to pull this together. A big thank you to Ryecroft Glenton, Barclays Wealth Management and Ward Hadaway for all of their help. We look forward to supporting the businesses and angels through the due diligence process.

We are delighted to announce that we have just completed a second round of funding for the Interpac team!

Interpac has developed a packaging production system for corrugated cardboard which does not use steam in the manufacturing process. The Interpac “cold” corrugator is radically different, and is the first of its kind, using a dry process, eliminating the need for steam altogether. By not using steam it uses 80% less energy, reduces manufacturing costs by 30% and allows decentralised production.

We are delighted to have worked with the Interpac team again to secure them another round of investment as well as a first-class group of investors, that have added real value to the business. It’s always a pleasure to work with founders who have developed exciting technology as well as being able to make such a huge environmental impact.

Interpac Charles Smith, Founder said, “angelgroups is professional and well organised; without fuss they get you in front of the right people to grow your business. But the stand-out benefit of angelgroups is the quality and knowledge of their investors. Interpac has taken on board an angelgroups’ NED, and formed an advisory committee made up entirely of angelgroups investors, purely due to their enthusiasm and depth of knowledge. If like us you thought you wanted “silent” investors, then you may be missing a trick. They are a sharp bunch who are in a different league to most syndicates. Highly recommended.”

We wish the Interpac team every success in what looks to be a promising future!

We are so excited to announce that we will be running our first in-person event in Manchester in May! We have been waiting what seems like a very long time to get back to our physical events, and are delighted that they are now just around the corner.

We have been running our Manchester events virtually since 2020 so are counting down the days until we can get everyone in a room together with a good cup of coffee and some great businesses pitching. What could be better?!

If you are an investor who is based in the Manchester region and would like to attend, just get in touch. It’s set to be a fantastic event.

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day!

There is an array of fantastic events going on across the world for everyone to get involved in. The list of full events can be found here: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/EventSearch.

More locally, Innovate UK and Innovate UK KTN are bringing together remarkable companies and individuals to applaud the achievements of women innovators and to drive powerful conversations. There are some incredible speakers that will be sharing their stories, and we’re looking forward to hearing them.

#internationalwomensday2022 #BreakTheBias