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Investment News! Lancaster University Spinout Mindgard Secures $8M to Transform AI Security! Congratulations to Professor Peter Garraghan, EPSRC Fellow in the School of Computing and Communications and leader in Distributed Systems, who founded Mindgard in 2022. As CEO, he has guided the company from strength to strength, leveraging a decade of AI security research to drive this extraordinary journey. This achievement underscores Lancaster University's dynamic innovation ecosystem, where cutting-edge research evolves into impactful real-world solutions. Simon Cook, Professor in Practice - Data and Cyber Research remarked: “This is excellent news for Lancaster University and the North West. Our ambition is to make this region the heart of the UK's cyber innovation community, and this is a fantastic example of a successful spinout from university cyber research. Mindgard is blazing a trail we hope will become a well-trodden pathway for other researchers.” This funding round, led by .406 Ventures and supported by Atlantic Bridge WillowTree Investments, IQ Capital, and Lakestar, will enable Mindgard to expand its reach globally, bolster its team with new hires such as Dave Ganly and Fergal Glynn and accelerate their research and development initiatives. 🔗 Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/e95YBQ_S #NWCyberCom #NorthWestCyberCorridor #Innovation #AI #Cybersecurity #Investment #LancasterUniversity #Spinout #ResearchCommercilisation Dion Williams, Mark Rushforth, Peter Rawling, Lancashire Cyber Alliance, Lancaster University Cyber Security, Science & Technology at Lancaster University, fhunded, Investor Ladder, Gordon Bateman, Nigel Davies, North West Cyber Security Cluster, UKC3 - UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration, Plexal Cyber, Research Commercialisation at Lancaster University Research England

I tried to pick 12 photos that summed up 2024 (it ended up being 15). fhunded is made by its partners, friends and team! 2024 has been so much fun! 2025 we have big plans and we will be taking you all with us! Thanks to everyone that's been a part of 2024 with us! #Lancashire #Investment #Innovation

Join us for the next fhunded Founder X Funder event on the 28th January at Fraser House Hub! (14:0-17:30). This event is in collaboration with DSW Ventures. If you are a Lancashire based business looking to raise - this event is for you. Book your spot in the link in the comments. #funding #Lancashire #EquityInvestment

Something very special is happening at Fraser House Hub I'm calling it Stage 3! And I'm not sure we ever saw it coming.... 🚀 Stage 1 - Community Starts In Stage 1 it opened and the early community evolved. People connected, the story began and excitement was kicking off. Meetups, people sharing work etc. 🚀 Stage 2 - Amplifying Reach and Investor ££s In Stage 2, with some traction in the community and a few evolving deals focus shifted. A mix of the growing story and Rory Southworth's drive created a spotlight for investors to recognise the space. So.... what's STAGE 3.... 🚀 Stage 3 - Spin-Outs Don't mistake this for people subcontracting work to each other. It is not! I count 4 current, embryonic spin-outs in Fraser House. These are true partnerships built on the coming together of skills, where equity is shared. Interestingly, two of these include PhD qualified staff members and two Masters Level Techies. Each has a commercial driver and there seems to be ample cash swilling around to bootstrap the early stages. One has significant traction already, another Innovate UK funding. Critical is that there's a lot of TRUST embedded in the community now. It would be unfair to say who these all are at this point. But I'd watch this space carefully. I have a sneaky suspicion that you'll be hearing about all 4 of these in the next year or two.

Reaching out to investors through their website or pitch deck portal is destroying your chances of fundraising. Like really, if this is what you are doing you might as well not be fundraising at all. VCs are a wash with deal flow and their website is almost always the worst quality as a cohort. Therefore, even if you're the best company in the world, going through their website is putting you into a bucket where the VC knows the quality is usually minimal and therefore isn't worth much of their time. They'll skim that deck in even less time than the 150 seconds the average pitch deck gets reviewed in. So, what's the best way to make that first contact with a VC? Either: 1️⃣ A warm introduction; or 2️⃣ None generic direct outreach on LinkedIn. Queue the uprising on VC is an elitist circle, it's all done on warm intros. That's actually not the case, a warm introduction is way way easier than most people think, it just requires a little bit of patience and some hard work. As a founder, the easiest people to network with are other founders. A lot of other founders will have angels and VCs on their cap table that you want on your cap table. They are the best source of introduction as their views carry weight with investors (a founder likely knows what another good founder looks like) and they're relatively easy to do, with that little bit of work and patience. If you absolutely cannot get an intro to the person you want then direct outreach on LinkedIn is the next best way to go, imo. Again though, it can't be a copy and paste where you forget to change the investors name. There has to be something tangible that's personal to that investor (previous deals they've done, content they've posted, etc.). Back to that term patience again, it's also a lot easier if you spend a bit of time interacting with your preferred investor(s) before hitting them with a pitch deck and InMail. Comment on their posts, build relationships and be someone they'll recognise before you land in their inbox. It's hard but the VC funnel is so brutal, funds typically invest into 1% of the deals they see. As a founder you can either complain about the way the industry works or use it to your advantage to stand out from the crowd. _____________________________________ 💭 Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments. 🔔 Want to see more? Follow: Kiran Mehta. ♻ Useful for your network too? Hit that repost button!

I know there's a *lot* of tech entrepreneurs, connectors, and founders in my circle And I know there's bound to be someone who could benefit from a £60K grant fund to fuel the design, development, testing, and adoption of their project 👀 If you've got an idea for how tech can support adult learning in the UK, this just might be the grant fund for you 👇

Fraser House Hub has a new manager! Natalie Wilson joins after an incredible career as an Expedition Leader and Mountain Leader taking groups to remote ranges and high peaks (6,000m+). I'm super excited for the community about Nat being in role because: 1. Her years of dealing with groups in extreme places should set her up for the Tech Community in Lancaster. 2. Her coaching qualifications should make her the best soundboard for the Fraser House community. 3. Her problem solving skills in cold temps and altitude is exceptional, Fraser House with the heating on - no problem. 4. Nat and I have known each other in an outdoor context for years, my network and contracts are hers. 5. Nat is also a Nordic Ski tourer, we are a rare breed in the UK - I'm not sure how this benefits the community, but I'm excited for it. Nat is going to add so much value to the space and you are hearing it here first, take it beyond to the next level! #techhub #coworking

Did you catch our interview with Jessica Jackson, investment manager at Praetura Ventures? In the piece Jess shares her thoughts on the importance of external finance to scaleups, advice on what they look for when considering an equity investment, and her view on the Lancashire investment ecosystem. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e5ubSg2n #LancashireInvestor #LancashireScaleup #BusinessFinance

You know what we do at fhunded. - We bring founders and funders together. - We collab with funds to educate founders on the Equity Investment journey. - We bring more investors into the County. But most of all we are here for founders of Lancashire. Looking to raise? Drop me a DM.

We're going to be looking for a few more Tech Community Coordinators in the New Year. Part-time and full time. Across Lancashire, various locations. We'll potentially need a couple who can start quickly, so any freelancers looking for supplementary income. Role is focussed on 1-1 engagements and organising small, hyper local events to become a key node in your local tech community. Love to hear from anyone who might be interested.