Sarah King’s Post

𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴. We had an incredible night at the UK Business Angels Association Awards, celebrating early-stage investing. Conduit Connect was honoured to be a finalist for Seed VC of the Year. Although we didn't win, being recognized in this category inspires us to continue driving impactful investments and supporting purpose-driven founders. The Conduit EIS Impact Fund has a clear mission: to drive capital to founders solving some of the greatest challenges facing people and planet while generating investor returns. The fund invests across four impact themes- Climate, Health, Education, and Inclusion. The Fund is focused on leveraging a combination of resources, including our partnership with The Conduit to enable the next generation of companies to achieve positive impact at scale from a broader set of mission aligned investors. Our objective is to build a diverse portfolio of scalable impact-driven companies, with the benefit of EIS tax reliefs. See our latest investment into Heatio, link in the comments. We are thrilled to share a few impact highlights achieved by our portfolio companies in the last 6 months: RideTandem | B Corp™ is now enabling £5m in wages p/m by using their smart bus service to help employees get to work Thalamos closed a deal with 6 London NHS trusts to support safer, quicker and more joined-up assessment and treatment of people detained under the Mental Health Act Zen Educate has facilitated the delivery of almost 2m hours of high-quality education to students whose regular teacher is absent in the last 12 months SOJO has extended the life of 1.8k garments and is partnering with Marks & Spencer to launch a clothing repair service Kamma has assessed 218,987 homes for climate & compliance risk and launched a pilot with Octopus Real Estate The Conduit EIS Impact Fund is currently open for investor subscriptions until its next close on 17th July 2024. Funds will be deployed into 8-10 EIS-qualifying Seed to Series A ventures over 12-18 months from subscription. The minimum subscription is £25,000. 👉 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱@𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁.𝗰𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗺, 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 #impactinvesting #eisimpactfund #venturecapital #vcfunding Investment in the Conduit EIS Impact Fund is restricted to Professional Clients, High Net-Worth Investors and Self-Certified Sophisticated Investors. Always take time when considering your investment decisions. Financial advice is recommended. A fuller summary of risks is available here https://lnkd.in/eWAtPWYG

#Founders Do you think angel investing is painfully disorganized with checks too small to move the needle? Think again. Check out our latest investor profile with John Peters of Sacramento Angels: #Funding #StartupDevelopment https://lnkd.in/gegh4YF8

Would you call this a scandal? Or not? Another scandal in #startupland? 😮 Here’s another insight into the world of exits, or lack of them. Last Thursday, I spoke with a cofounder of a well-known EIS fund. If you’re not sure what that is, it’s a fund of 20 or more UK start-ups where all the start-ups qualify for #EIS and #investors are eligible for EIS (30% tax relief on their investment). Investors can invest in funds  as a way of spreading risk. That sounds ideal, you say. First part of the problem is this – the fund management is superlean to keep costs down. So the valuation of the fund is calculated by adding up the valuations of each of portfolio’s constituent companies at the time of their last raise. They only accept funds with uprounds. None of the valuations are independently verified. Possibly OK – but here’s my bigger worry – #exit. The superlean fund is completely passively managed. There is no active performance monitoring or nudging any investor towards exit. I’ve found much the same problem exists with all the angel groups I’ve connected with in the past – passive observation. What this means is that, while the fund looks good on paper e.g. the fund has increased in value by at least 25% a year, that ‘value’ is only tenuously ‘real’ because no money has been returned to investors and there is no active management of the fund. How do you put a value on something that you can’t trade? The fund manager takes a ‘management’ fee from the fund, as you’d expect. I’m curious to hear the views of angels and founders on whether you think this is a good service for angels, or indeed founders themselves? I can hear the voices saying it’s too early to be talking exit – but if these startups are mostly post-SEIS and 2-3 years in then what makes it too early, at least to talk about expectations? And what if they're ten years in? How does money for investment get recycled? For an angel investor, tax-relief surely isn’t enough, is it? Funds taking money off you to give you 30% back, then charging you fees to sit on the sidelines – what exactly would you call that? #AngelThink #EIS #angelinvesting #angelinvestors

📰 Great to be featured on the latest Sifted article by Amy Lewin Joe Schorge, Maria Rotilu and I share our thoughts on the topic of ''How many new #VC funds does Europe need?'' and the ''rise in solo GPs across Europe'' 💭 TLDR: In my opinion, Solo GPs are fantastic! They truly do care and are super useful with great networks, hunger and high-speed. However many solo GPs don’t lead deals at pre-seed, and the European ecosystem could do with a few more funds that do. But there are exceptions, such as Germany’s Gloria Baeuerlein, Finn Murphy, and Max Claussen, to name a few. Full article here: https://lnkd.in/dWXUFsWb

Join us for some lively discussion about how to raise investment in our next instalment of Smart Cookies 🍪 “Inside Investment: What they don’t tell you about raising money” Our experts: 💫 Briony Phillips - Scout for Ada Ventures, consultant 💫 Henry Crosby - Co-founder and CEO of Martello 💫 Amy Newton - Founder of Newtons Theory and Inclusive Angels 💫 Jon Bonnick - Co-founder of Angel Investors Bristol Some of the topics that will be covered are: 🔹 Common misconceptions in the fundraising process and how to avoid them. 🔹 Balancing short-term returns with long-term vision amidst conflicting interests. 🔹The effectiveness of investors as business advisors. 🔹 Identifying red flags in startup pitches that lead investors to walk away. … and much more! Come along for an evening of insightful discussion, pizza, drinks and networking! 🍕 Get your tickets now! 🎟️ https://lnkd.in/e3u-jcu8

Time is the best due diligence. I often get contacted by first time founders sharing they are fundraising and asking for intros to VCs. From experience, except if you are the next slack or huggingface, no VC will invest in you within a couple of weeks of getting introduced to you. Business plans are useless to assess a business opportunity, and ideas are free. What really matters down the line is team and execution. And - except if you already have a track record - time is the best way to judge that. What also matters is the relationship you build with investors, and here again time is your friend. I met Balderton Capital in February 2012 (thanks Harry!) but Bernard Liautaud and James Wise only invested in December 2013, almost 2 years later. I met FirstMark in April 2013, and Matt Turck invested in May 2015, 2 years later. Ideally, you want to meet investors when you don't need them. And you should always be fundraising, as someone you meet today might end up investing 2 years from now. #fundraising #Entrepreneurship

What does it mean to be an angel investor? An angel investor is a high-net-worth individual who provides financial backing (and often broader support) for small and growing companies in exchange for equity (shares) in the business or convertible debt. There is a myth that only massively rich people can become angel investors. People assume that it’s an exclusive club. In reality, you can angel invest with £1000 or £2000 per deal. But you need to remember that a successful angel investor will have a portfolio of between 17 and 25 investments over time so you’re still making a significant financial commitment if you want to be successful (and your money is always at risk). As an angel investor with a smaller cash contribution to make you’ve got a few options with where to start -  - Start by looking at Crowdcube (or another crowdfunding platform) to understand the way equity funding works and explore the companies that are raising. You can invest through these platforms too. - Join an angel group (check out the options on the UK Business Angels Association directory by location or theme) - Learn about angel investing with Angel Investing School or UKBAA - Invest through a fund - EIS and SEIS Funds will pool investors’ money to invest in startups and offer tax incentives. Some Venture Capital Trusts also accept smaller investments. Just think, rather than a pension fund manager (or bank) deciding where your money is invested, you could hand pick investments that better reflect your values and interests (and taking the risk accordingly). On Wednesday, Inclusive Angels and Amy Newton welcomed c. 100 people to explore the myths and challenges of the existing investment ecosystem. I thoroughly enjoyed hosting the session and exploring the myths and challenges of investing in underestimated founders. We also invited attendees to think about their role in ensuring a more equitable landscape of investment that better reflects the fact that founders with gender or ethnic diversity will deliver 30% higher returns on exit (according to Kaufmann Fellows research). I was very grateful to be involved and to have the opportunity to explore the brilliant founder stories of Frances Lucraft (feminine hygiene), Samantha Payne MBE (robotic prosthetics), Clayton Planter (social mobility), and Josephine Dorh (antibiotic diagnostics). Do check out their brilliant businesses and support them however you can. #angelinvestment #funding #southwest #bristol #community #equity #investment

🔹 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗡𝗣𝗜𝗙 𝗜𝗜 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 🔹 Mercia Ventures has been appointed as fund manager for the NPIF II Equity Fund focused on Yorkshire and the Humber by the British Business Bank, to successfully continue deploying capital to exciting growth companies. As one of the UK’s most active investors, Mercia Ventures has an already established strong track record in supporting businesses across the UK, and this new mandate further demonstrates our passion in unlocking the full potential of businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber. Managing Director, Will Clark, explains more 🎥 Full video link in the comments ⏬ #NPIF #EquityFinance #Investment #VentureCapital #StartUp #Growth #Yorkshire #Humber #Interview #SMESupport | British Business Bank North of England

🔹 𝗠𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗡𝗣𝗜𝗙 𝗜𝗜 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 🔹 Mercia Ventures has been appointed as fund manager for the NPIF II Equity Fund focused on Yorkshire and the Humber by the British Business Bank, to successfully continue deploying capital to exciting growth companies. As one of the UK’s most active investors, Mercia Ventures has an already established strong track record in supporting businesses across the UK, and this new mandate further demonstrates our passion in unlocking the full potential of businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber. Managing Director, Will Clark, explains more 🎥 Full video link in the comments ⏬ #NPIF #EquityFinance #Investment #VentureCapital #StartUp #Growth #Yorkshire #Humber #Interview #SMESupport | British Business Bank North of England

Tick-Tock. Fundraising doesn't happen overnight, so the best time to build relationships with who you believe to be your key investors, is yesterday. C/O Warwick D.: "Founders who turn up asking for capital without any prior relationship or reputation (or the ability to leverage other’s relationships and reputations) will almost always lose out to those with existing multi-year relationships and reputations." Read more on The Aussie Capital Nerd Substack here: https://lnkd.in/gesv8TPf