Let’s face it, in the startup and VC world, every day can bring a new set of challenges. This is why many of us are drawn to the industry in the first place – it’s a high stakes space where mere ideas can turn into multi-billion global businesses, amassing considerable wealth for both entrepreneurs and their investors.

You are convinced that your novel and amazing business idea is going to change the world. So what do you do next to get it off and running? In the autumn of 2021, we raised a £300k pre-seed round for FoodLama from some notable angels who had exited their ventures to companies like Snap and Twitter, as well as someone on the board of Kraft Heinz. This is an attempt at describing what we learnt before, during and after that journey.

Launching a business is not easy. As a young entrepreneur, you have to focus on different areas. Although your primary responsibilities include empowering and scaling a business, you must focus on equity. Equity management becomes critical when considering investors for funding your business.

When it comes to the topic of 'Money' people feel a ton of emotions. Some feel sadness, anxiety, depression. Others get excited and see it as an opportunity to make the world a better place, to travel and to take care of their loved ones.

Being different is no bad thing. But it can be scary – and also pretty unpopular. This is especially true for purpose-led businesses where you may be trying to solve a problem for an underserved community, whether that’s people of a certain gender, sexuality, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, or another underrepresented group.

It’s an irony for small businesses that when it comes to finance, the more they need it, the less there is. With interest rates up for a fourth consecutive time in May and inflation forecast to be as high as 10% by the end of 2022 – a 40-year high – the economic outlook is highly uncertain. Traditional lenders are nervous and wary of increasing lending to SMEs, which already saw their debt rise by a quarter during the pandemic, and it’s no longer just struggling businesses that have a hard time securing funding.

Getting the backing of a Venture Capital Fund (VC) is often a key milestone for any growing business, it is, therefore, important to strategise both your preparation and approach.
 

Over the last few weeks, we have had the opportunity to speak with tens of startup founders and investors as part of our Private Beta launch for Truealpha.

Despite a record $330bn fundraising total, female founders in the US secured a mere 2.3% of venture capital in 2021 according to Bloomberg, the second consecutive year of decline and the smallest share since 2016. Amazingly, that figure is more than double the proportion of venture capital going to female-founded businesses in Europe which sits at just 1.1%.

Knowledge is power. This well-known phrase is often underplayed in the business arena, with the adage ‘cash is king’ taking primacy. While cash is, of course, fundamental to business, knowledge can often elevate a business to the next level – something I’ve come across at Connectd with a number of startups. 

Few numbers matter more to a founder than their company’s valuation. This is a fairly universal truth. But if you asked a focus group of founders which employees they valued the most, you’d probably get a few different answers.

Challau, the metaverse platform which enables users without a VR headset or high-end computer to enter immersive 3D environments, has raised a pre-seed round from 7percent Ventures, whose team first backed Oculus VR.

Fundraising is full time job, there is so much time and effort that goes into raising money, but it is worth it. We all know what the stats and figures show that there is a massive gender disparity when it comes to funding, and therefore although being a tough job – it’s even harder for women.

FourJaw, whose manufacturing data analytics platform is unlocking five-fold increases in shopfloor productivity, has secured a second round of angel investment and Innovate UK funding worth £1m, to accelerate its growth and support high-value-added manufacturers across the country. 

Flow Your Money (Flow), the money management app for freelancers and consumers has raised a €3.5m seed investment round led by Eleven Ventures. The round was joined by RockSalt, the venture arm of SaltPay, as well as Silverflow co-founder Robert Kraal (former COO Adyen), Hristo Borisov (founder and CEO of Payhawk), Marnix van der Ploeg (Booking.com) and Travel Health Group’s owner Arnoud Aalbersberg. The investment will enable Flow to scale up its platform, which makes it possible to automatically distribute incoming and outgoing money flows, taking the step towards 'self-driving money': smart, fully autonomous money management. Flow now also can expedite European expansion plans as it sets out to become the largest player in this fast-growth market. 

These days, entrepreneurs and business owners are actively dealing with a dynamic economy and this presents a unique problem for them. It means that they need to look for ways to raise enough capital for financing their business startup. But raising capital is not so easy and you have to be well aware of what you are stepping into before you start seeing any results.

The £12.09 million Digital Growth Grant will help tech start-ups and scale-ups tackle the challenges facing small firms and open up access to skills training and advice.

It has often been said that cash is king. This does not of course mean cash itself, but the phrase refers to a company’s cash flow and how it manages the flows of payments into and out of the business. Ultimately, turnover, and even profitability, are secondary in importance to cash flow.

European deeptech is enjoying a bit of a moment. Startups working in deeptech - translating new knowledge into tangible technology to address significant business and societal needs - account for close to a quarter of the continent’s startup ecosystem. And in 2021, that ecosystem invested a record $100B of capital.

Fumopay, known as ‘fumo’ is on a mission to demonstrate that technology innovation within the banking and financial services sector can have a direct impact on the lives of our young generation to help them become financially savvy, in a somewhat desperate attempt to help people avoid unnecessary personal debt.