Seed/Angel Funding
Carin Luna-Ostaseski fulfilled a personal dream when she launched her own brand of Scotch, , which she funded using Kickstarter. If you've ever wondered how to create a successful campaign on this popular funding platform, look no further than her comprehensive guide.
SIA Scotch Whisky was successfully funded in November exceeding my goal of $39,000 for production of my first run. Many friends and strangers asked me how I did it? Well, here you go….
First off, I should say, my situation is quite unique. There are very few projects on Kickstarter for spirits brands. The challenge here is most people are used to pre-ordering a product they are funding, and they receive the product as a reward for their contribution.
We absolutely love Elizabeth's comprehensive series on funding! Click here to view Part 3: Incubators & Acccelerators.
Not sure incubators and accelerators are the best way to fund your company?
I'm happy to report that you can gain some of the same experience and exposure through business plan competitions.
Prize money is growing exponentially for the hundreds of business plan competitions held every year. And the number of competitions is growing, too. The public and private sectors have now joined in what was once mostly the domain of universities, making for a dizzying array of options.
Kate Jackson, Founder & CEO at TableCrowd was given the Best Pitch award at The NextWomen's London Pitch Event last night.
TableCrowd is a real life social network where you can meet people over food for business networking, common interests, romance or friendship.
Jeff Lynn is Co-Founder and CEO of Seedrs, the world's fastest growing equity crowdfunding site, and was ranked number 55 in GQ magazine’s UK’s Most Influential Men earlier in the year.
Seedrs is the world’s first fully regulated online platform for investing in startups. It lets entrepreneurs seeking investment list their businesses on its website, and the public can invest modest (or large) amounts in the ones they think will succeed or maybe even be the next big thing - all through an entirely online process.
Since Seedrs launched in July last year, 21 highly promising startup businesses have secured the seed capital they were seeking and it was announced earlier this month that funding has just passed the £1 million mark. £700,000 was raised in the just the last 3 months, reflecting the rapid acceleration in growth that is underway.
One of the leading lights of the UK’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’ scene, Jeff is passionate about bringing the returns and excitement of investing in startups to a much wider audience, helping to bolster the UK’s economic recovery in the process. Jeff is American but adopted London as his home nearly a decade ago, and he believes that Britain is the best place in the world to build a high-growth, global business today.
Starting a business is an
undertaking fraught with risk, and for most of us entrepreneurs, or
entrepreneurs-to-be, we didn't take a class called "Starting a Business
101." The truth is, starting and growing a business is part science and
part art, but if there is "science" that can be learned, wouldn't you
want to avail yourself of those opportunities, especially if those
opportunities included capital?
Public and private sector opportunities exist for learning business basics and many are offered at little or even no cost. You certainly need not have a formalized business degree or an even more expensive MBA to make it as an entrepreneur. But it does help to have some familiarity with the fundamentals of starting and operating a business and that is exactly what these programs teach.
Best of all, there are programs designed to educate, mentor and even finance women.
Last November (2012) Tel Aviv was ranked second (after Silicon Valley)
on the world’s top startup system report published by Startup Genome.
What makes Tel Aviv so innovative?
In the last two years we have witnessed a tremendous development of a Start Up Eco-System in the city. Tel Aviv brings together people from various regions – Russia, Europe, Middle East and Asia. Each one comes from a different culture and brings to the table a different point of view.
Research shows that both public and
private companies with female executives outperform companies with all male executives.
Yet women entrepreneurs receive a small portion of angel and venture
capital investment. Astia Angel aims to generate above-market returns by
investing in women-led, high-growth ventures.
"The fact that women entrepreneurs receive limited investment is both a
problem and an opportunity," remarked Amy Gips, Founding Managing Partner,
Astia Angel. "Astia Angel is uniquely positioned to help women
entrepreneurs succeed while targeting an attractive return."
Astia Angel, an angel investor network that includes both female and male angel
investors located globally, invests in women-led, high-growth ventures in
technology, life science and consumer industries. Astia Angel is a
strategic partner of Astia, a fourteen year-old organization dedicated to the
success of women-led, high-growth startups.
My name is Anisah and I run PocketMUni.com
(pronounced pocket money). It is an online platform which matches students who are looking to earn some extra cash with individuals, businesses and charities
that are looking for one off/short term assistance.
I left college in May 2011 after doing a crazy two year course, also known as the International Baccalaureate. During the entire course I was decided on being an RAF pilot, an actor, a director, a translator for the UN, a CEO and an Oxford/Cambridge graduate. In short, I had no idea what I wanted to do! I was sure that I would either go to University or Drama school, but it began to appeal less and less. Don’t get me wrong, University is a great institution, but it was not the right path for me. Instead, I decided to take a gap year and travel.
Canada's history of investment began as
early as 1907 when the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) invested
in Canada to help fuel economic growth.
Fast forward to 2012 – women entrepreneurs are now fuelling economic growth in Canada, the UK and the United States.
In Canada, the number of women owned businesses is growing 60 percent faster than those run by men. In the US, female owned businesses make up 16% of the total of US employment. It's predicted that women starting businesses in the US will generate approximately 33 % of 5.5 million new jobs by Bureau of Labour Statistics by 2018 according to The Guardian Life Research Institute report. In the UK, the number of women starting businesses increased by 16 % between 2008-2012 compared to 2% for men. (ONS statistics to April 2012).
The NextWomen Finance Theme.
With interest rates remaining at an historic low with no imminent chance of a rise on the horizon, if you are fortunate enough to be sitting on excess cash there are undoubtedly some fabulous opportunities to acquire a business bargain.
Whilst the economy appears to be rallying we clearly have a very long way to go until we could even contemplate stability.
The fact remains, vendors still exist and business sales still need to happen, creating a buyers market in an economy very short on debt availability.
By implication therefore there will be some bargains to pick up for the astute, cash rich acquirer. That said perhaps it’s more important than ever to not ignore the old Latin tag of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) and, just because something is cheap, by no means suggests it’s a good buy. Some rigorous due diligence, particularly on business potential in this economy, which sees more businesses declining than ever before, should be undertaken.
Upcoming Events
27 Jun 2013 - 08:00 - 28 Jun 2013 - 17:00London, UK
Featured Female Hero
