Focal

Focal co-founder, Taos is taking on Curve Club's Speaker Series 2 weeks today to talk about building Focal to date and what's to come. Well worth checking out, if only to ask some difficult questions! 🧐 Sign up link in the post below.

There's only ONE WEEK LEFT to sign up to the The Big Startup 5k, a genuinely fun way of meeting other founders, startup team members, and investors in the ecosystem. Entry closes on 16th July, with the run taking place on 6th August (just under 1 month to train!). We're super excited to be working with Jumpstart on this one and have even bagged 10% off tickets on the link here https://lnkd.in/eymX5eHF

Looking for advice on raising an early stage round? Joshua Mihill shares his advice from being a co-founder at Honest Mobile. tldr; momentum is key - once you've got your first investor on board, use their network to reach more investors and go back to previous investors who have said no. #StartupAdvice #FundraisingTips #StartupFunding

Step aside J.P. Morgan 😎 We’re partnering with Jumpstart as they put on the startup ecosystem’s answer to the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, the Big Startup 5K. 1,000 members of the startup ecosystem will be heading down to Battersea Park, London, on 6th August for an evening of walking/jogging/running and, most importantly, partying. Whether you're a startup, scaleup or VC - you're all invited! Book your ticket here to get 10% off with our Focal VC link: https://lnkd.in/e_Uys_7N. Even better... bring the entire team! 

Niya (S23) has just raised a £1.5m pre-seed round to further develop its AI-powered career management platform tackling the digital skills gap. The round has been supported by angel investors including Simon Murdoch of Episode 1 Ventures*, Ladi Greenstreet of NatWest Group, and a grant from Google. Well done to Hugh Chichester, Holly Simmons and the rest of the Niya team. *Focal VC partner. #TechForGood #StartupSuccess #AI https://lnkd.in/gsfVmxC7

Slip (W23) raises £2.5m from Adjuvo, Haatch*, unbundled vc* and The SidebySide Partnership* to fund their mission to digitalise consumer receipts. Well done to Tash Grossman, Eddy Herman and the rest of the Slip team 😎 *Focal partner VCs https://lnkd.in/dsk3eAzh

It's been a couple of weeks since our S24 Demo Day wrapped up, and what better time to reflect on some of the highlights from the event! 🍝 Finalists dinner - For the first time, we had the pleasure of dining with our finalists the evening before Demo Day at Caravan in Fitzrovia. It was the ideal setting to share the highs and lows of the founder journey. 🪵 Founder Fireside Chat - Hector Mason and Taos Edmondson, CFA transformed into VCs’ answer to Richard and Judy as they sat down with Peony Li (Jude) and Joshua Mihill (Honest Mobile). They discussed their impressive progress since they appeared on Focal, including a stint on Dragon’s Den! 🌇 Rooftop afterparty - Over 100 founders, investors, and our wonderful sponsors (HSBC Innovation Banking, Cooley LLP, Carta, Google Cloud, Fuelled ||., BDO UK LLP) mingled on the rooftop of HSBC Innovation Banking’s offices. ⏱️ Top quality pitches - And, of course, we were treated to 28 incredible pitches from our talented finalists. Missed out on the action? It's not too late to check out our finalists’ pitches and request introductions as an investor. We’ll also be running SPVs for a select few finalists in the coming weeks. For more information, check the link in the comments!

We welcomed an exceptional quality cohort at Focal S24. This includes Punto Health (Anna Muñoz Farré and Jack Eckersley), who have already smashed their fundraise with HEARTFELT_ , Abac Nest and Fondo Bolsa Social 👊

Focal S24 is done! Which means we can now release the list of 28 AMAZING finalists we had pitch at Demo Day (i.e. the top 1% of founders raising right now) If you missed out on the action, the link to watch the recording is in the comments 😎 💻 Ai8 - Building the company-level operating system for AI-enabled organisations 🏥 Avalio - Building AI-powered SaaS solutions that improve how the healthcare industry manages its back-office operations 🧱 Built AI - Driving Real Estate Investment Performance with AI 🤑 Caribou - Caribou sets Transfer Pricing policies for multi-entity businesses 🍻 Collider - Mood boosting beer, without the alcohol 👃 Diem Scents - Luxury fragrances, created by the world’s best perfumers, offered at accessible prices 💊 Elnora AI - Rewriting the rules of drug discovery 🚛 Fin - sustainable logistics logistics - Logistics using AI and machine learning for 25% more efficiency 👔 Fit Collective - The first solution preventing the #1 cause of fashion's lost revenue & high emissions. Designed by Savile Row tailor, powered by AI 👗 FITS - A fashion marketplace that connects clothing brands, fashion stylists, and shoppers to create the experience of having a personal stylist 💼 Flexa - The platform making the future of work a reality 💦 FLOWBIO - World's most accurate hydration sensor for the high-exertion market 👨💻 Fruitful - DevTools → Anyone Tools ♻️ Gaea - Operating System for Modern Recyclers 💉 Genie TechBio - The world's first AI bioinformatician 👵 Gladys - A revolutionary new way for older people to access care and help from members of their local community ⚓️ Harbour - A network for instant, near-zero cost, bank <> blockchain payments 💶 Haydn - Strategic finance platform for usage-based companies 🔋 Infyos - Supply chain software for cleantech companies across batteries, solar and wind to manage their supply chain ESG risk ⚡️ Kassandra - The Enterprise Energy AI Platform 🧑🏭 Mithryl - Zapier for manufacturing 🤰 OVUM - Our aim is to become the trusted one-stop shop for all things fertility and demonstrate improved fertility outcomes with the use of our products and, eventually, clinics ❤️🩹 Punto Health - AI-based digital platform for management of Alzheimer's and other dementias 🗑️ ReBorn Homewares - We turn local waste into stylish homewares, saving 79% carbon emissions, reducing landfill and supporting the local economy 🙏 Spot - Make multi-agentic personal AI tools accessible to everyone 📸 Vizgard - Vision-based AI to fully automate any Defence and Security cameras ✍️ Workflow - Building the platform needed for a world with 10x the volume of creative work 📺 Zoiya - Transforming the future of video advertising with AI-powered product placement Thanks to our sponsors (HSBC Innovation Banking, Cooley LLP, Carta, BDO UK LLP, Fuelled ||., Google Cloud) for making it all possible.

The big day is upon us! Focal S24. Blood, sweat and tears have gone into this one: 🚀 2,100 applications 🔥 28 finalists 📺 1,000's expected to be watching at home 🦸♂️ 6 unbelievable backers who make this all possible Don't miss your chance to see the top 1% of startups globally pitch! Register here: https://lnkd.in/gNWT-rBa