Access to Finance SW

Entrepreneurs seeking EIS or SEIS funding! 🚨 Several of our fund manager members are looking to deploy capital in the coming months. Committed Capital Financial Services Limited | Empirical Ventures | Eos | Foresight Group | Fuel Ventures 🚀 | Haatch | Jenson Ventures | Love Ventures | Mercia Asset Management PLC | Oxford Innovation | Puma Capital Group | The SidebySide Partnership To learn more about the funds, what types of businesses they invest in and how to get in touch, visit the EIS Association Member Directory! You can filter the list to fund managers, or search by company name. 🔗 Visit our Member Directory here: https://lnkd.in/gd4_s5dz #DeployingCapital #EIS #Startups

The key to support is having the right type at the right time that aligns with where you are on your journey. And that is the key to Tech South West’s Growth Forge. Utilising Pragma Holis’s PragmaPulse business diagnostic tool, the Growth Forge team builds each cohort member a programme of support to help that business with focussed, actionable advice and measurable results. With support from partners across the business spectrum, and with coaches and mentors on hand to decode the problems and solutions, Growth Forge is able to provide a bespoke programme for each firm, which changes as the business changes. For 2025 TSW are also introducing three specialist cohorts - Marinetech, CleanTech and AI, with specialist support hubs in Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol. To find out more about the programme join us on a call tomorrow at 9.30am: https://lnkd.in/erGpvS7y Ashfords LLP Bishop Fleming Chartered Accountants British Business Bank British Business Bank South West Evo Talent Future Space - Bristol Howden Microsoft Plymouth and South Devon Freeport Program | B Corp™

Innovate UK is developing new funding and support packages for #SMEs. From January 2025, Innovate UK is pausing the Innovate UK Smart Grants offer, while continuing to work with startups and SME communities in determining how to better serve these businesses, through funding and other support products. An initial package of support will be piloted in Spring 2025 which will continue to evolve during the year. https://lnkd.in/eQNkd5vE #BusinessSupport #Innovation James Fairbairn Sara Palmer

Don't forget to join this Friday's Coffee Catch Up on the Access to Finance SW platform. It's a great place to connect with fellow founders, ask your questions and gain insight from experienced business growth expert Rob Nicholls. Very casual and relaxed - the perfect way to start your Friday 😎 Go to Access to Finance SW to get involved: https://lnkd.in/dyMFni4W #BusinessEvents #Insight #BusinessNetworking Paul Clayton Tim Craft Andrew Ellis, FRSA Matt Jones Julia Marshall-Wessendorf Tony Martin James McQuarrie Marko Zerdin

Hot events incoming! Plug into a world of knowledge and opportunities by creating a free Access to Finance SW account: https://lnkd.in/dyMFni4W It's the perfect place to learn more about future events and opportunities to meet investors, chat with fellow founders, reach out to business experts and jargon-bust the confusing world of finance. See you on the platform. 😎

Skoolz out! 🚸✏️📚 Yesterday, I and about 50 others had an interesting opportunity to hear all about State School Ventures at RWK Goodman’s Bristol offices. We heard from RWK partner Scott Preece about his state school experience; from Henry Crosby Ph.D. of Martello about the support SSV’s Tim Morgan had provided him on his journey at Martello, and from Tim himself about the underrepresentation of State School educated founders in the ecosystem and some of the challenges they face. The fact is; if you’re white, male and privately educated you’re much more likely to be able to become a founder as you are more likely to have a good network, opportunity, supportive parents and access to capital. As a product of the state education system, I recognise those challenges and I’m keen to support Tim and his passion for helping early stage entrepreneurs from the state system. It was also great to bump into Paul Jones, Steve Rimmer, Rafi Khan, Matt Tomlinson, Rosie Bennett, Richard Flemmings, Thanh Quan-Nicholls and many others!

Join our FIRST Coffee Catch Up in 2025, to meet like-minded founders and learn from those who have "been there, done that". The session is hosted by Rob Nicholls. With over 35 years of global finance experience, Rob has a proven track record of delivering measurable results through data-driven financial strategies. Log in and get involved: https://lnkd.in/dyMFni4W #BusinessFunding #Networking #AccessToFinance

We’re back! It’s Angel Investors Bristol’s first pitch event of 2025, and we’re excited to hear all about Inyanga Marine Energy Group from Richard Parkinson. A great South West based tidal energy firm. We also took the opportunity to engage with the members to talk about 2024, our successes and about our pipeline. And to look at the coming year and our process - how we can improve, how we can engage more and a deep-dive into our investment process. Interesting stuff! Great to also see lots of the ecosystem represented, including Edward Tellwright from British Business Bank and Simon Tutton MA (hons) MCSI DipPFS who’s using his experience as a VC to assist founders navigate the investment market - look out for more news about that! Jon Bonnick Ben Cooper Peter Lockett

The numbers speak for themselves … Tech South West’s Growth Forge Accelerator Programme delivered over £2M in funding for cohort companies during 2024. 📈 But 2025? We're aiming higher. Working with Diagnostic Partner Pragma Holis and alongside the likes of British Business Bank, Microsoft and Bishop Fleming Chartered Accountants, I'm particularly excited about how our enhanced business profiling will help identify and unlock even more funding opportunities for tech companies in the region. Using Pragma’s PragmaPulse™️tool, Growth Forge creates a bespoke programme for your business - focussing on the areas you need to (and may not even have known you needed to!) and utilising the range of partners, growth coaches and mentors to assist you on your journey to operational excellence - and even that next slug of funding! Whether you're pre-seed, seed, series A or beyond, Growth Forge is relevant to you, because it’s built bespoke for you and the challenges you face. Find out more about Growth Forge at: https://lnkd.in/eJBS-yeP #Investment #TechFunding #BusinessGrowth

Cornish based companies invited to bid for Good Growth Funding - minimum grant award is £200,000 and the timeframe to deliver the project falls between April 2025 and March 2026. The application deadline is at 5pm on 27th January 2025.