Features
Enter the Dragon
03-Feb-08 Luke Manning
Duncan Bannatyne has always had a reputation for being a little fiery. Long before his explosive appearances as the most caustic Dragon in the infamous BBC Den, he was thrown out of the Royal Navy for attempting to hurl an officer off a vessel and spent nine months in a military detention centre. On his dishonourable discharge, he moved from one dead end job to another.
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On Your Marks
03-Feb-08 Linda Roberts
When considering an investment, a crucial factor to any Angel Investor is the ‘unique selling point’ (USP) of the company’s products.
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Patently Obvious
05-Nov-07 Linda Roberts
Like tangible, real or personal property, the law recognises a person’s exclusive right to own and control their creativity and innovation in the same way that they can own physical property. Linda Roberts explores the implications of Intellectual Property (IP) for angel investors.
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Credit Worthy
05-Nov-07 Rohit Chawdhry
Microfinance is enabling the provision of financial services to poor and low income groups. A recovery percentage of more than 99% is making micro credit highly attractive to venture capitalists. Rohit Chawdhry examines the Indian experience where 26% of the world’s active microfinance clients can be found and considers whether it makes good business sense.
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Spanish Revolution - Polaris World
28-Jun-07 Jonathan Richards
José Luis Hernández is President of Polaris World – the Spanish-based leisure and entertainment conglomerate that identified golf as the key ingredient to galvanise its business. Jonathan Richards spoke to him.
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Earn-outs: A Deal Clincher?
21-Jun-07 Linda Roberts
Over half of all private company acquisitions now involve an earn-out arrangement. Linda Roberts explores the pros and cons of an increasingly popular exit strategy.
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Private Affairs
20-May-07 Linda Roberts
Private equity in the UK originated in the late 18th century, when entrepreneurs sought out wealthy individuals to provide financial backing for their businesses. 20th century pioneers of the private equity firm included Slater-Walker and Hanson Trust and by the early 1980s a private equity industry was establishing in the UK. A number of private equity firms were founded at this time following on from the success of private equity investments in the US.
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Riding the Green Wave
01-May-07 Linda Roberts
Green investment, once the preserve of the ethically minded is attracting a more traditional investor, one seeking profit. And they’ve come at the right time. Media coverage is filled with features on global warming, rising utility bills and the impact of political unrest on energy provision. And the savvy businesses are catching on: consumers want green. Marks and Spencer beat the drum for retailers in January with a very public unveiling of its £200 million “eco plan” to make it the greenest retailer in the UK by 2012. Tesco swiftly followed suit, announcing its own major initiative to tackle climate change including the introduction of “carbon labelling” for the increasingly carbon conscious consumer.
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Budget 2007: What It Means For Angels & VCs
05-Apr-07 Linda Roberts
Budget Day is always a time of trepidation for investors, and never more so than when it is being delivered by Gordon Brown, the political showman, the master of the “giving in one hand” and “taking away in the other” trick. His micro meddling with financial affairs has grabbed the headlines with what appear to be substantive changes, particularly those regarding tax cuts, but the reality is quite different. By 2009/10, when most of the announced tax measures have taken effect, the Treasury will on balance have relieved us of a further £125 million in tax.
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Venturefest Accelerates Innovative Reputation
10-Jan-07
The countdown is on for the fourth annual Venturefest Yorkshire, which celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurialism and supports, advises and inspires would-be entrepreneurs and owner-managers.
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China: VC and Angel Investing About To Explode
01-Jan-07 Brian Perry
All great empires that have come and gone have given their citizens great opportunities for trade, economic growth, business success and personal wealth. From Roman trading to British colonisation to American industrialism to Japanese manufacturing standards, empires come and go and perhaps the largest the World has ever witnessed is on the verge of explosive growth. Enter China.
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Winning in Wireless
02-Nov-06 Brian Perry
TUESDAY, 5 DECEMBER. Every business is facing the wireless opportunity, and this is your chance to get in front of the investors most keen to back companies with a great strategy for exploiting it!
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YouTube: Silicon Valley Start-up Lands Google Deal
01-Nov-06 Brian Perry
Those words above, that were all over the papers and repeatedly reported on newscasts on that Monday morning last month, were likely read or seem with a sense of “wow, why didn’t I think of that” or “wow, this company is less than a year old and they sold for $1.65 billion, why can’t I find the dream investment like that?”.
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Valuations: Understanding The Pieces Of The Puzzle
30-Oct-06 Brian Perry
What is clearly the single most common difference of opinion between entrepreneurs and angel investors? You guessed it; what the value of the company is when making an early stage investment.
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Angel Investment Matching Services: Friend or Foe?
04-Sep-06 Brian Perry
What initially began in the United States as a method of bridging the gap between entrepreneurs seeking investment capital and angel investors looking to invest their money has now become a fairly common service being promoted in the UK and many other countries. Are these services worth the membership fees? Do they increase quality dealflow? Are they regulated at all? Are they a direct funnel to finding “the next big thing”? These are just a few of the questions we will look at in this month’s cover story and if you have not already heard about these services, this feature should answer all the questions you can come up with.
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Google: The World's greatest Angel Investment
22-Aug-06 Brian Perry
We all know what an angel investor is or is supposed to be. For some of us, this conjures up images of near miss financial ruin and for others, a sense of financial bliss. But what does it really mean to have a “hit” with an angel investment? Do we all measure our success by the same results? For some of us, it might be a return of five times our investment over a five year period. For others, it might be looking for “the next big thing” with returns you can’t even fathom.
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The Enterprise Investment Scheme
14-Jul-06 Danny McMullan
Let’s face it, the more money you make, the more complicated your taxes become. Or rather, the more time must be spent in determining ways to offset personal and corporate taxes through the guidance of professional advisors and taking full advantage of various government tax breaks, schemes and optimised tax allowances.
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