Author: Toby Hicks

A strong quality that marks out successful startup founders is a ‘fail fast mentality’. Integral to the fail fast philosophy is cutting losses when testing reveals something isn’t working and trying something else.

However in fundraising this can be a very costly process, with raising investment being carried out in parallel with running a nascent business. Making mistakes with potential investors or going down rabbit holes with time wasters can take you further away from your other job of building a game-changing startup. That’s why we wanted to bring to bear some of the accumulated wisdom of startups who have successfully raised via AIN over the past two years. read more

Ben Hallett is the CEO and co-founder of fast growing EdTech company Vygo, built to ensure no student is left behind. In the latest Behind The Raise interview he talks to AIN about creating equality in education, scaling fast and pivoting, the reasons for rising investor interest in EdTech and how to avoid wasting time when fundraising.

Tell us about Vygo and how you came up with the idea?
While studying at university, myself and my co-founder witnessed too many of our peers struggling, falling through the cracks and ultimately falling short of their potential. With further research we discovered that the problem was global with 30-50% of students dropping out of higher education and most students struggling with severe or debilitating stress. We discovered that one of the core challenges is helping students connect with the support they need when they need it and we couldn’t see anyone else meaningfully solving this. This set us out on a mission to ensure that every learner has equal access to the support they need, when they need it, so that they can reach their full potential. read more

In our latest guest post David Pattison, experienced angel investor, business leader and author, considers the thorny question of investor due diligence. Is it a threat or or an opportunity? Or a bit of both?

If you are trying to raise money, there will be a requirement for the company (and often the management) to go through a Due Diligence (DD) process. This is where the prospective investors will take a deeper look you and your business.

If the investors are individuals or angels then the DD can be quite light touch, usually involving an interrogation of the business plan, some conversations with the team and maybe some customers or current investors. If they are funds or institutions, then they will take an almost forensic look and ask you to provide a mountain of information. read more

There has been a significant rise in the numbers of angel investors looking to back startups across the globe. Technology is the most popular sector and food and beverage seeing the fastest year on year growth. These are some of the key findings from Angel Investment Network’s annual analysis of the global state of angel investment funding based on data from their platform. 

AIN has 40 networks extending to over 90 different countries; and now with more than 1.75 million users it is the largest angel investment community in the world. The results are a real barometer of global startup investment activity in 2022. read more

Antony Yousefian is the co-founder of innovative agtech businesses Bx Technologies. In the latest Behind The Raise interview he talks to AIN about transforming farming, his lightbulb moment courtesy of cannabis growers, a near death epiphany, and a clever approach for refining your pitch for investors.

Tell us about Bx Technologies and how you came up with the idea?

Bx Technologies helps farmers switch to climate friendly practices by measuring the climate-impact of produce, and putting that information on food. We do this via our software technology that quantifies farmers’ positive impact on improving their soil. We then sell that as a service. This enables farmers to differentiate their crops from others.

My co-founder Ben Bardsley is a 5th generation farmer and my background is in asset management where I was involved in the initial waves of cleantech. So we really understood the challenges in this space. Both on the ground and the economics behind it.  read more

In this article, founder and CEO of Addition Finance Graham Davies explains how automation can help small businesses create scalable processes and promote growth.

The average startup is working with extremely limited resources and manpower in its early days. As cash is king, it’s easy to focus all your time and effort on delivering your product. This is natural and understandable. However, it’s also why founders are hitting burnout at record levels as they try to stay afloat while under pressure from wearing multiple hats. Attempting to manage everything, alone and all at once, isn’t only dangerous – it’s also ineffective. read more

Funding will help accelerate global borderless education support in higher education

Fast growing EdTech startup Vygo has raised £1.5m in a pre-seed funding round supported by Angel Investment Network, the world’s largest online angel investment platform. Vygo is a Saas platform reinventing the conventionalsocial support ecosystem in higher education.

Offering personalised support services beyond the physical campus, the business already works with a third of Australian Universities and is rapidly growing in the UK. The raise will help it expand in the UK and Europe and fuel its ambition to build borderless social education for every student. read more

Olivia Sibony, AIN’s Head of Impact, looks at the rise in interest in green and clean tech startups and why we have seen a ‘perfect storm’ of conditions for their growth.

Over the past few years we have seen the perfect storm of conditions that have rocketed investor interest in green and clean tech startups. Looking at the patterns of investor keyword searches on the AIN global platform we have seen impressive growth for green business terms, including ‘renewables’, ‘greentech’  and ‘environmental’.

In the last three years these business ideas have gone from niche to mainstream with investors hungry for standout solutions for our manifold environmental challenges. The COP 26 conference further committed Governments to carbon reduction targets. As was acknowledged in Glasgow, it is private enterprise and nascent businesses that will provide many of the solutions. 

Factors such as the recent surge in gas prices have made us more aware of the need to find alternative and renewable energy sources, alongside smart ways to reduce energy consumption.  read more