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Yomp • Engaging People • Rewarding Wellness from Yomp on Vimeo.

Yesterday Techcrunch posted an article announcing that Reward Gateway had acquired gamified health startup Yomp for an undisclosed figure. Techcrunch mention the £200k seed round that Yomp filled last year, but neglect to mention that £150k of that came through Angel Investment Network (the whole SEIS allowance) !

But that’s of little importance. Our investors are over the moon at such a rapid ROI. As you would be. The figure hasn’t been disclosed yet, but our £150k went in at a valuation of £1 million; and we’d expect someone of the calibre of Reward Gateway to be able to acquire for £3-5million. By that reckoning, our investors are getting a 3-5x multiple return in just over a year.

For many entrepreneurs, no matter what stage they are at in their fundraising journey, it can be difficult to see the wood for the trees and hold a sense of the bigger picture in mind. This helpful infographic, courtesy of Funders and Founders, gives a clear picture of the funding process from Day 1 to IPO.

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that we helped Uncover, which went on to become the UK’s premier restaurant reservation app, fill their seed round. In fact it’s only been 16 months. But on the back of their extraordinary year since launch they have now been acquired by Velocity, the world’s leading international digital hospitality service, for an undisclosed figure.

9 months after launch Uncover had gained 135,000 users and was partnered with 350 of London’s high-end restaurants (incl. Alain Ducasse Restaurants, Coya, LIMA, Restaurant Story, Taberna do Mercado, and The Clove Club). In that period it was recognised by Apple as its “Best App” on over 10 different occasions for its immaculate user experience.

The deal means that the new, refined platform, due to be launched early in 2016, will have a network of 800 venues and over 60 Michelin stars and that Velocity has taken itself another step closer to being a comprehensive hospitality platform all over the world.

Read more:

– https://startups.co.uk/restaurant-reservation-app-uncover-acquired-by-start-up-competitor-velocity/

– https://www.redleafpr.com/media-centre/client-news/corporate-pr/2015/nov/velocity-acquires-uncover/

Even though i’ve been in the startup business for a while now, when i stumbled across this infographic by Funders and Founders, it reminded me how useful it can be to glance back at the basics once in a while. In an increasingly fraught and complex world, it is not only extremely helpful, but also motivating to step back and see the workings of the bigger picture; to catch sight of the wood for the trees. Details are important; but occasionally we can get bogged down in them.

As every successful person ever will tell you – if you get the basics right, the rest will follow.

This is true even for the most seasoned of serial entrepreneurs. Especially as a number of the processes outlined in this simple infographic will remain crucial throughout the life of your startup, not just at the beginning. So whether you’re just starting out or a startup veteran, it’s worth casting your eyes over this one…

Cloudpaging leader, Numecent, have just raised $15.5M in series B funding bringing their total investment accrued to approximately $38M.

We first encountered Numecent back in 2012 when they approached us looking for seed funding for their cloudpaging technology concept that enabled native Windows applications to be delivered from the cloud. We were impressed by the fact that Numecent’s clients would have no need to download or install any software on a PC at all; and, applications would be delivered 20-100x faster than a conventional download.

We raised them £900k in seed funding and are now delighted that their promising technology is continuing to receive the recognition and investment it merits. On top of the Series B funding, Numecent was named a winner of the Red Herring Top 100 North America award, was chosen among the top 20 virtualisation solutions by CIO Review magazine and was cited as one of the 12 data-centre technology companies to watch by TechTarget.

Want to know more about Numescent? Watch the video below:

Over the course of the last year we raised £600k in seed funding for one of the UK’s most promising tech startups, what3words. If you haven’t heard of them yet, you’ll want to watch their video (below) to get in the know about the extraordinary developments they’ve made in geo-location technology, mapping the entire planet into 57 trillion 3m by 3m squares, each with its own three word label.

On the back of the successful seed round, what3words has gained significant traction including contracts with leading geographic information system providers. Their success piqued the interest of Intel Capital who alongside existing Angel Investors have filled a Series A round in the region of £2.5 million.

Here’s the TechCrunch article with more of the details: TechCrunch: what3words Series A

Shark Tank star and angel investor shares the hard-hitting questions she asks entrepreneurs before investing in their business.

Nathan Gold, founder of The Demo Coach, and Scott Case, co-Founder and CEO of Startup America Partnership, discuss a wide range of pitch do’s and don’ts. Watch as they provide live feedback on pitches from several startups.

Kraettli Epperson talks about some of the bad pitches companies make to investors at the spring beta 2013 conference.

Anatomy of Seed from brendanbaker

Jonathan Melllinger has experience on both sides of the investment ecosystem, first as a successful entrepreneur and now as a member at Robin Hood Ventures.

Mellinger told an audience of entrepreneurs and angel investors at the Science Center’s Angel Education event that he uses instinct and experience to choose companies to invest in, but he also laid out his model for making early stage investments Tuesday.

The programming is part of an ongoing effort from the University City life sciences research park to broaden its mission and the awareness of regional investors to smaller, more consumer-facing ventures.

First, when Mellinger is looking at a company, he looks at the management team.

“I like to see some experience from the management team in the space they’re going after,” said Mellinger, as he explained why he decided to invest in Onetwosee, which provides TV companion content for mobile devices.

Competition is another important factor. Mellinger looks to see that a company has a “a valid and proven revenue model” that approaches the competition in a new way.

“What I did like about OneTwoSee is when I looked at the competition in general they were attacking their market with the revenue model right up front,” said Mellinger. “Tim Geithner, at some point said, plan trumps no plan. And as an angel investor, revenue trumps no revenue”

Lastly, Mellinger said that having a product that works and is easy to use is an important factor as well.

“What I need to know from a company is what their customers consider a successful product,” said Mellinger.

Companies that can’t answer that question effectively get a pass, he says.