Seeking investment and funding to grow your business? Sharing stories together...

Brought to you by Cambridge Wireless

Do you want to know more about the many options for funding your ambitions?  Would you like to hear from entrepreneurs about their own funding journey? Would you like to know what they learned along the way? Would you like to hear from investors on how they make investment decisions?

Registration for this event is now closed.

About the event

Are you a start-up business, or a business looking to seek investment or  scale up? Do you want to know more about the many options for funding your ambitions?  Would you like to hear from entrepreneurs about their own funding journey? Would you like to know what they learned along the way? Would you like to hear from investors on how they make investment decisions?

Then come along to our next Business SIG event on 18th July in Cambridge, where an impressive list of entrepreneurs and investors will share their stories and answer your questions! Register now to secure your place!

This event is FREE to attend for members of CW and Bradfield Centre.

You can follow @CambWireless on Twitter and tweet about this event using #CWBusiness.

Agenda

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The information supplied below may be subject to change before the event.

13:30

Registration and networking with refreshments

14:00

Introduction to the Business SIG

From Abhi Naha, Cambridge Wireless and Soraya Jones, Invested Investor

14:10

Rhodri Thomas, Spectral Edge - 'Smart Technology for Better Images'

A few observations from Rhodri Thomas on his experiences at Spectral Edge and SwiftKey, aimed at generating a discussion on some of the key elements of fund-raising and growing a start-up.

14:30

Q&A

14:35

Nick Osborn, Fenland RP - 'Have Your Cake and Eat it – Funding Growth without Losing Control'

This talk will show entrepreneurs and SME owners the relatively lightly trodden path to successful growth without having to decimate their shareholding to achieve it. By using R&D tax credits and matching your growth trajectory to suit, it is possible to achieve the growth you need without sacrificing big chunks of your Company to more traditional investors. Giving insights from 25 years of growing SMEs both with investors and without.

14:55

Q&A

15:00

Peter Cowley, Cambridge Angels & President of European Business Angel Network (EBAN) - 'Tips and war stories from an Invested Investor'

“40 years as an entrepreneur and 10 years early stage investing – the scars I endured on my journey from novice angel to Invested Investor”

15:20

Q&A

15:25

Refreshments and networking

15:55

Amelia Armour, Amadeus Capital Partners - ‘VC Investment Stories – why did we invest?’

Amelia will explore what her organisation looks for when they invest in early stage companies.

16:15

Q&A

16:20

Mark Nunny, BGF - ‘Common themes across successful scaling SMEs’

In his talk Mark will explore and identify common trends and themes which he has encountered in successful teams and businesses.

16:40

Q&A

16:45

Panel session with all speakers and additional Panellist, James Thomas from Cambridge Enterprise, University of Cambridge

17:30

Event Closes

Speakers

Amelia Armour - Partner in Early Stage Funds, Amadeus Capital Partners

Amelia joined Amadeus Capital Partners in 2009 and is a Partner in the Early Stage Fund. Her current investment focus is on autonomous systems, AI and machine learning, cloud computing, digital health, and medical technology. She is a Director on several boards including Xampla, who have developed a plant-based material to replace single-use plastics;  Paragraf who are manufacturing graphene-based electronic devices; Immense Simulations intelligent mobility enabling software company; Riverlane a developer of an operating system for quantum computers and SLAMcore, a spin-out from Imperial College, developing spatial intelligence for autonomous robotics and drones. Amelia is also an active board observer at other companies including enterprise voice assistant company PolyAI and Graphcore, the developer of the Intelligence Processing Unit for next generation machine intelligence. Prior to Amadeus, she worked at Barclays Investment Bank as a manager in the structured capital markets team with responsibility for running a portfolio of multi-jurisdiction transactions. Amelia has also worked in structured finance at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. She qualified as a chartered accountant with Deloitte in the corporate tax department. Amelia holds a BSc in Chemistry and Biology from Durham University and is a mentor on the Judge Business School’s Accelerate Programme.

Peter Cowley - Chairman of Cambridge Angels & President of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), Cambridge Angels, Director, Camdata

Peter Cowley, a Cambridge university technology graduate, founded and ran over 10 businesses in technology and property over the last 35+ years. He has built up portfolio of 60+ angel investments with 3 good exits and several failures. He is the WBAF Best Angel Investor of the World and was UK Angel of the Year 2014/15. He has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs and on the board of eight startups. In 2011, he founded and has since run Martlet: a Corporate Angel, investing (currently £5+M) from the balance sheet of Marshall, a £2bn revenue Cambridge engineering company. He is chair of the Cambridge Angels and is a fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Judge Management School in Cambridge and has recently been appointed as the President of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN). He is a non-executive director of the UK Business Angel Association and on the investment committee of the Angel Co-fund. He has also had 16 years’ experience as chair, treasurer and trustee of the boards of seven charities and is voluntary equity finance chair for the Federation of Small Businesses. He is sharing his and others’ experience and anecdotes of angel investing by publishing online and offline – see www.investedinvestor.com

Mark Nunny - Investor, BGF

Mark joined BGF’s in March 2012 and is based in Milton Keynes. He is responsible for deal origination, execution and portfolio management. Mark previously worked at Hermes Private Equity and HSBC Principal Investments, investing capital across a number of sectors. Prior to that Mark qualified with KPMG as a Chartered Accountant, spending nine years in KPMG’s Birmingham and London offices in audit and transaction services. When not at work or with his young family, expect to see Mark cycling at a rate of knots across the Chilterns.

Nick Osborn - Managing Director, Fenland RP Ltd.

Nick joined FRP in 2003 and became Managing Director in 2006. With a background as an Industrial Design graduate from Loughborough University, Nick has worked in 3D printing since its introduction to the UK in 1992, developing his passion for helping other people launch new and exciting products as fast as possible. After 10 years of running a mix of self-financed / Angel-funded businesses Nick decided to keep it simple and try the deeply unfashionable idea of growing a profitable business organically with zero debt. With 15 straight years of profitability and currently 20 people across 3 sites in the UK this seems to be going ok so far. Over the last decade he has developed the business into one of the UK’s leading Rapid Manufacturing Consultancies, successfully diversifying across the Medical, Automotive and Industrial Sectors. A keen field hockey player and former Chairman of his local Club, Nick refuses to retire and has represented the County and Eastern Region during his career.

James Thomas

James works for Cambridge Enterprise, the University’s Technology Transfer Office, which helps staff and students from the University of Cambridge commercialise their expertise and ideas. James works in the Seed Funds team, which aims to support academics and students starting spin-outs through investment and mentoring. James joined Cambridge Enterprise in late 2017, looking specifically at early-stage Software investments. Prior to joining Cambridge Enterprise, he worked for a Cambridge-based software start-up for three years in a variety of internal and client-facing roles.

Rhodri Thomas - CEO, Spectral Edge

Rhodri Thomas is the CEO of Spectral Edge Ltd, based in Cambridge. He joined company in February 2017 from Microsoft following its acquisition of Swiftkey and was part of the leadership exiting team. Rhodri joined SwiftKey as Chief Commercial Officer in 2010, when the company was pre-revenue, and was part of the management team that oversaw the global expansion and growth of the company. This included start-to-finish deal making with major smartphone OEMs, ultimately closing eight-figure deals with global brands for licensing SwiftKey’s technology. Rhodri was based in Silicon Valley for three years prior to the acquisition, establishing strategic relationships with west-coast tech giants. Rhodri has also held product management and business development positions with a number of other start-up and leading companies including 118118, Texperts, Unisys and Convergys.  

Event Location

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Location info

Bradfield Centre, Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge, CB4 0GA

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