Investment Activator Programme – July update

Engine Shed is a partner in the Investor Activator Programme which helps catalyse investment into fast-growing startups in the West of England.

June saw a little over £8.5m raised across 4 different companies in the West of England, which compares pretty favourably with the same period last year when we saw 8 companies raise £3.4m between them.

This short observation period is reflective of a pattern that is being reported across the investment landscape – there are fewer investments happening and larger ticket sizes on the whole.

Only one of those four companies has announced their funding publicly. Amdaris received an investment of £6m from BGF. Amdaris is an industry-leading software developer and digital transformation specialist and the investment will support its organic and acquisitive growth strategy. BGF is an investment partner for growing companies in every sector of the economy offering patient capital with backing from five high street banks.

The other three companies raised c. £3.5m between them but have not disclosed details publicly yet.

In June we also saw two events run to support the investment ecosystem locally. First, the team ran the Quarterly Investment Briefing (QIB). These events are run once a quarter with a goal to help the investor community to network, share and learn. There is also an opportunity for local companies to submit their one page investment proposition to be shared with the community of c. 300 investors and enablers of investment. This month saw 24 companies submit their executive summaries raising £11.5m between them. You can read more about the event here.  The next QIB is on Thursday 17 September.

The second event in June was Pitch Me. These are more informal events that are designed to help founders to practise and refine their pitch. We selected three companies to pitch at this event – ranging from gaming to AI powered marketing tools. The next Pitch Me events are on 5 August and 9 September so please get in contact if you would like to pitch or be a judge.

The end of June also marked the completion of the first 6 months of the Investment Activator Programme so we have been reflecting on what we have achieved so far and the work still left to do. We’ve been tracking our social media reach which hit the heady heights of a little over 130,000 across LinkedIn and Twitter, we’ve also run 10 events so far this year and published 36 articles on the theme of investment. But our most impressive statistic by far is the cumulative amount of equity funding raised so far in the region – a little over £144m.

The Investment Activator Programme is run by TechSPARK and is kindly sponsored by TLT LLP, delaware, Smith & Williamson, West of England Combined Authority, UWE, Sanderson, Engine Shed and Rocketmakers.

If you are an investor and you would like to receive the regular newsletter and event invitations for the Quarterly Investment Briefing, please find more information.

And if you are a founder or you are raising investment and would like to submit your one page proposition for the next Quarterly Investment Briefing event, please find more information.