Inovia Capital’s Post

Our Portfolio Client Sidekick Secures £8.5m In Debt & Seed Investment To Make Private Wealth Less Private   Sidekick, a wealth management platform for the modern investor that unlocks access to financial products and services typically reserved for high-net-worth individuals, has raised £4.5 million in a seed round and £4 million via a debt facility. The combined £8.5 million will see the startup continue scaling its team and expanding its product lineup while securing a European license. Columbia Lake Partners provided the debt facility. The seed round was led by Pact VC, joined by TheVentureCity, and 1818 Venture Capital alongside previous investors Octopus Ventures, Seedcamp, and Semantic.   Matthew Ford, Co-Founder and CEO of Sidekick explains, "We’re looking to address the growing inequity of wealth creation and let the money of hard-working entrepreneurs and professionals work harder. With over a million people in our target demographic in the UK seeking support for their financial goals, the demand for innovative wealth management solutions tailored to their unique needs is undeniable. Sidekick exists to ensure that it’s not just high-net-worth individuals that have access to the tools and products needed to secure long-term financial prosperity." Recently expanding its product lineup, Sidekick is the only wealth management service of its type in the UK to offer a Portfolio Line of Credit, a Lombard lending product designed to help investors stay invested over the long term while still having access to liquidity when needed. Ford added, “This product has typically been reserved for those with multi-million-pound portfolios and only offered by private banks. Launching this product to a wider client base demonstrates that we can deliver our promise to provide the same financial services once traditionally reserved for the select few.” 👉 Read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/d6BR6zVY Congratulations to Matthew Ford, Peter Townsend and the Sidekick team! #CLPfunded #CLPgrowthcapital #VentureDebt #GrowthCapital #FundingNews #VCfunding #VentureCapital #Investments #EuropeanTech

What's the latest in #MiamiTech? We've got the low-down from an investor's perspective. Founders: take note! Many thanks to Alpaca VC's David Goldberg, and to Lorraine Sanders and Nancy Dahlberg Refresh Miami for making it happen. https://lnkd.in/daXmV6Zf #investing #VC #fundraising

Today we announced our newest $1.6 billion fund, IVP 18. I had the privilege of joining IVP 19 years ago when we were investing out of IVP XI, a $300M vehicle raised in the year 2004. Our mission remains the same - to fuel growth in the sharpest technology companies. A huge thanks to the limited partners of fund 18 who are entrusting us to be stewards of their capital - we don't take that responsibility for granted. The level of founder talent is sky-high, especially as they harness the power of AI to build businesses that would have been impossible even 2 years ago. These entrepreneurs are resilient and battle-tested - they are often the ones who build the largest and longest enduring companies. We deeply believe the founders we partner with over the next decade will be some of the most transformative builders we have ever worked with over our 44 year history. We've already partnered with pathbreaking AI native companies like Grammarly DeepL Jasper Perplexity Glean Abridge Baseten and are excited for many more to add to this list in fund 18! A special thanks to the amazing founders who spoke with Allie Garfinkle. We are always indebted to be a small part of your incredible journeys. George Kurtz Jyoti Bansal Ilkka Paananen Bipul Sinha thank you! None of this is possible without the tenacious team at IVP. The true joy is being able to work with these individuals over the course of months, years and decades. Steve Harrick Eric Liaw Tom Loverro Ajay Vashee Cack Wilhelm Alex Lim Dennis Phelps Jules Maltz Sandy Miller Todd Chaffee Norm Fogelsong Richard Clarke Tamar Yehoshua Blair Shane Tracy Hogan Kelly O'Kane Davey Nickels Leslie Schuster Stolper Zack Willis Angela Zhu Karthik Ramakrishnan Shravan N. James Black and many others make the wheels turn ever day! Lastly, we honor the legacy of IVP founder Reid Dennis who passed away last week. During the many uncertain months in 2022 and 2023, I went back to an interview that Reid did on the oral history of venture capital during the last crisis back in 2009. In it, he walked through the evolution of our industry and firm. One of his favorite phrases was "Innovation is nothing new...", a tongue in cheek reminder that the ideation/creation process never ends and will always bring sunny days after periods of so called doom and gloom. Read more about IVP and our new fund in Fortune: https://lnkd.in/gB8n47Py

Thank you Adeo Ressi at VC Lab for inviting me to share, from a SFO perspective, what are our family's criteria are to make the decision to allocate or not into a GP. As I discussed, based on our family's unique compensation structure, a GP must have an internal sponsor, at the IC meeting and bring the IC to conviction. This also includes our internally developed IC memo our internal sponsor's team puts together, which can be a tome, as it may need to have backup reference to justify why certain risks, for e.g., lack of domain expertise by the GP in their investment thesis can be mitigated. A question was asked about expectations of GP stakes? For emerging manager we expect closer to 10%. It is a controversial position, but we have found those emerging managers have been the ones that have shown alpha. For follow on funds, that stake drops. We encourage emerging managers to start small, make smaller mistakes. Build a loyal pool of LP's. A $20M fund is $2M GP stake. Surely, friends and family or the manager can raise that before asking 3rd parties to have conviction that they are capable to manage and invest capital. Bear in mind, LP's are out immediately around 2%. And depending on the waterfall, hurdles and the success fee, ...; we also like to see GP's pay their LP's initial allocation back before they pay themselves their 20% or so carry upon distribution. [That 2% or so management fee is paid whether there's an exit or not, or ever]. Without shared risk it's the same as taking safe notes with a start up whose founders make market rate salaries + earn "sweat" equity (?!!) + managing their hubris in follow up upon exit or no exit. These founders tend to have less hustle: Again, because there's no shared risk. The very last point, we emphasize as a significant gating issue for us, personalities. Even if you want to be agnostic and focus on the fund's marketing and running numbers, at the end of the day, it's about people: human relationships. Committing to a GP, as many pointed out, is longer than the average marriage of 7 years. Will you still have respect for each other after the investment check is cashed. Youngrok Kim sorry to miss you on this panel, which turned into a fireside for me. Next time! #fundraising #venturecapital Decile Capital

How we raised our $1.4M seed round (and a step-by-step guide to help you raise yours) 👇 1️⃣ 👼 Get your round moving with angels The bulk of your seed round (80%+) will come from 1-3 institutional VCs. VCs, however, will rarely be your first check. The more traction your round has, the more confident a VC will be to invest. To find angels, tap into friends, family, and your network. We leveraged the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras alumni network in SF to collect several $10k-$30k checks, totalling over $100k. We got our first VC investment only after raising from angels. 2️⃣ 🗓 Get meetings with VCs booked Now that your round has traction, talk to VCs. NEVER send cold emails. That makes you look desperate, and VCs only invest in ‘hot’ companies. The BEST way to get investor meetings is through intros from their portfolio companies. Many of our Y Combinator batch companies introduced us to their investors! We also got our angels to introduce us to funds. Now’s also a good time to reach back out to investors who reached out when you weren’t raising. Usually, never ask an investor who has passed on you for intros. Only accept intros if the investor can't possibly invest in your company even if they wanted to, eg: they only do Series B+ rounds, they don’t invest in your space, etc. 3️⃣👩💼 Pitch! Make your pitch conversational. It should NOT be a one-sided presentation. Your slide deck should be <15 mins. Communicate that your market is large. Sometimes tweaks in positioning can make a big difference. For eg, expanding our target audience from just customer success to an all-in-one video & docs tool for CS, Product Marketing and L&D led to much more interest. At the end of the pitch, there should be clear next steps. Ask them straight up: “Are you going to invest?” If they say no, ask them why and answer their concerns. After the pitch meeting, follow up regularly. Send updates on new customers you’ve closed and new money you’ve raised. Build a sense of FOMO amongst VCs. 4️⃣ 🤝 Take money from whoever offers it to you Do NOT act smart and wait to hear back from the ‘top’ VCs before accepting offers on the table. Don’t try to schedule the meetings such that the “best” funds are first and the “worse” ones are later. Take money from whoever gives it to you. You want to wrap this up quickly and get back to the things that matter - building and closing customers. That said, a VC is going to be a long-term partner in your startup. If you want to learn more about their working style, you can ask them for referrals to portcos. 5️⃣ 🏃♂️ Keep at it As technical founders, we love building and talking to users. Running behind investors can be the least enjoyable part of your startup. Still, stick to it. If you can wrap this up now, you won’t have to come back for an extension round later. Even if it takes 2-3 months, get the job done. I'm happy to take any comments or questions on this strategy below! #funding #startups

🚀✨ Artemis Fund Soars with $36M for Diverse Founders ✨🚀 The Artemis Fund , dedicated to backing underrepresented founders, celebrates the closing of its second fund with a whopping $36 million in capital commitments!💰 🔎Founded in 2019 by Stephanie Campbell, Diana Murakhovskaya, and Leslie Goldman Tepper, Artemis embodies the ethos of its namesake, the Greek goddess known for championing women. 🏹💼 📝Based in Houston and New York, Artemis takes the lead in seed rounds for diverse founders across fintech, commerce, and care sectors. With a portfolio comprising more than 20 companies, all led by female founders, Artemis showcases over 60% leadership from Black, Latinx, or immigrant backgrounds. 🌍💼 🎌Artemis's second fund is bolstered by a prestigious group of backers including Bank of America, Bmo Bank of Montreal, Nuveen, a TIAA company, Nuveen’s Churchill Asset Management, Texas Capital Bank, Amazon, The Rockwell Fund, and Ballentine Partners, LLC. 🤝💰 Stephanie Campbell emphasizes the fund's mission, stating, "We really wanted to make sure that our LPs aligned with our long-term goal of backing diverse founders. There’s a lot of pressure on that. We also want to grow with them." 📈✨ 🧐With a focus on both financial returns and societal impact, Artemis is committed to moving the funding needle for female and diverse founders, addressing barriers faced by overlooked businesses, communities, and families. 💡🌟 Despite challenges in VC funding for diverse demographics, Artemis remains steadfast, with Fund I companies showing promising progress and revenue growth. The fund's portfolio boasts investments in transformative startups like Naborforce, HopSkipDrive, Upgrade, and Work & Mother. 💼💡 📢As Artemis embarks on its journey with Fund II, the firm remains dedicated to tackling societal challenges head-on, investing in innovative solutions to address the pressing needs of underserved communities, driving positive change for a brighter future. ✨🌍 ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #fund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #ArtemisFund #DiverseFounders #VentureCapital #Innovation #Empowerment #StartupEcosystem #DiversityandInclusion #SocietalImpact

Summary: Boston-based Flint Capital has closed its third fund at $160 million, with a unique strategy of attracting IT entrepreneurs as limited partner investors. The firm has also seen success in investing in Europe and Israel with a focus on US expansion. Despite a challenging fundraising market, Flint Capital was able to secure funds in 18 months. Key Takeaways: Flint Capital closed its third fund at $160 million, four times larger than the initial fund in 2013. The firm's success can be attributed to its strategy of targeting IT entrepreneurs as limited partner investors. Investments in Europe and Israel, with a focus on US expansion, have contributed to Flint Capital's success. Counter arguments: The current fundraising market is challenging, with established firms taking a larger share of the pie. Flint Capital faced difficulties in converting initial conversations into limited partnerships during the fundraising process. #venturecapital #fundraising #vc

Exciting news for InDebted as they announce their A$60M Series C led by Airtree! The capital will enable Indebted to further expand their operations around the world where they're experiencing significant demand. They're launching in the UAE and Mexico in September, and following this, they'll use the fresh capital to further their presence in Europe and South America. Congrats to Josh Foreman and the entire InDebted team on this next chapter 🚀 #vc #venturecapital #venturefunding #startup #startups #fintech #fintechnews #fintechinnovation Ryan Collins Alix Brunet Sam Stone Yara Alenazi Maximilian Stemper Anvesh Ramineni Carlos Jo Loo Cheryl Teo Weijian Chen Vivian Zhang

What does it mean to be an angel investor? An angel investor is a high-net-worth individual who provides financial backing (and often broader support) for small and growing companies in exchange for equity (shares) in the business or convertible debt. There is a myth that only massively rich people can become angel investors. People assume that it’s an exclusive club. In reality, you can angel invest with £1000 or £2000 per deal. But you need to remember that a successful angel investor will have a portfolio of between 17 and 25 investments over time so you’re still making a significant financial commitment if you want to be successful (and your money is always at risk). As an angel investor with a smaller cash contribution to make you’ve got a few options with where to start -  - Start by looking at Crowdcube (or another crowdfunding platform) to understand the way equity funding works and explore the companies that are raising. You can invest through these platforms too. - Join an angel group (check out the options on the UK Business Angels Association directory by location or theme) - Learn about angel investing with Angel Investing School or UKBAA - Invest through a fund - EIS and SEIS Funds will pool investors’ money to invest in startups and offer tax incentives. Some Venture Capital Trusts also accept smaller investments. Just think, rather than a pension fund manager (or bank) deciding where your money is invested, you could hand pick investments that better reflect your values and interests (and taking the risk accordingly). On Wednesday, Inclusive Angels and Amy Newton welcomed c. 100 people to explore the myths and challenges of the existing investment ecosystem. I thoroughly enjoyed hosting the session and exploring the myths and challenges of investing in underestimated founders. We also invited attendees to think about their role in ensuring a more equitable landscape of investment that better reflects the fact that founders with gender or ethnic diversity will deliver 30% higher returns on exit (according to Kaufmann Fellows research). I was very grateful to be involved and to have the opportunity to explore the brilliant founder stories of Frances Lucraft (feminine hygiene), Samantha Payne MBE (robotic prosthetics), Clayton Planter (social mobility), and Josephine Dorh (antibiotic diagnostics). Do check out their brilliant businesses and support them however you can. #angelinvestment #funding #southwest #bristol #community #equity #investment

 'Actually, this year is the very best time to fund a company and start a company'. But actually [in] '24, it's really true.” - Rainer Märkle Check out Anne Sraders Sifted article on VCs' tips for fundraising founders in 2024. #venturecapital