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Download a sample copy of YCF! - This illustrates the typical coverage and style of our monthly publication tracking early stage companies in Scotland. (18/12/12) ...more
LINC Scotland appoints Jock Millican as chair - LINC Scotland has announced the appointment of Jock Millican as the new chairman of the national association for business angels in Scotland. He takes over from Peter Shakeshaft who has chaired the organisation since 2006. (06/05/13) ...more
Starting and growing innovation-based companies - YCF's 13th annual conference will be held at Stirling Management Centre Thursday 12 September 09:30 to 16:30.
The conference will investigate what it takes to move a venture from start-up to high growth. (30/04/13) ...more
LINC Scotland members increase investment in early stage companies - LINC Scotland members invested £13.76m into Scottish early-stage companies in 2012 – a 13% increase in investment on the previous year. (15/03/13) ...more
Crowdfunding breaks financial barriers for businesswomen - Women are more successful at crowdfunding startup and growth capital than they are at securing traditional forms of financial support. Statistics also reveal that women are actually better than men at raising the money they need from the crowd. (15/03/13) ...more
Clear Returns - We promised the young companies which exhibited at the 2012 YCF Annual Conference that we would report on their progress during the year. Vicky Brock of Clear Returns, which has developed software to enable retailers to manage product returns, has give the following update on her business. (15/03/13) ...more
UK Steel Enterprise backs FUELlink Systems - Bellshill-based FUELlink Systems is using an equity investment from UK Steel Enterprise (UKSE) to push ahead with innovative new technologies. (15/03/13) ...more
YCF online archive - YCF's searchable online archive, with just under 1,200 articles from previous issues dating back almost eight years to November 2004, is now available to subscribers on a six month trial basis.
(16/10/12) ...more
The Risk Capital Market in Scotland 2009-2011 - This study into the Scottish risk capital market was carried out by Jonathan Harris of Young Company Finance and Professor Colin Mason of the University of Glasgow and is the fourth such report in a series dating back to 2001. Download the full report here. (18/12/12) ...more
Sign up to receive YCF's e-bulletin! - Our monthly e-bulletin gives news about the wider young company landscape, for which we do not have space in the monthly newsletter. Sign up now - there is an unsubscribe option if you change your mind later. (28/07/10) ...more
New life sciences fund launched by Rock Spring Ventures - The £50m venture capital fund will focus on early-stage life science and health technology companies. (24/01/13) ...more
Realignment: UK Life Science Start-up report 2012 - The third report in this series by BioCity Nottingham and Mobius Life Sciences Fund covers the five year period from 2007 to 2011, and makes comparisons with the five year periods covered by the previous two reports. (24/01/13) ...more
Elite! - The subtitle of this book by Floyd Woodrow and Simon Acland is ‘The secret to exceptional leadership and performance’. (24/01/13) ...more
Early stage investment: where are we now? - Speakers' slides from YCF's 10th annual conference on 13 September are now available for download at the foot of this article.
(05/04/12) ...more
VCs and venture capital - The British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) recently reported figures for the activity of its members, covering 501 UK-managed funds.
(16/07/12) ...more
YCF Young Company Showcase 2012 - Download here our showcase publication, which is intended to spread the word about a few young companies by giving a short summary of their business, and focusing especially on the markets they are trying to reach and the ways in which they plan to reach them. (28/09/12) ...more
mLED builds on market feedback - Braveheart Investment Group has led a new funding round in mLED, a leader in microLED technology. (16/07/12) ...more
People in the news - This page gives news of people involved in the early stage fast growth company sector in Scotland - appointments and promotions, awards and recognitions. See the latest news here, and let us know of any items we could include! (27/05/10) ...more
Investor news August 2012 - Preliminary reports from Braveheart Investment Group plc and Scottish Equity Partners (15/08/12) ...more
Aquila BioMedical offers novel CRO approach - Aquila BioMedical announced recently that it has secured a SMART grant award to develop further one of its specialised tests.
(16/04/12) ...more
Celtic Renewables plans to produce better biofuels - Celtic Renewables was formed to commercialise a process for producing a superior biofuel (and other high value sustainable products) from the by-products of biological industries.
(16/01/12) ...more
Jim McColl OBE – Going Global - Those who have heard Jim McColl speak before would have known what to expect, but for those who had not had that opportunity, and particularly for the young entrepreneurs in the audience, his presentation at the iVenture Tuesday event on 29 May at the University of Strathclyde was inspirational. (15/06/12) ...more
EPIS final year - The sixth annual meeting of the EPIS network was held last month, and as usual brought together entrepreneurs who have participated in the programme, investors, mentors, and other supporters (01/02/10) ...more
Recent awards - Young companies in Scotland have been actively competing in a number of competitions in recent months, many of them achieving notable success. (12/07/12) ...more
Business Forum Scotland June 2012 - The final event for the current session in the East of Scotland saw a good turnout (despite the tempting weather outside) to hear two very different companies discuss their business issues. (03/07/12) ...more
Crowdfunding – new panacea or future train wreck? - LINC Scotland’s Nelson Gray - European Business Angel of the Year in 2008 - looks at this new trend and wonders whether it can deliver all that it promises.
(30/11/11) ...more
LINC and YCF join forces - LS Ventures, LINC’s new commercial subsidiary, has signed an agreement with Young Company Finance to license all YCF’s activities in Scotland.
(02/02/11) ...more
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Early stage investment: where are we now?
05 April 2012
Speakers' slides from YCF's 10th annual conference on 13 September are now available for download at the foot of this article.

The conference discussed recent trends in the early stage investment environment, how they affect young companies and the way in which they access suitable forms of finance.

There were four sessions - a general session followed by three sessions focusing on particular market sectors.
 

General Session

Ian Ritchie, serial entrepreneur,founded Office Workstations Limited (OWL) in Edinburgh in 1984 and built the business before selling to Panasonic of Japan in December 1989. He is currently chairman of iomart plc, Computer Application Services Ltd, the Interactive Design Institute, Blipfoto, and RedFox Media.

Carlos Silva, President and COO of Seedrs, an equity based crowdfunding website, the first in the UK to win FSA approval. 

Tim Lafferty, managing director of Global Corporate Venturing, previously with Dow Jones Private Equity News.

Nelson Gray, angel investor in Scotland and with Ohio TechAngels, investment adviser at England’s Angel CoFund, and special projects director at LINC Scotland providing advice on the establishment and structuring of early stage investment funds in Scotland and overseas. 

SPONSOR

Kelvin King, IP Valuation Consultant, Marks & Clerk Consulting LLP, on the valuation of intangible assets

LIFE SCIENCES

Hugh Griffith, founder of Bioenvision, sold in 2007 to Genzyme Corp, and now CEO of angel group Alida Capital International and of NuCana BioMed, a young oncology focused biopharmaceutical company.  
Glenn Crocker, CEO of BioCity Nottingham and author of the UK LIfe Science Start-up Report

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Irene Maffini, New Ventures Analyst in the Innovation team at Carbon Trust
David Campbell, investor chairman of Airborne Energy and Sentient Medical, CFO at AlbaTERN.

ICT

Andrin Bachmann, founder of Swedish telecom company Glocalnet which floated and was then acquired by Telenor, then set up a European office for US VC M/C Venture Partners before starting his own specialist VC in London, Piton Capital, which focuses on companies which have “a product or service that gets better the more people use it”.

Shane Corstorphine, previously Director of Performance for Barclays Corporate, joined Europe’s leading travel search site Skyscanner as Chief Financial Officer earlier this year.

Niall Brown, responsible for the IBM relationship with Consultants and Systems Integrators in Scotland

 

Conference sponsors:

With transactions completed to date in excess of £155m, DC Consulting ( www.dcconsult.co.uk ) are specialists in fund raising, delivering investable solutions to meet both clients’ and investors’ expectations.

Marks & Clerk ( www.marks-clerk.com ) is the UK’s largest firm of patent and trade mark attorneys and advises companies on their intellectual property across a full range of sectors worldwide.
 
 
At Santander Corporate Banking (www.santandercb.co.uk), we believe in building long-term relationships by placing the customer at the heart of all we do.  Our Breakthrough programme includes funding, business support, events and consultancy which will help high-performing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) leap to the next level of sustainable growth.
If you want to find out more about the Breakthrough programme, take a look at our dedicated website or register for our special ‘Breakthrough Live’ event that will be take place on October 18th in Edinburgh (contact: Steve Hand from Santander on 07771 506701 or steve.hand@santander.co.uk).
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