Investors
For
some entrepreneurial ventures, startup capital needs are minimal. If an
entrepreneur has a low risk profile (and an idea that doesn’t require a
lot of startup capital), this could be the way to go.
For other ventures, startup capital requirements are more involved. While there are entrepreneurs who are able to finance their startups themselves - either from savings and investments or by continuing to work at least part time - most of us need to investigate other sources of financing.
In addition to all the standard options that entrepreneurs have relied on for decades - loans, credit card financing, money from family and friends - here are some other ways that you can secure the funds you need:
As the fabulous The NextWomen DWEN Interview Series draws near its close, we'll be bringing you some of our favourite gems of wisdom from the series, focusing on certain key subjects. This week's hot topic is: raising capital.
Karmijn Kapitaal announces the first close of its first private equity fund. Over 30 investors have invested in the fund. Karmijn's focus on companies with a balanced management team of men and women is new and unique in Europe.
Amadeus Capital Partners, Van den Ende & Deitmers and Business Growth Fund invest $25m in Unruly.
One of the world’s fastest growing social video distribution companies, Unruly, has attracted $25m funding from Amadeus Capital Partners, Van den Ende & Deitmers and Business Growth Fund.
Unruly has delivered a number of high profile social video campaigns for global brands, including Evian’s “Roller Babies” (the most viewed online advertisement ever) and T-Mobile’s “Life's for Sharing”.
Can you elaborate a bit on: "How did you fund it, with how much money, and what is the business model? This is for a lot of people great to read, how you did it, what route you chose, which hurdles etc. as for many this is a thing to consider when starting out. Also, on how you are dealing with the growth is interesting.
This is what I asked Charlotte Semler-West, serial entrepreneur and founder of Charlotte & Co, and prior thereto, founder of Myla. She replied:
I chose the fund the business start-up myself. I had previously founded and run a VC backed business start-up and I really didn’t want to go that way again. I can say the following….(probably more than you wanted!!!) (see further down in the interview, ed. SGB)
The
Startup Genome is looking for a critical mass of women to participate in the
Startup Genome Project in order to aid their discovery of the DNA of women- led
startups. By joining the project, you will be adding the dimension of
quantitative data to their quest.
The Startup Genome has already learned that approximately 70% of the startups in their dataset scaled prematurely. I am very interested to see if the same pattern holds for women, because through the interviews I have conducted over the last year, the consensus has been that women tend to be perfectionistic, moving slower but more surely than their male counterparts. Is it possible that the more careful nature of women may cause them to fail less?
One of our well read posts at The Next Women is Help for Startups! A Semi-Complete List of Startup Accelerators. Natasha Starkell, CEO of GoalEurope is providing some in depth analysis of the startup accelerators in Eastern Europe.
My personal view is that the accelerator programs have become MBA 2.0
for entrepreneurs. Compared to a standard MBA degree, which covers
generic topics from macroeconomics, to general management and corporate
finance, accelerator programs have a more focused approach to teach and
prepare tech entrepreneurs to do one thing very well: build and grow
their tech businesses. Of course they are as good as their mentor
network.
This week I did my first
official investment pitch in Amsterdam at The NextWomen Pitch Event, along with 9
other slightly nervous women.
Organised brilliantly by Simone Brummelhuis, we got the chance to practise our pitches in the afternoon, followed by the real thing in the evening to a room full of people with 6 potential investors.
Nine women-led startups and a number of mostly female guests gathered at Microsoft in Amsterdam on 29th November for a Pitch Event with a mixed panel of experts and angel & VC investors.
The event was organized by The NextWomen, in cooperation with Astia and supported by Microsoft BizSpark. Astia’s Simone Brummelhuis kicked off by announcing that the theme of the evening was "Gold and how to dig for it as an entrepeneur". The panel - the goldmine - were then asked to briefly introduce themselves and offer their golden tip to the pitching entrepeneurs. Their advice:
It must be great, you just started your business, and the investors are fighting for a piece of the cake. A couple of examples of young companies that raised finance recently:
ZAARLY
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