Michael Wood

2 Year Fhunded Snapshot: 💰£21M+ early-stage equity raised through the Fhunded VC community 🧑‍💼 Around 40 new, high-skilled jobs created across Lancashire 🌹 19 leading VC's engaged with Lancashire-based deals via Fhunded events 🪽 Launch of the Fhunded Angel network 💻 Roll-out of Lancashire's bespoke Dealroom platform Read more: https://lnkd.in/eCX353jb

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Back in 2023 we spoke with former Plend CEO, Robert Pasco, about how he secured £40 million in one of the largest funding rounds in their sector. In this testimonial, CEO Robert Pasco reveals how our team transformed Plend’s pitch materials and investor messaging, attracting top investors. From navigating his first pitch to refining every detail, Robert shares how the Robot Mascot team's support was instrumental to his success.    Watch the full video for insights into what makes a pitch truly investment-ready. ▶️   #InvestorSuccess #RobotMascot #FundraisingJourney #StartupGrowth #InvestmentReady #ConsumerLending #PitchToWin #PlendSuccess

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740 UK startups announced funding rounds in 2025. Where are they based? 🔎 It comes as no surprise that London dominates UK tech 📌 but it's great to see that over a third of firms were based outside the M25 last year. Which VC funds and angels are backing startups outside the capital? We keep seeing... Mercia Ventures The FSE Group Maven Capital Partners PXN Group BGF Foresight Group SFC Capital Scottish Enterprise Northern Gritstone Fuel Ventures 🚀 Parkwalk ACF Investors Haatch ...who have I missed? Soapbox insights brought to you with K&L Gates | Venture Comet LTD | Sage

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The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is a brilliant tool for early-stage fundraising in the UK but things can go wrong fast in follow on rounds if you're not careful. Here are some critical pitfalls that advisers, founders and investors need to watch out for: ❗ Mistakes with share classes Introducing new preference shares in a follow on round? This can invalidate EIS reliefs if not structured properly, especially if they carry liquidation or dividend rights not available to EIS shares. ❗Relying on an old Advance Assurance Just because your first round was EIS compliant doesn’t mean you’re automatically in the clear the next time round especially if the company has grown and changed in the meantime. Every new round should be checked for ongoing eligibility. ❗Guaranteed exit arrangements Terms that allow early exit or guaranteed buybacks in later rounds can breach the “no prearranged exits” rule, risking loss of relief for investors. ❗Timing of Funds & Use of Proceeds Funds raised must be used for qualifying business activities within the required timeframe something easily overlooked when a company is shifting strategy or scaling rapidly post series A. ❗Retrospective Impact The worst case scenario is that a poorly structured follow on round can retroactively disqualify earlier rounds, meaning investors lose tax relief and trust is damaged. Have you faced EIS challenges in later rounds? Do get in touch if you’d like assistance.

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We often think of funding as a binary choice (VC or nothing). The smart companies use a mix of grants,debt and equity to retain ownership. 🔑 The Non-Dilutive options Grants (EIC, Innovate UK): Funds high-risk R&D and scientific validation without taking equity. Venture Debt: Extends runway and funds growth without giving up 20% of your company. Used best after a successful equity round. CVC/Corporates: Provides strategic capital that comes with other benefits: first customers and direct market access. PocketVC's Opinion: Never use equity capital to fund work that non-dilutive capital can cover. Use grants for science risk, debt for operational scale, and reserve equity only for market domination. Full guide on leveraging these non-dilutive options to preserve your ownership on the PocketVC blog. 👇 https://lnkd.in/eBeKrieH #AlternativeFinance #VentureDebt #FounderStrategy #PocketVC

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Some things I think the UK government could do to support SMEs: R&D Tax Credits/Rebates: Many innovative businesses rely on their R&D cheque as their only free cash at the year's end or as a means for founders to get paid. While this is helpful, it could be even more beneficial. I propose that the R&D amounts people can claim be REDUCED, but in exchange, R&D credits and rebates are issued monthly in advance. For example, instead of receiving £100k at the end of 12 months, I would submit my costs monthly for the upcoming month, with immediate payment. In exchange for having cash in my account rather than HMRC’s, I’d accept a 5-10% reduction in my annual claim. Despite the process implications for HMRC, they would benefit from a lower total R&D tax rebate outlay. Businesses would gain an advantage by investing immediately in growth and innovation, rather than waiting for rebates on expenses incurred up to a year ago. This also encourages higher employment levels. Of course, challenges exist; HMRC would need to implement new processes, including measures to combat fraud (making individuals personally liable could help). However, this change would significantly improve cash flow for SMEs, enabling more to survive and thrive. Patents: As a nation, we should encourage businesses to patent great ideas, reinforcing our historic identity as a country that punches above its weight, especially against well-funded American firms. I propose adding patent costs to the R&D changes. If something is worth patenting, a variable percentage of the cost should be added to the R&D cheque. Additionally, a national office should be established to support businesses to go through the process. Over-patenting could be a concern, where individuals might attempt to patent random ideas to lower their tax bill. This can be addressed by HMRC using AI to analyse patent strength (against patent databases) and its potential contribution to UK innovation. Higher-scoring patents could claim a greater R&D tax rebate, while applications below a certain threshold would be ineligible for the additional rebate. Grants: In my view, the grant process is ineffective. Reviewers often lack the necessary insight, and projects are funded only if they score highly against strict criteria, like a thesis being marked. Only about 2.5% of projects receive funding, and many grants aren't fully issued (for instance, a recent grant for female founders left considerable funds untapped). I propose eliminating current reviewers and creating regional committees of successful entrepreneurs and academics to evaluate applications. The best submissions would then be forwarded to a government committee for final review (ensure no corruption, etc). Awards would be fewer but significantly larger than current offerings. I'm sure there are loads more things the government could do, that don't cost any more money, but would just be a smarter application of process.

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My AI and Automation driven 30gram6 news and data platform is releasing a UK focused M&A tool. As always we are following a "release early, release often" philosophy so there will be a few rough edges but hopefully some useful content for anyone interested in the UK M&A landscape. You can filter by Trade vs Financial Backer (PE/VC) content as well as by Sector, etc. Also a directory of Investors and a directory of Advisors. NB Humans not involved in the content creation. Next on the roadmap is to sort out the user login to drive personalisation and to allow people and firms to curate their own public profiles...

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Looking forward to joining Startup 2 Standup® this Friday Over 30+ years as a CFO, founder and investor, I’ve seen one consistent pattern: Well-organised businesses get funded. Chaotic ones don’t. This session will focus on something simple — but critical: Getting organised for investment, growth, and exit. Because structure isn’t bureaucracy. It’s credibility. If you're raising, scaling, or even thinking about an exit one day, this conversation matters. Hope to see some of you there.

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Introducing Venture Builder James Varga - Founder & Founding Partner at Closing Foundry! 📍 UK-based | Turning Founder-Led Selling into Repeatable Revenue 🤔 Who is James & how can he help founders? James Varga is a serial founder and founding partner at Closing Foundry. He helps seed to Series A companies scale commercially by transforming founder-led selling into a system that actually repeats, without the chaos, guesswork, or over-reliance on one person carrying the bag. His focus is execution. Clear ICP. Strong messaging. Deal discipline. Forecast hygiene. A weekly cadence that keeps pipeline moving and deals from stalling. Beyond Closing Foundry, James supports international growth as a Department for Business & Trade Export Champion and Estonian e-Resident Envoy, helping UK companies navigate EU expansion with confidence. 🔨 What has James worked on? 📈 Seed to Series A sales execution and CRO-layer support via Closing Foundry 🌍 UK to EU expansion support as an Estonian e-Residency Envoy and DBT Export Champion 🤖 Founding Partner at Business AI Alliance, driving practical AI adoption across ecosystems 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Founder of Building Scotland, an ecosystem tracker for founder-led conversations 🌿 Founder of Wildfire Gin Typical outcomes from Closing Foundry programmes: shorter sales cycles by 20-40%, win-rate lifts of 20-40%, and forecast accuracy within ±10%, before scaling headcount. 🤝 How does James work with founders and teams? Diagnostic first. He starts with buyer evidence and pipeline reality, then helps teams build the assets and operating rhythm that make performance repeatable - in focused sprints, fractional roles, or advisory engagements. His approach: tighten the ICP, build the account lists and messaging, install a deal review cadence, and get hands-on in complex deals when it matters. Focus areas: 💸 Fintech & financial services 🌱 Net zero & energy transition 📈 Startups & scale-ups 🌍 Exports & international expansion (UK to EU and global) 👉 If you're a founder still carrying the revenue yourself, James Varga helps you build the system that means you don't have to forever. 🚀 Who are the Venture Builders? ➙ https://lnkd.in/d4AjNPZd #startups #scaleups #salesexecution #foundersales #venturebuilders #founders #fintech #netzero #exports #revenueoperations #growth

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Some UK cities are quietly outperforming their funding levels doing more with less. When we built the Built in Notts Index we compared over 20 tech cities using the same metrics. 💸 Innovate UK funding 🚀 Startup creation rates 🎓 Graduate talent pipeline 📈 Survival and growth data And the pattern was clear it’s not just about money. Cities like Coventry, Sheffield and York are producing strong innovation outcomes with less funding per startup than the UK average. The challenge and the opportunity is how we turn that efficiency into visibility and investment. You can explore the full rankings and insights here: https://lnkd.in/erhAisGJ If you work in one of these cities I’d love to hear what’s driving the ecosystem forward where you are. #UKTech #Innovation #Research #Startups

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UK/EU Ties, €25M FIRSTPICK Fund, Milvus & SAVA Founders join the show It's Tuesday, 17th March and Today on VENTURES we have an Allstar line up. "SpeedRunning The Intel Playbook" Op-ed: Linked below On the show today: 11:30 Assia Kasdi: Founder and CEO, Milvus Advanced 12:00 Isabel Fox: Head of Investor Relations, Hoxton Ventures 12:30 Sava Founders: Renato Circi and Rafaël Michali 13:15 Andra Bagdonaite: General Partner, FIRSTPICK 13:30 Jean-Philippe Lorinquer: Partner, OSS Ventures 14:00 Sam Baker: Investor, Planet A Ventures

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£100m of funding is available to companies from Seed to Series A, as part of Innovate UK's Growth Catalyst program. That's up to £900k per company. They've built a suitability checker to see if your business is right for their funding, which I'll share in the comments. There are over 200 investor partners, meaning if they commit to invest, you may be eligible for funding. Grants aren't right for everyone, but can be a great funding source to explore.

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The UK’s brightest founders and professionals are quietly packing their bags. And it’s not just because of the weather. Or politics. A growing number of UK entrepreneurs are rethinking not if they’ll leave, but when. In our 2025 Relocation Report, we surveyed 500+ UK business owners and professionals. The findings were eye-opening: ➡️ 38% are already planning to relocate within 12 months ➡️ 62% within two years ➡️ Over half are looking to Iberia - Portugal and Spain - for a new start This isn’t escapism. It’s a response to deeper shifts in how people define success: flexibility, wellbeing and belonging now rank alongside profit and growth. I break down what’s driving this exodus, and why Southern Europe has become the new frontier for British talent. Read the full report on the Touchdown blog (see link in the comments)

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I keep being asked what is Rest Easier? Rest Easier is a first-of-its-kind B2B platform that combines financial wellbeing with integrated estate planning, delivering real, measurable impact in a single UK-friendly experience. Unlike platforms that offer generic financial education or standalone legal documents, Rest Easier blends both and guides users through an intuitive, step-by-step journey that turns complex tasks, like updating guardians, beneficiaries, and powers of attorney. into simple, single-click actions. For HR and benefits leaders, it provides a scalable solution that reduces risk, boosts productivity, and strengthens governance, while delivering tangible outcomes like lower turnover and higher employee engagement. For employees, Rest Easier makes financial planning feel personal, contextual, and actionable, from understanding net worth to aligning pensions, life insurance, and wills, all in one secure platform. With centralised governance, proactive education embedded in workflows, and privacy-respecting data insights, Rest Easier helps organisations support staff at every life stage. Educating your workforce on protecting their generational wealth, educating up in their families to ensure structure and peace of mind. Understanding in one place all their financial options, and allowing each and every person to understand what they are truly worth. Ready to see how it fits your workforce? Shout me for a 30-minute demo to explore personalised use cases and a scalable rollout plan. #FinancialWellbeing #EmployeeBenefits #EstatePlanning #HRTech #RestEasier

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The two rules of business: 1. Don't tell people everything you know 2. .... 🙃 Plus a bonus rule for you , founders need to get set up with the right tools, so I've spent ages digging out the best ones here: https://lnkd.in/evRCNKed

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Looking for clarity on your funding journey? 💫 Pathways to Funding is designed to guide ambitious founders through the complexities of raising capital. The programme offers: 👉Investor Intelligence – specialist advisors who understand early-stage and growth capital. 👉Funding Readiness Workshops – refine your pitch and narrative with confidence. 👉Northern Investor Hub – connect with a network of active investors committed to innovation in the North East. 👉Tailored Events & Clinics – practical sessions shaped around the challenges founders face. Together, these elements create a framework for founders to build confidence, sharpen strategy and strengthen investor connections. Find out more 🔗 https://ow.ly/3wx450Xmife The North East Combined Authority

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At Ninety Two Ventures and Sam Shaw Media, we surveyed 45 UK FinTech founders on what they actually got from accelerator programmes. Over 90% found them valuable. 62% credited them for expanding their network, and 29% for access to mentors. The overwhelming majority pointing to the same thing: relationships. Three things stood out from the data for anyone running a programme: 1️⃣ Build cross-functional peer groups: The best learning happens laterally - founders sharing what's working in real time, not just listening to experts talk. 2️⃣ Make it peer-led: Good practice spreads faster through conversation than content delivery. It’s amazing how a constructive critique from a peer can be so powerful. 3️⃣ Don't let it die when the cohort ends: Run a series of moderatedforums that keep the dialogue going. So many programmes miss this point...it ends when the people leave the room and data is published. All of this flips the design on its head - away from “what can we teach” to “who can we connect, and how do we make it stick?” 👀

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Great to be involved in this for Susanne Chishti and the FinTech Circle team. Scaling fintech founders need brilliant NEDs and advisors around them. Happy to share some experience of 20+ years of raising VC tech funding, investing directly and from more recently building a £13bn VC Network at VenturePath. This programme module will help more NEDs better understand the options available and process for their companies to follow, to secure growth capital at Series A-B into the UK's high growth fintech scaleups

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When’s the last time you really reviewed your tech stack? Most SME business owners and Finance teams don’t, until something breaks. What feels “fine” today might already be costing you time, money, and opportunities. (Since when has fine been good enough!) Most SMEs we speak to haven’t reviewed their systems in 2+ years. In that time, dozens of new features and apps have been released in the Xero ecosystem alone. That means: Inefficiencies your team has normalised are quietly draining capacity. Duplicate processes are slowing you down without you noticing. The tools you chose years ago may no longer be the best fit for your business. Hyphen Digital acts as your critical friend. We help SMEs take a step back, evaluate whether their tools are still serving business goals, and identify smarter options within the Xero ecosystem. #TechAdvisory #XeroApps

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