Nadim Saad

🚀 We launched (yet) another fundraising accelerator last week! 💰 This particular investment-ready programme supports under-represented founders in London, and is funded with the support of Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, delivered in partnership with Funding London. 📈 We covered a whole host of topics including types of investors available at different stage, how they think, building FOMO in a fundraise and what best-in-class investor documents look like. 👉 Our mission - to increase the number of funding rounds led by female or ethnic minority founders and have a material impact on the fundraising statistics over the next 12 months.

151

8 Comments

We strongly believe that bringing AI literacy into schools is one of the most important things we can do. It is the start of critical a supply chain of confidence and capability that will help our kids thrive in the new world being thrust onto us all. At UiLab we have put our collective brains together and delivered a series of AI focused courses sepcifically for educators. The impact was real, tangible and as good as we'd hoped. The good news is we're also product people, so we built it in a way that can now be delivered across the country, which is exactly what we intend to do. So if you have school kids or are an educator grappling with AI and what to do with it - hit us up for a visit and we'll leave you with superhuman(ish) AI skills. P.S I wrote this post myself (sorry Claude) so please excuse the lack of dashes and generally unrealistic exuberance. Kaitlyn Sapier UiLab Link for more info ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gUBrmpwv

12

1 Comment

💡 Investment Announcement At the Conduit EIS Impact Fund, our 100-Year Life thesis drives us to back ventures that help people healthier, and more fulfilling lives for longer. We are thrilled to announce Conduit Connect's latest investment in Gladys, an AI-powered home care platform on a mission to fix Britain’s broken care system. Founded by George Robinson and Alex Sorisi, Gladys combines smart technology, logistics know-how, and a relentless focus on better outcomes for both families and carers. The platform matches people in need of support with the UK’s best local carers — offering 5-star care at fairer prices, while helping carers earn up to 65% more than traditional agencies. As George Robinson puts it: “We all know that Britain’s care system is broken. Re-arranging deck-chairs on a sinking ship will not cut it. People are dying unnecessarily, and brilliant carers are undervalued and underpaid. Gladys is using this investment to supercharge its technology, and deliver the service that we would want for our loved ones.” Gladys has already supported tens of thousands of hours of independent living across a 20,000 km area. With this new funding — part of a £1.5m Seed round led by Cornerstone VC — Gladys aims to expand nationwide, delivering hundreds of thousands of hours of quality care by 2026. We believe technology can help rebuild trust and dignity in care — creating meaningful, well-paid work and ensuring that people receive the support they deserve long before they get sick. Rodney Appiah Paolo Pio Exceptional Ventures Gabrielle Morgan Gemma Lakin Conduit Connect The Conduit EIS Impact Fund The Conduit Adam Lawrence #ImpactInvesting #EIS #HealthTech #AIforGood #CareInnovation #ConduitImpactFund #FutureOfCare #StartupInvestment

63

5 Comments

Navigating SEIS/EIS can be complex—but it doesn’t have to be.  We’ve just published a step-by-step guide on Quoroom that covers everything from eligibility to tax relief. It’s designed to help founders make fundraising easier and build investor trust. Take a look—and feel free to drop any questions in the comments. Happy to chat. 👇

11

I’ve spent the last 12 years inside the UK’s enterprise support ecosystem: Accelerators. Incubators. Grants. Corporate programmes. Universities. Foundations. In practice, founders experience something very different. They complete one programme, gain real value, then… hit a cliff edge. No warm handover. No shared data. No sense of what comes next. They start again. New application. New metrics. New people. Energy that should be going into building a business gets spent navigating the system. After supporting 10,000+ founders through Hatch Enterprise, the pattern is hard to ignore: - This isn’t a funding problem. - It’s a coordination problem. We keep investing in programmes, but underinvest in the infrastructure between them. And the fragmentation tax is huge. For founders. For delivery organisations. For funders. That’s why I’ve teamed up with Caroline Gormley to explore a different approach. Not more pilots. Not another shiny initiative. But joined-up, place-based enterprise ecosystems where programmes, funding and pathways actually connect. We’ve just published Part 1 of a short article series unpacking: • why ecosystems routinely operate at ~50% of their potential • what fragmentation really costs • why coordination delivers non-linear returns If you’re investing into enterprise support programmes, be it at a local council, a foundation, via corporate initiatives or are deploying support at an enterprise support organisation, wrestling with these issues, I’d genuinely love to hear what you’re seeing on the ground. Because founders don’t fail in isolation. Systems fail them first. 👉 Article link in comments.

143

40 Comments

UK university degree no longer ‘passport to social mobility’, says King’s vice-chancellor | Students | The Guardian https://lnkd.in/dUNtvaXW The competition for graduate jobs is not just all because of AI filling out forms or AI taking away jobs. It’s also because of the stalling of our economy and causing a relative surplus of graduates. So the simple promise of a good job if you get a university degree, has now become conditional on which university you went to, which course you took,” Kapur said. “The old equation of the university as a passport to social mobility, meant that if you got a degree you were almost certain to get a job as a socially mobile citizen. Now it has become a visa for social mobility – it gives you the chance to visit the arena that has graduate jobs and the related social mobility, but whether you can make it there is not a guarantee.”

5

NEW: Open Equity episode with Callum Laing is live! Callum Laing is a partner at Unity Group, founder at Global Investment Leaders Directive (GILD) and Veblen Director Programme. He is globally renowned for his work on democratising access to public markets for SMEs, and supporting entrepreneurs to gain board experience and investment. In this episode, we unpack: → Why most struggle with fundraising - and how to do it well → How to go public without losing control → The power of partnerships - how to start and sustain them in a win-win way Plus much more… This is a good, grounded conversation about the ins and outs of the private and public markets for entrepreneurs and investors. Enjoy! → Watch the full episode now by searching 'Open Equity With Thomas Cornwall' on YouTube, Spotify - or click the links in the comments below.

34

8 Comments

So many pearls of wisdom in this week's Assembly podcast with the brilliant Nelson Sivalingam. If you haven't come across Nelson, he's a serial entrepreneur and CEO and founder of HowNow. He's also a published author and a regular speaker at various events. We discussed a wide range of topics in our chat, but our real focus was on skills and impact - two things we should all be thinking about in L&D in 2026! Here's a clip, links to the full episode in the comments. And yes, we recorded this just before Christmas. Hope you appreciate Nelson's exceptionally festive jumper 🎄

28

6 Comments

#Startups. Regional fundraising plays work in 2025 for #Investors and teams. Reading and Manchester show solid funding acceptance while London remains competitive. Tapio builds regional investor target lists and pairs them with a local customer pipeline. Prove proximity advantage. In a selective market, precision beats profile. #UnitedKingdomRegions #Fundraising #VentureCapital #UnitedKingdomTech

6

SME founders: here’s what buyers are looking for I was asked about this on the TechExits podcast, so here are some of the main criteria search fund entrepreneurs look for in SMEs. If you are preparing to sell, focus on these four areas: 1️⃣ 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 Buyers want to see consistent growth and a clear path forward. If the economy is slow, growth through acquisitions can also be a valid strategy. 2️⃣ 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 Strong margins make the business more attractive and give buyers confidence in the quality of earnings. There will be years when you want to invest in team members and product, but if your plan is to sell the company, it may be better to make sure you have the right balance of growth and margins. 3️⃣ 𝗟𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 You can build a great business with a single major client, such as a public sector entity. However, that is often not a sellable business for search funds. If one, two, or three customers represent a large share of revenue, buyers will see that as risk. Customer diversification is a key requirement. 4️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 (𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗻) This is especially important in software. High churn weakens the case for durability and future growth. These four metrics matter a lot, but timing is also near the top of the list. If possible, sell after a few years of strong performance, when the business has clear momentum and healthy margins.

29

1 Comment

At 12:00 Esha Vatsa, Partner at Mercuri is live on VENTURES Esha invests at the intersection of media, entertainment, and technology through Mercuri's £50M fund. From gaming and AI to developer tools and the future of work, she's deploying cheques into the startups reshaping how content is created, distributed, and monetised. Some standouts include: Sundar Arvind, Mozart AI Alex Cooper & Ben Warner, Electric Twin Justin Hackney & Xavier Collins, Wonder Studios Nicolas Dehandschoewercker & Luc Mahoux-Nakamura, minitap Creative has never looked so good. Search on YouTube, LinkedIn & X to watch: Viraj or VENTURES

11

1 Comment

The UK tech ecosystem continues to prove its resilience and its global relevance. The Tech Nation Report 2025 gives one of the clearest looks yet at where UK tech stands today. From record levels of VC funding to the continued rise of scaleups and unicorns, it is clear that the sector remains one of the strongest in Europe. What stands out this year is the growing focus on international expansion. Nearly half of UK founders are considering overseas growth, with the United States emerging as the most popular market. It reinforces a truth we see across our own data at shipshape.vc: access to capital and scale increasingly depends on global reach. We were delighted to collaborate with Marco De Novellis & Tech Nation and provide insights that helped shape this year’s report. Their work continues to capture both the opportunities and the structural challenges that define the next stage of UK tech growth. The ambition is there. The talent is world-class. Now it is about ensuring UK founders have the pathways and partnerships they need to grow globally. Link to Technation Report: https://lnkd.in/euZynnbP #Fundraising #Investors #Shipshape

50

3 Comments

Most people loop the same 5 songs. tony lit built a business around helping people hear something new. In this conversation with tony lit, Chairman of Sunrise Radio (London) Ltd, we explore the business of media, cultural connection, and what founders can learn from generational thinking - especially as AI transforms how we consume content. #InsideTheFoundersMind #TonyLitt #SunriseRadio #MediaEvolution #FounderWisdom

12

Delighted to share that Fjord Qudra Ltd. and AIUK Ltd. have joined forces to put AI in the hands of the UK’s 5M+ SMEs! These businesses are the backbone of the economy—real customers, real revenue, real jobs. Our partnership is about giving SME leaders, boards, and teams the tools to use AI to cut costs, speed up decisions, and open new growth opportunities. In October we’ll launch the SMEᴬᴵ Circle, a global peer platform built for SME leaders to learn, share, and scale with AI. When SMEs win, communities and economies win! AI-UK Fjord Qudra Justin H. Patrick Halford

10

In this era of AI in education, delivering physical lessons to actual students in real classrooms remains pivotally important to our team at WellPrepped Education. We're on a mission to connect students to the world's top tutoring talent - a mission that has taken us to 31 countries to date alongside our team of over 125+ 43-45 point scoring IB tutors. Our team recently visited a school in Luxembourg to deliver an IB Economics masterclass, led by Antonio Athias. If you're an educator or know any educators, and would like us to host an event in your school, drop me a DM. The future of education is personal.

10

Alternative Capital Pathways: Key Lessons from Our Breakthrough Session with Ben Maitland-Lewis Huge thank you to Ben for an incredibly candid and expert-driven session on securing capital beyond the traditional Angel/VC route last Friday. The core message is clear: Alternative Capital is another tool in the box, and a smart founder knows when to use it. Here are the top lessons Ben shared with our cohort: 1. Traction Cures All In the current market, "sales cures all." The trend is demanding strong traction and measurable revenue over pure potential. Focus on building and proving your business model first. 2. Equity is the Most Expensive Asset Prioritize non-dilutive financing (like Revenue-Based Financing and bank debt) to "extend runway" without selling off your most valuable asset. 3. The Math of Dilution A valuable framework for decision-making: "It's more important to own 10%... of a $100 million company... than it is to own 80% of, like, a $5 million company." Be clear on when dilution is acceptable for achieving massive scale. 4. Don't Overlook Reg CF (Regulation Crowdfunding) Reg CF is a misunderstood vehicle that allows you to raise capital from both accredited and unaccredited investors, opening up a "whole new market of potential investors." It's a powerful tool for companies with a baked-in audience or community-led growth. 5. Reduce Risk with "Testing the Waters" Platforms like Wefunder offer a "testing the waters" method. Founders can gauge market appetite and momentum before fully committing to a major public raise, significantly reducing risk and ensuring optimal timing for the campaign launch. Navigating the founder-banking landscape requires situational awareness, whether it's distinguishing between innovation banks (SVB) and counterpart traditional banks (First Citizens Bank), or leveraging community for capital. #startup #venturecapital #fundraising #founder #entrepreneur #regCF #alternativefinancing #breakthroughsession

18

1 Comment

Thousands of founders receive unexpected offers to buy their business every year. Getting your business sale-ready - even when you're not actively planning to go anywhere yet - means you can protect value, speed up negotiations, and focus on running your business instead of running around cobbling together info to keep an acquirer in the room. Learn the keys areas of exit planning now so you are always ready to accelerate a sale when the time is right for you. https://hubs.la/Q032dXxj0

6

1 Comment