Event Summary:

 

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Following the success of our Funding Fair Launch at the end of February, we will be hosting another Funding Fair on the 24th September at the on Southbank.

 

We once again have a full afternoon and evening of informative sessions. This time we will hone in on “What works in new finance for SMEs”. The aim of the fair is to provide you, business owners, PRACTICAL education and information on business finance. 

 

The sessions will be clearly focused on how SMEs can start to think differently about the way they might finance themselves. Sessions will include ‘Crowd Funding Readiness’ and ‘P2P Readiness’ where we will case study some of the success stories, talk directly to leading Crowd Funding and Peer-to-Peer specialists and investors. In these sessions we will also take participants through our diagnostic tool to test their potential for funding. 

 

We will also host a seminar focused on IP – How to really make money from your ideas where you will hear from businesses telling their success stories and have the opportunity to talk directly to experts from the Intellectual Property Office about your own position.

 

 

Below is an overview of the Sessions that we will be hosting at the Funding Fair.

 

 

 

It’s remarkable to note that internet enabled P2P loans have only been a realistic option for businesses for 3 years. This is still an emerging market, but one that is growing at a remarkable rate. £780million of P2P loans have already been raised through Funding Circle alone.

 

The P2P market continues to adapt to the needs of business – the products on offer reflect that. This session provides an opportunity to interrogate three different P2P businesses about their offering, and how it might work for your business. Funding Knight, Proplend and Money & Co will be on the stage, joined by business owners who have completed P2P deals through their online platforms.

 

Come armed to ask questions – speakers will be available to meet you over coffee as well.

 

 

Loading an early stage business with loans that might never get repaid makes little sense, hence the need for equity finance that can cope with a higher risk for high return. There is a general consensus that there are no shortage of investors out there; the challenge is matching those investors to suitable business opportunities. This is where crowd funding through online platforms can play such a key role.

 

Similar to the P2P market, equity crowd funding has grown exponentially since making an appearance on the market less than 5 years ago, and the processes and products on offer have developed significantly. We are delighted to be joined by Seedrs and Syndicate Room during the session – two of the longest established equity crowd funding platforms, focused on the business market. They will be joined on stage by companies that have recently raised capital through this rate.

 

This is your chance to learn whether your business might be suitable for injection of crowd equity – whatever your stage of development. 

 

 

 

 

Investors back products and processes that they think have a high chance of generating cash. To attract investment, it’s essential that you can demonstrate the value of the Intellectual Property (IP) involved and that you are capable of protecting from others copying what you have put together.

 

This session looks at whether your IP is investor ready, and is supported by the Intellectual Property Office, who will also have a stand at the Funding Fair – so come along with your questions.

 

The session itself will involve insight from an Investor perspective (with Peter Gray from Cavendish Corporate Finance), real company case studies and an overview of the IP issues that business owners should be considering when seeking investment for their business.

 

 

Specialist advisors from Buzzacott will be delivering four free, advice clinics focusing on R&D tax credits, valuations, pension scheme auto-enrolment and VAT:

 

R&D Tax Credits – Do you know how to utilise these as a form of funding for your business?
Thousands of creative businesses fail to claim back cash they are due on the expense they incur on developing new products. This free one-to-one clinic, with leading experts from Buzzacott, will provide you with guidance on whether it is worth pursuing a claim.

Do you know how investors will value your business?
This is the big question most business owners ask. Meet specialist advisors from Buzzacott who can give initial pointers on how to value and sell your business – and how you might need to raise finance to get there.

Having VAT nightmares?
Not sure whether you should register for VAT? Wondering whether you should pay VAT on your rent? Confused by the new VAT place of supply rules? If you’d like some advice, Buzzacott’s VAT experts will be on hand to provide private, one-to-one guidance on your VAT-related queries.

Auto-Enrolment – Not sure when and how to implement pension schemes?
Every employer now has a new legal responsibility to put those who meet certain criteria into a workplace pension scheme and to contribute towards it. This is called automatic enrolment. Our experts will guide you through when and how to successfully implement pension scheme auto-enrolment.

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How to grow your business and access government funded support

 

The Business Growth Service (BGS) and Advantage Business Partnerships (ABP) are delighted to offer CEO's and Directors of ambitious businesses the opportunity to book into 1-2-1 clinics to discuss their future plans for growth, and to assess how they could potentially access government-backed support to overcome their business' barriers to growth. To date, the Business Growth Service has supported over 23,000 businesses across England.

If selected, you will be asked to complete a pre-event questionnaire which will be used to discuss your business opportunities in greater detail during your 1-2-1 session.
 

 

 

Needless to say, we are also securing some high profile key note speakers.

 

 

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Kevin Green

 

We are delighted to say that will be joining us for the evening for drinks and canapés. Kevin is a self-made multi-millionaire through property. You may have also heard of Kevin as he was on the Secret Millionaire programme. He has very recently launched a book ‘Rich Rules’ which is his Top 10 to getting rich. His 7^th rule is ‘Know how to raise capital’. Kevin is an engaging speaker and will be sharing his stories of success and challenges and will specifically talk about raising that much needed capital. He will also be bringing signed copies of his new book. Definitely not one to be missed!

 

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Meet the Management - Brompton Bikes

 

 

Brompton Bikes began life in its inventor’s flat in 1975, and is now the UK’s biggest bike manfacture with 45,000 of its beautiful folding bikes delivered in 2014. It’s a great success story, with a focus on design, manufacturing and product excellence. The business is soon to move to new 86,000sq ft premises in Greenford.

 

We will be interviewing Lorne Vary, Brompton’s Chief Financial Officer, a key member of the team looking to grow Brompton to a 100,000 strong output by 2021. We will talk to Lorne about what is underpinning the success of the business, how it’s financed, why is so important as a base, and what tips he can offer to entrepreneurs looking to fund the growth of their business. Lorne will also take questions from the audience and over drinks.

 

We will also be offering a brand new Brompton bike to the winner of our free to enter draw!

 

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Further key note speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

 

 

 

 

Our Funding Fair in February was a great success with over 350 attendees throughout the afternoon and evening, 8 informative and engaging presentations delivered by 24 presenters, 17 trade stands built and 24 business clinics attended (and not to forget, 270 mini cakes consumed!) We also recieved extremely positive feedback with 89% of attendees rating it as excellent or very good.

 

 

Just some of the sessions included hearing from leading Alternative Funders such as Angels Den and Ratesetter who explored how alternative funding platforms deliver funding solutions to businesses based upon their stage of growth and development; Alpesh Paleja, Head of Economic Analysis at CBI (Confederation of British Industry) spoke on the economic outlook impact on businesses; we also witnessed a healthy debate from our panel of Directors from leading banks including NatWest, Barclays and “Challenger” Metro Bank.

 

 

This September we are aiming to have 500 attendees, more trade stands, more clinics and equally as informative sessions, To book your place at the Funding Fair and to express an interest in the drop in advice clinics, please register .

 

If you are interested in sponsoring the event, or booking trade stand space, please email [email protected].