Our 2023 so far at Angel Academe
Well, it’s just past the mid-point of the year so we thought a little round-up of Angel Academe’s 2023 to date wouldn’t be amiss! So here goes…
Investing in women-founded or co-founded tech businesses is at the heart of what we do, of course, and we’ve had considerable success on that, with 48 businesses backed to date, many of them through several rounds. Investors in our group made new investments in e-commerce SaaS platform Dressipi, the women’s health app Adora, and project management tool Deployed. We also participated in follow-on funding in healthcare productivity tool Dem DX and The Dots, a community for creative professionals. As we write we’re in due diligence with two more new companies and a follow-on opportunity.
As ever we’ve been busy hosting online events in collaboration with our partners. Highlights have included sessions on ASAs and other fundraising vehicles with Emer Hughes of Kingsley Napley; a discussion about the 2023 tech talent landscape with Robin Beattie, Chantelle Jones and Jack Capel from Spinks; and a webinar about the recent changes to SEIS tax breaks with Mark Pattenden from haysmacintyre.
Talking of those partnerships, we’ve been delighted to have DC Advisory join us as a sponsor; DC recognise that unless investment works at the early stage there will continue to be a dearth of female-founded businesses in the mid-market and later stages. Women in Telecomms and Technology (WiTT) have also joined us as an event partner.
We’ve also entered into co-investment partnerships with Alumni Ventures, the US’s most active VC firm and with Innovate UK via SetSquared. In both cases we’re using our own investment to leverage more funds for our portfolio companies. (Alumni Ventures have already invested alongside us in Adora, and Innovate with us in Dem DX.) And of course we’re immensely grateful for the continued support of our long-term sponsors haysmacintyre, Kingsley Napley and Spinks.
And we’ve actually been hosting events in the flesh! We ran two of our half-day “Investor Academe” workshops for new angels, with a third coming in the autumn, and have co-hosted two networking events for investors and founders with Kingsley Napley (watch out for a video from July’s event coming soon). And we held two round table events for founders, hosted by Spinks and chaired by our good friend and sales guru Emma Maslen.
Sarah’s been busy on the podcast circuit (although we’re still waiting for her Joe Rogan invite). Check her out on the Jazz Shapers, Menkus and Female Business Angels podcasts. Sarah also appeared in a Sunday Times piece on the launch of the “built by women” stamp.
Finally, a word on deal flow. Since January, of the 100s of companies we’ve seen, we’ve put through over 70 to one of our weekly “screening” calls, an opportunity for founders to work through their pitch with some of our most experienced investors. In a coming post we’ll break down our deal flow stats in a little more detail, but in the meantime, if you’re an early-stage female tech founder, apply here.
So, quite a busy year so far and we’re already looking forward to the autumn “term”!
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