Taking a bite of the better burger revolution
When Tom Barton suggested opening the first Honest Burgers restaurant in London’s Brixton Village market back in 2011, his business partners thought he was crazy. “I was like, ‘Guys, I’ve got it! I’ve...
View ArticleSherry Coutu: Angel investors are a bit like Dumbledore
My first experience of fundraising was when I joined ISI Emerging Markets, a company run by a friend of mine, not long after leaving business school. He led the financing round and that was my first...
View ArticleOppo
It was a chance meeting that earned sugar-free ice cream company Oppo more than £650,000 in investment. Co-founder Charlie Thuillier, now 26, had ordered too many samples of the product to fit in the...
View ArticleBlaze
When Emily Brooke, the founder of cycle light company Blaze, saw her finished product for the first time, she completely lost her cool: “I was trying to be the grown-up chief executive, but my team...
View ArticleKeeping it in the family
Not many parents would risk losing their home to support their children’s start-up dream. But when the Kukadia brothers, Sach and Nish, needed a guarantor for a £100,000 bank loan to get their flash...
View ArticleDeal or no deal?
Regular viewers of Dragons’ Den, the BBC television show where entrepreneurs pitch for investment, will be familiar with the scene: an investor ‘Dragon’ sees the potential in a business or invention,...
View ArticleHelping firms to reach their full potential
When the trampoline company AirHop wanted to expand into the EU, it, like many enterprises, had to choose how to finance its international ambitions. Equity finance, which raises capital through the...
View ArticleCrazy valuations that ignore the market rile me
Although I’ve spent the majority of my career in the leisure industry, my first business was in a different sector. When I was 19 I started a company importing beautiful ceramics and glass into the UK....
View ArticleInspired by: microfinance in India
Small businesses in the UK can benefit from a range of financial options to help them grow, but those in developing countries such as India seldom have the luxury of choice. Only one in seven Indian...
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