Octopus Investments : Octopus Blog

Guest Blog: How PR can benefit your start-up

2012-01-30T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

Simon Whale, Managing Director, Luther Pendragon http://www.luther.co.uk/

From hiring the right team, to raising investment, entreprene... (more)

Winning the Hearts and Minds of VCs

2011-12-16T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

I recently gave a talk at Tech Entrepreneurs Week (http://www.techentrepreneursweek.com/) where my main message to the audience concerned the intera... (more)

Why entrepreneurs are asked: ‘Are you EIS eligible?’

2011-12-12T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is well known, but for those who are unfamiliar with it, this sets out why private investors regularly ask entrepreneurs looking for funding whether or not they ... (more)

Guest blog: How do you beat Betfair?

2011-11-21T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

Octopus is delighted to have one of its Venture Partners, Mark Davies, write our first guest blog. Mark was part of the founder-management team of B... (more)

10 hard learnt lessons on dealing with change:

2011-11-09T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

I recently hosted a Jumar event for Octopus and had the pleasure of introducing Mark Thomson - Royal Mail's Media Director and its longest servin... (more)

It’s not about the $billion exits (yet)

2011-10-19T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

On the news of the Zoopla merger with Digital Property Group (owner of Primelocation & Findaproperty) last wee... (more)

Google's Fundamental Flaw is Search

2011-10-17T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

At a time when Google defies the global economic slowdown by posting a 26 per cent. rise in net profits for the last quarter, it may seem curious to challenge the behemoth's future. As Larry Pa... (more)

Get to know the Octopus Ventures Team with an ‘Open Office’ meeting

2011-10-13T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

The numbers speak for themselves. Every year we look at more than 3,000 investment opportunities. Over 1,200 business plans are reviewed and more than 200 formal meetings are held with early stage ... (more)

Whose side are you on?

2011-10-10T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

As an Angel investor, next time someone recommends an investment opportunity - consider the following:

(a) Is the introducer being paid by the company to raise investment funds?

(b)... (more)

New 'credit easing' proposals for SMEs

2011-10-07T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Once the dust has settled this week’s Conservative Party conference will likely be remembered less for coherent policy debate and more for Theresa May getting in a flap over an asylum-seeking... (more)

The changing landscape of SME financing

2011-05-25T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Two significant developments are set to change the landscape in the UK of small and medium sized enterprises (SME) equity finance. The first, announced in March’s Budget, comes from the chang... (more)

Promoting enterprise in the UK

2011-05-10T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Now that the dust has settled on March’s Budget, we thought it would be a good time to take stock of some of the government’s announcements, specifically those designed to promote enter... (more)

Investor to Entrepreneur: you're too early for us

2011-03-22T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

Being an entrepreneur is difficult: the excitement, glamour, and peer congratulation that first comes with the nomenclature quickly dissolves into the harsh realities of product development, c... (more)

Access to a venture capitalist

2011-03-16T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

There has been a certain amount written recently about the attitude that European venture capitalists can take towards entrepreneurs and how difficult it can be for entrepreneurs to gain access to ... (more)

OPEX - big changes for a smaller company

2011-02-18T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

As a smaller company investor, one of the most important aspects of the work we do is providing investee companies with not only funding but advice and support. This has been crucial in the last few y... (more)

The outlook for venture capital in 2011

2011-01-21T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

The economic environment in 2011 may be tough but in investment terms, it makes for fertile ground. This applies especially to the smaller end of the market. Of course this investment potential is ... (more)

Approaching a VC

2010-11-26T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

If you are an entrepreneur and you have decided to raise finance from a venture capital house, how do you do this? Who do you approach? The BVCA and BBAA have lists of private equity and venture ca... (more)

Pitching a business

2010-11-16T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

Pitching a business to an investor for the first time is a difficult task. Here are nine avoidable bear traps:

more)

Funding the UK’s small to medium enterprises in 2011

2010-11-15T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

We're nearing the end of 2010 but we won't be able to leave the issue of funding behind. In fact, it's likely we'll see it becoming more acute in 2011, with an increase in demand fo... (more)

Does M&A destroy value?

2010-10-29T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

The return of merger and acquisition activity in the market at this stage in the economic cycle is generally taken as a positive, heralding recovery a... (more)

Octopus and seed funding

2010-10-18T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Last week, The Daily Telegraph reported Octopus' seed investment into Touchtype. The company is the developer of Swiftkey, innovative software app... (more)

Submit Plan

2010-10-04T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Most venture capital houses ask entrepreneurs to "Submit a Business Plan" as the first step in their fundraising process. This request is almost invariably visible on their website and, i... (more)

Liquidation Preferences [and when to walk]

2010-09-28T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

While on a panel (@YCF2010) last week the question of liquidation preferences arose, again. It is striking that while often discussed, debated and almost invariably deployed, there remains little cons... (more)

The value of intellectual property

2010-09-17T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Intellectual property (IP) is absolutely integral to most, if not all, of the companies we work with, as their businesses are generally underpinned by... (more)

Is it a good idea to start a new business in these tough economic times?

2010-07-30T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

There’s a lot of doom and gloom out there with talk of a possible double dip recession. Is now a sensible time to be starting a new business? Many people seem to think so – there are cu... (more)

All full of Glee

2010-07-23T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

American television series seem to arrive with alarming regularity on these shores conquering all before them. From the early days of Twin Peaks, Fraiser, and Friends through to 24, The West Wing a... (more)

The importance of government intervention to smaller companies

2010-07-22T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

The recent emergency Budget served to emphasise the importance of Government intervention in supporting the provision of ‘risk finance' to th... (more)

A welcome budget for small enterprise

2010-06-22T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

The Budget has brought few real surprises. Mixed news for investors, with CGT rises albeit less than expected, but some really good news for small and growing businesses. As an investor in this sec... (more)

Supporting entrepreneurs

2010-06-14T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Supporting the work of entrepreneurs is integral to what we do at Octopus Ventures. And having an understanding of the different skills and talents that entrepreneurs bring to a business is vital i... (more)

How smaller companies are surviving

2010-05-14T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Recent figures show that in the wake of the economic crisis, there have been relatively few failures of small companies, decreasi... (more)

Is the non-executive director non-essential?

2010-03-30T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Traditional thinking about the role of a non-executive director tends towards the belief that a medium to long-term, permanent commitment from a person will bring the best results for a company. Bu... (more)

Exciting times for Zoopla!

2010-02-15T00:00:00.0000000+00:00

One of the most exciting things about investing in small, growing companies is watching them make progress and have an impact on their market. In the world of venture capital this means a business'... (more)

A Life in the Day: Octopus and Peter Mandelson

2009-08-14T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

It's been a whirlwind week in British politics with Peter Mandelson taking the reins of Government in Gordon Brown's absence. As managers of one of the Government's Capital for Enterprise ... (more)

The youth of today are the entrepreneurs of tomorrow

2009-08-05T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

It's established that historically, entrepreneurship, the practice of being an entrepreneur, is counter-cyclical. In other words, entrepreneurship has been shown to be at its best when the econ... (more)

Helping small businesses through the Credit Crunch

2009-07-22T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

In the wake of the credit crunch, news stories about the Government trying to revive the economy have become the norm. While we might now be familiar with terms such as quantitative easing, it's a... (more)

Venture Capital - how do we pick the star companies of the future?

2009-07-17T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

Our work in Ventures, by its very name, is all about unchartered territory and new horizons. The companies that we're interested in are those that have taken a fresh perspective creating the poten... (more)

VCTs - a vital source of funding for UK PLC

2009-06-19T00:00:00.0000000+01:00

A certain wartime spirit has emerged in the investment world. Aside from the general tightening of purse strings, there's a realisation that everyone's actions, from business owners to investo... (more)