Pitch for Investment

When & How we invest

Money and seedling
UKI2S > About > When & How we invest

When do we invest?

We invest in innovations that are in our strategic priority areas or from the UK’s publicly funded science and knowledge base.

We focus on those with high growth potential at pre-seed and seed stages – to get the most groundbreaking technologies and ideas to market.

How do we invest?

  • Invest £100k to £500k in pre-seed to seed+ companies
  • Will lead, co-lead or syndicate with others
  • Participate in funding rounds typically between £500k and £5m
  • Provide follow-on funding for the best companies
  • Our patient capital allows us to take a long-term view with you to create sustainable growth, exiting when the time is right

Disruptive technology

Whether you’re tackling Parkinson's or shaping the future of space-based services, we want to see tech that puts impact front and centre.

Technical proof of principle

Is your idea worth pursuing? We want to see solid proof of principle – demonstrate the feasibility of your product, idea or method.

Ambition

How far do you want to go? Show us your vision.

Awareness of competition

Show us what’s already out there (or not!) and what makes you different. We want proof there’s a gap in the market for your business.

Clear milestones

We like to understand what key achievements are going to drive the next funding round.

Cash forecast

We like to see 18 months runway at the point of our investment, with some contingency and credible grant and revenue assumptions.

Razor-sharp focus

You’re in this for the long run – building a commercially viable, sustainable business is the aim of the game.

Strong Leadership Qualities

Or a plan to recruit complementary skills and experience. We believe strong leaders drive successful startups.

How to think about market size

There are two ways to get market size. If you’re entering a pre-existing space (like small business banking) you can research it. If you’re creating a new product or space (like Slack), you can estimate the number of customers that would want your product and approximate how much you could charge them.

For example: Bellabeat makes an activity tracker for women. There are X women between 14 and 45 in the US. The lifecycle of our activity tracker is two years. Our market opportunity in the US is Y.

When you’re estimating market size and what % you could own, there are two methods: top down and bottom up. With the top down approach you determine the total market and estimate your potential share of it. With bottom up you figure out where comparable products are sold, how many of them are sold, and what % of those sales you could take. We prefer the bottom up method because it helps you avoid a common top down pitfall, which is not narrowing down the customer enough. In the example above that could mean assuming all women are in your market – no matter their age or nationality.

How to Pitch Your Company | Y Combinator

What VCs look for at Investment Committee

Market Opportunity

They want to back companies going after a huge and growing market. They'll check out how big the potential customer base is, whether it's expanding, and who the competitors are.

Product-Market Fit

VCs love to see that customers are actually buying and using the product or service because it solves a real problem for them. They'll dig into metrics like customer signups, retention, and engagement.

The Team

The founders and employees are make-or-break. VCs want to see a strong, well-rounded team with the right experience, skills, and fire in the belly to make it happen. A proven track record is a big plus.

Traction and Numbers

Hard data and numbers are everything. VCs will scrutinize things like revenue growth, customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime value, and other metrics that show whether the business can really scale up profitably.

Business Model

How exactly is this company going to make money? VCs will analyze the revenue streams, costs, margins, and path to real profits.

Competitive Edge

Having an upper hand over rivals is key. VCs like proprietary tech, intellectual property, network effects, or other advantages that keep the company ahead.

Exit Potential

At the end of the day, VCs need to cash out big through an IPO or acquisition. They'll gauge whether this startup could be an attractive buy for big players down the road.

Valuation

They'll examine whether the asking valuation and investment terms are a fair deal that gives them enough ownership to make it worth their while.

Not all of these points will be relevant to our consideration of your opportunity, depending on the stage you are at and how much capital you are seeking to raise.

Sakura Holloway, Investment Director, Knowledge Assets, said:

"Value added to a company is more than just money. UKI2S focuses on nurturing and adding value to innovative ideas that shape the future alongside investing in groundbreaking technology companies"

Reference links

Learn from the experts. Read on for advice, tips and tricks on what it takes to build and scale a successful startup.

What makes an exceptional startup leader?
From founder to leader; Investment Director Oliver Sexton gives his two cents when it comes to transitioning from a founder into a leadership role – and what it takes to develop great leaders.

How can startups build a strong reputation?
How to position your brand; find one line that says it all. Richard Anderson, Managing Partner at Sciad Communications, explains how you can build an evidence-based reputation with your stakeholders.

UK startups and later stage fundraising
Establish a strong product-market fit and demonstrate accelerating growth to win later stage funding, advises Guy Levy-Yurista, PhD – CEO of Synthace, a digital experiment platform for life-science R&D.

UKI2S

© UKI2S and Future Planet Capital (Ventures) Limited. All Rights Reserved. UKI2S is managed by Future Planet Capital (Ventures) Limited which is Authorised and Regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority FRN 148549. Registered in England and Wales. Company Number 2500898. Registered Address: Future Planet Capital (Ventures) Limited, t/a Midven, c/o WeWork, 55 Colmore Row, Birmingham, B3 2AA.

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