FEATURED CONTENT

Smith & Williamson

Enabling entrepreneurs

Smith & Williamson is a great business. To realise your full potential, discover the benefits of working with people who really care.
Click here for more

  • hot

Equity gap? Hogwash, says Doug Richard.

by Real Business - Thursday, 30th August 2007

Doug Richard, of Dragons’ Den fame, wasn’t so sure. His firm Library House collects data on every venture-backed company in the UK. So he investigated, and guess what? Not only is there no equity gap, there’s practically an equity mountain. More deals occur in that space than any other. Even startups get a fair shake: of 848 first-round institutional deals (excluding public sector-backed deals) more than half raised between £250k and £2m.

That might surprise Gordon Brown, who introduced the £200m Enterprise Capital Funds (ECFs) specifically to bridge the equity gap. But if ministers are operating on false assumptions, how many of those pounds are well-spent?

"By focusing on a problem that doesn’t exist, it obscures our attention from the problems that small businesses do face," Richard says. One is a sector gap: semiconductor and biotech firms are more likely to get funds than new media or software companies. Another is the "readiness gap". Richard says investors have the money to spend, but just don’t think the companies who approach them are worth the investment.

Tags: equity gap, richard, sector gap, readiness gap, deals occur, doug richard, equity mountain, round institutional deals excluding public sector backed deals, software companies, venture backed company, biotech firms, false assumptions, guess, fair shake, well spent, startups, collects, 2m, small businesses, semiconductor, public sector, practically,

Close X

Leave a comment


Name:
Email:
Comment:
  I have read and understand the terms and conditions
 

Please click the post button only once - your comment will not be published immediately

BUSINESS NEWS >>

Dragon Peter Jones says, "Clone me!"

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 03, 2009 11:28am GMT

Real Business spent an eventful cab ride with Dragons' Den's tallest investor earlier this week. Here's what he had to say about the recession, James Caan, his search for Peter Jones lookalikes and, most importantly, the next series of Dragons' Den.

Businesses to run in a recession: part three

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 02, 2009 4:43pm GMT

Even in a recession, a good entrepreneur is always on the look-out for the next hot spot. Don’t wait around for the upturn. These are the businesses you want to be in now.

Access takes another step towards sales target

By Catherine Woods - July 02, 2009 4:33pm GMT

Access founder Alistair O’Reilly has embarked on a “brand elevation” exercise as he aims to grow turnover at his consulting and software company to £100m.

Tech entrepreneur: "The banks won't lend you an umbrella when it rains"

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 02, 2009 4:22pm GMT

At a roundtable hosted by Dell this morning, Real Business heard three technology entrepreneurs talk about the challenges of growing a business during the recession. People aren't the problem, they say. It's the mindset of banks and other financial institutions that needs to change if we're to come out of recession.

Government fund provides a "timely injection of capital"

By Catherine Woods - July 02, 2009 4:06pm GMT

Octopus Ventures, which invests in entrepreneurial businesses, has welcomed the governments’ proposed £1bn innovation fund, saying it will support entrepreneurialism.

Brochures on Saving and investing

BUSINESS COMMENT >>

The first Apprentice wedding!

By Catherine Woods - July 03, 2009 2:35pm GMT

Well, well, well, look who’s engaged.

Sir Alan Sugar: "You're hired!"

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 01, 2009 1:12pm GMT

Great piece by The Telegraph's Richard Tyler today about the confirmed appointment of Sir Alan Sugar to the post of enterprise tsar. "A tentative date of July 20th has been pencilled in for his hairiness to don the rabbit fur," he says.

Pre-stained underwear: the next big thing?

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 22, 2009 2:54pm GMT

That's right. "Pre-stained". Suspend your disbelief for a moment. Canadian entrepreneur Philip Watson founded Easy Tiger Corp to peddle underwear that has been - ahem - ready-soiled, shall we say. And he reckons these nasty knickers will be a surefire hit with "the dudes".

It can only be... the Friday Funnies

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 12, 2009 12:16pm GMT

As swine flu hits the headlines for the second time, the swine flu jokes are just pouring in! Laugh till you oink, readers.

Jokes. Jokes. Jokes.

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 05, 2009 12:14pm GMT

Further to popular demand, this week we're devoting a whole section of our jokes blog to our hapless prime minister, Gordon Brown.

Business Comment 

Click here to sign up for the Real Business newsletter Click here to subscribe to the Real Business RSS feed

In accociation with
Real Business Front Cover