Invigorating Insights

deeptech

AI - Digested

What does the AI industry look like right now, why are investors excited, where does the real value lie and what are the outstanding concerns and risks to be overcome?

fundraising

The Investment Memo – How VCs Evaluate Your Business

Raising venture capital is an exhausting and time-consuming process on which a huge amount of literature has been written. We have a number of articles breaking down the fundraising process ourselves. But what is it like on the other side of the table, and how do VCs deal with these

advisors

Building advisory relationships with Tech Nation's executive alumni

At the beginning of 2022, Invigorate and Tech Nation partnered to improve business outcomes for businesses in their community, provide experienced alumni with opportunities for further professional development, and power transformative advisory relationships across the Tech Nation ecosystem. Quality advisors can be hard to find in the UK, and advisors

advisors

What’s the difference between a board advisor and a NED, and other big questions for growing startups

We recently ran a fantastic masterclass for London and Partners on how to build advisory boards and external support networks. They are a vital resource for growing startups, and should form the basis of your support and accountability network, helping you grow and setting your business up for scale. The

deep tech

A Deep(Tech) Dive into the Future of VC - Part Two

Deeptech is a key part of the future of innovation. Deeptech startups have the potential to revolutionise our society and help tackle some of the existential challenges we face today – from climate change to resource scarcity. At a time when software revenue multiples and funding have started to decline, deeptech

A Deep(Tech) Dive into the Future of VC - Part One

This report, written with input from leading VCs, operators, angels and founders from across the industry, explores the potential of VC-backed deep tech in a new era of technological, societal and environmental change, and the challenges facing VCs if they wish to be at the forefront of this new wave

How VCs Really Pick Teams to Invest In - Part 2 the Team

We’ve already broken down VC expectations for founders and CEOs in part 1 of this article. So for part 2 we are tackling the rest! If you plan on achieving scale (and you are on the wrong website if you don’t) you’ll need a kick-ass team to

How VCs Really Pick Teams to Invest In - Part 1 the Founder and CEO

When it comes to investing their money, VCs have to weigh up a huge number of competing and sometimes contradictory factors. But as Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, once said during an interview – ‘the decision ultimately is and should be around people.’ In fact, he reckons it carries about

What to Do When Things Aren’t Going as Planned

Nine out of ten startups fail, and every start-up that thrives will go through tricky periods. What separates failures from successes is how founders and their exec team choose to deal with these problems. Whether things are already collapsing, or you just want to be prepared for the inevitable twists

How to Manage Your Board

Managing your board effectively can be a difficult art – particularly when you have so many other responsibilities to juggle! Unfortunately the consequences of getting it wrong can be severe, from fall outs with investors to founding teams being forced out of their own companies, making it important you take the

Mastering the Art of External Support and Building an Advisory Board

There are many different forms of external support, depending on the nature of your business’s specific need, as well as its size, maturity, areas of operation and budget. Unfortunately, this also means that businesses looking for a little (or a lot) of external support often struggle to find appropriate

The 13 Biggest Challenges Scaleups Will Face in 2022

Now’s that time of the year when it’s traditional to look forward and plan ahead. So we thought we’d collect together the biggest challenges facing scaleups, so you can be prepared for whatever 2022 brings. Last year was a huge year for venture capital, with record-breaking investment

partners

Tech Nation partners with Invigorate to power executive advisory relationships across their community

Tech Nation is the UK’s leading growth platform for tech companies and home to over 30% of the UK’s unicorn herd through their work supporting innovative businesses, leaders and founders across the UK. Invigorate is the UK’s first scaleup advisory platform dedicated to helping high-growth companies scale

Making a Success of the Post-Fundraise Period

Congratulations on finishing your funding round! Raising capital is a huge achievement and can be a mammoth undertaking so it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning. Of businesses that raise a series A, only about half will survive to their series B, and

What to Expect from Each Round of Scaleup Fundraising - Series B

Each round of scaleup fundraising brings its own unique challenges. So for the second part of our series ‘What to Expect from Each Round of Scaleup Fundraising’, we are talking about managing your series B. It’s not feasible for us to provide everything you will need to know in

What to Expect from Each Round of Scaleup Fundraising - Series A

Each round of scaleup fundraising brings with it unique challenges. That’s why we are breaking down each stage of the fundraising process, starting with Series A funding – so you can know what to expect. While it’s not feasible to provide everything you will need to know in one

The Top 5 Misconceptions CEOs Have When Raising Scaleup or Growth Capital

Raising capital is a complicated process that can often be quite opaque, so it’s not surprising businesses can face confusion. The market changes frequently and investor expectations adjust with broader trends. We’ve made a handy breakdown of the 5 most frequent misconceptions we’ve discovered while talking to

7 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting Funded Again

As you start to think about raising funding, it can be difficult to know where to start and tempting to fall back on old strategies and pitches. But as your business scales, your approach to funding will have to evolve as well. Each round of funding will come with its

Q3 2021 | Scaleup Financing Trends - Latest Investment Data to Help You Close Your Next Round

By and large, 2021 is proving to be a favourable time for UK companies looking to secure scaleup financing. As investors move away from the riskier market landscape of start-ups, UK scaleups are enjoying record-high venture capital investment. The downside? Competition is fierce, as 50% of scaleups are vying to

Collaboration is a Must-Have Skill, but How Do You Collaborate with Someone You Don't Really Know?

Like it or not, collaboration is critical in business – it can be a force multiplier, providing leverage and scale where one person or one group alone does not have the skills, knowledge or capacity to deliver a project or solve a complex problem. If you are a leader or aspire

Go-to-Market Strategy for a Healthcare Business: Partnering with the NHS

The healthcare industry is characterised by high entry costs, long sales cycles, and bureaucratic loops you need to jump through in order to bring a product to market. In addition, you need to stay on top of the constantly changing regulatory landscape if you wish to collaborate with the NHS

diversity

Harnessing the Power of Diversity and Inclusion

In collaboration with: Download the full report here. Capital alone does not guarantee competitive success. It relies on building an ecosystem that brings a variety of voices and ideas to the table. The innovation economy is making some progress to include entrepreneurs and investors with diverse backgrounds and experiences, but

Creating Value for High Growth Financiers - Q&A with Invigorate's CEO Lauren Stewart

Providing value-adding portfolio support along with capital has been one of the hot topics in the financier community for a while now, as founders are looking for funds that stretch their strategic support beyond capital to drive the scaling journey. Further to our recent blog on portfolio support as a

Portfolio Support - A Key Differentiator in a Competitive Market

Welcome to the first article in our series exploring market trends, challenges, real-life case studies from the venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) community. In the first quarter of 2021, venture capital investment in UK scale-ups hit a record £5.1 billion – an increase of 25% on the previous

How Advisors Can Help Accelerate Achieving Your Strategic Objectives

Are you struggling for time and headspace to think strategically in your business? Depending on your growth stage and objectives, a business advisor might be able to help. From acquiring funding to defining your go-to-market strategy, there are many advantages to hiring a formal advisor. So should you hire one