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Thursday 01 December 2011
Article from How Do?
The £15m North West Fund 4 Digital and Creative is talking to teenagers about backing their business ideas.
Investment director David Smith, pictured, who works for the fund's manager AXM Venture Capital, told How-Do he was courting applications from students and graduates.
Smith was keen to dispel the notion that the fund - part of the £185m North West Fund - is risk-averse and will only consider bids for venture capital backing from entrepreneurs with a proven track record.
Speaking at a CityCo event in October Magnetic North's chief executive Lou Cordwell said funders were unlikely to back young entrepreneurs who were often intimidated by the fundraising process.
"We're prepared to take a risk and I believe the North West Fund will as well. We will take a risk on youngsters without a proven track record," said Smith, citing its investment in Salford-based Camiloo, run by Mark Newby and Matthew Ross who are in their early 20s.
"We do have 18, 19, 20-year-olds - really young people who traditionally would not have got backing. We're targeting these people.
"If you're bright enough to develop a product or compelling service, writing a business plan is a relatively trivial task," said Smith, who said the accessibility of the internet has created a generation of young traders.
"It's easy to get into business on the internet. A lot of people do trade, they get used to buying and selling and cashflow. That's why the digital and creative sector creates so many entrepreneurs."
The fund can make equity investments of between £50,000 and £1.5m. It must spend the money by the end of 2015.
"We need to keep it moving," said Smith, "but when you look at a volume of applications, the quality of what we've done and what's in the pipeline I don't think we'll have any issues at all. I'm very confident of that."
Article from How Do?