So You're Thinking Of Investing In An Accelerator?

You're thinking of investing in an accelerator.

Great. But which one?

Yeah yeah, we’re biased – sure; so we thought we’d let the numbers do the talking.

We’ve put together this little infographic to illustrate what we’ve achieved at Collider over the past three years –  that’s three incredible, ground breaking and sometimes-a-little-mad three years.

It’s about practicing what we preach and above all, making it clear to our community that they’re our number one.

We’d love for you to be part of that.

Investing With Accelerators: 5 Tips From Frederic Court

We recently heard from Frederic Court, founder of VC Felix Capital and expert in MadTech investment. Here’s his top tips on investing in this space:

1. People, not business

With business comes people, and they’re the ones that make stuff happen. The idea matters, but don’t forget their passion too.

According to Frederic, successful investment opportunities comes down to three things: reputation, network and luck.

2. Be friendly

It’s okay – we can be grumpy too. But whilst it seems like an obvious point to make, taking the time to get to know the people behind the business.

3. Be patient

Investing in a start up will never see immediate results, with a normal exit cycle around 8 years. Anything less lands in the ‘pretty quick’ category, although can be done.

4. Be prepared

There’s often two choices for an early stage individual investor: front the cash to maintain your equity stake or be content with getting diluted out.

5. Be reasonable

A normal fund return is around 1.4x – 3x is a really good return and anything above this is rare. And yes, unicorns are rare creatures to find in every sense of the word.

A Collider Family Reunion for 2015

It’s that time of year – from one Christmas party to a lunch followed by a festive dinner. And we had to partake in this tradition with our 2015 Launch Party on Wednesday evening. In the beautiful Unilever Skyline Restaurant, the champagne was flowing, canapés passing and conversations attention-grabbing.

This was a chance for our Alumni, investors, brand partners and the Class of 2015 to come together and mingle. Brands chatted with investors, startups chatted with Alumni and everyone learned something new about the Collider Family. Larger groups broke off into one-on-one chats. Introductions were seamless and plentiful, friendships established and business chats initiated. Our investors learned more about the Class of 2015 and had the opportunity to catch up with our alumni. Our Brand partners also learned more about what was to come next year and had the opportunity to learn from our recurring brands. Jeremy Bassett of Unilever and the Unilever Foundry highlighted the journey they have taken as one of the founding brand partners of Collider. He looks forward to 2015 as a year for brands to fully embrace innovation and encouraged the brand partners to let the startups challenge them as much as they may challenge the startups. Next up, Carl Wong of LivingLens spoke to the Class of 2015, letting them know what to expect from Collider during the programme – as he called it SPANC. Speed, Proof of concept, Accelerate, Network and Change. We couldn’t have said it better Carl! And that’s a wrap for 2014! We cannot wait to get started with 2015. Even if you couldn't make it on Wednesday, we have so many more events to come. It's going to be an exciting year for the Madtech world!

Did you miss the previous Down The Pub?

Our last Down The Pub was a roaring success, with a range of brands, investors, and startups enjoying the London sunshine with a well-earned drink. Everyone enjoyed it so much, we couldn't wait to arrange another one. This time, we will be meeting at The Golden Lion, at 6pm, on 24th July, and you can sign up here to register your interest. See you there!

Colliding with Investors

Bringing startups and investors together is  just one of the many things we do here at Collider12, but we also think such events should be fun. Which is why last week we hosted a small investor breakfast at the gorgeous Modern Pantry, where Locomizer, Miappi, Beem and Seeker had the chance to meet Alliott Cole from Octupus, Itxaso del Palacio from EC1 Capital and Alun Simpson from Par Equity LLP.

Unlike other occasions where startups have the chance to meet investors, this breakfast was relaxed and informal, while still allowing in-depth discussion of the products. As the startups gave mini-pitches without the prop of a slideshow, it tested their ability to remember their own figures and facts, as well as being open to receiving questions from the investors at any time. However the startups responded well to this type of environment, and it allowed the pitches to fell more like a conversation, rather than a sales talk. Questions from the investors ranged from where the products fit in the market, how does it differ to similar products currently available, and who would buy it.

The morning got such great feedback from all involved, we will definitely be making these a regular event in our calender.