Above: Collider12 coverage in The FT this weekend. Get involved. Get in touch.
Collider12 Launches
Creative England and Ingenious invest in new “Collider” scheme to help early-stage businesses work with larger corporates to develop new products and services
Creative England, Ingenious Media and Pembridge announce the launch today of Collider12, an accelerator programme to support early stage businesses that are developing technologies and products to help brands engage with their consumers.
Creative England is backing the programme with £500k in loan capital secured from the Regional Growth Fund. The businesses will match this with £500k of equity investment raised from private sources. Pembridge will provide coaching and mentoring support to those accepted onto the programme. Pembridge and Ingenious are both investors in the programme.
MICHAEL FALLON, Business and Enterprise Minister said: “The Regional Growth Fund is playing a pivotal role in supporting programmes such as Collider12 to give small business the chance to exploit new opportunities in the creative and technology sectors. This will help business link with experienced leaders to help them grow, create jobs and unlock private sector investment for the UK economy."
JIM FARMERY, Creative England’s Director of Business Development said: “Collider12 has the potential to tick very important boxes for Creative England as it could open doors for new partnerships, products and ideas. For the corporates, the injection of new blood and new ideas can reap many advantages, whilst new businesses could also benefit massively from both access to key companies and mentoring from highly-experienced business leaders”.
PATRCK BRADLEY, CEO Ingenious Ventures said: “As a leading venture capital investor in the media space we know how difficult it is for companies starting out to attract capital and establish communication with major brands. We therefore fully support this programme, which offers mentoring support, capital and brand interaction to young companies. We look forward to meeting and working with these exciting new businesses.”
The Collider12 programme is open to applications from creative and technology companies based in England and is made possible through Regional Growth Fund (RGF) money secured by Creative England from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The aim is to take 10 early stage companies through an intense programme working with brands, coaches and mentors so they can create financial returns and jobs and contribute to sustainable growth for the UK economy. The 10 high profile brands which will also be committing to support the Collider12 programme with unique access for businesses to help shape their product development will be announced in November 2012.
The big idea behind Collider12 is an opportunity for both parties (the established corporate and the early stage business) to minimise time wasting, offering all parties immediate access to a very focused entrepreneurial environment.
Taylor Wessing LLP, Kingston Smith LLP and Jargon PR are advisers to the project and will be participating as mentors in law, finance and marketing during the Collider12 Programme.
To apply, businesses should visit http://collider12.com/apply and fill in an application between 11th October and 2nd November. Offers will be made to successful applicants by 14th November with the programme beginning on 7th January 2013 with the ‘Collision Phase’.
During the ‘Collision Phase’ the 10 early stage businesses will be ‘collided’ with the brands and intensively coached through a 13-week phase from being accepted and receiving loan capital from Creative England, plus external investment, through to the ‘Execution Phase’, the delivery on a robust plan and approach from week 14 onwards in order that they meet their goals.
The Regional Growth Fund (RGF) is a £2.4bn fund operating across England from 2011 to 2015. It supports projects and programmes that lever private sector investment to create economic growth and sustainable employment. Please see www.bis.gov.uk/rgf for more information.
Press contact:
Paul Smith, Head of Communications, Creative England, 07554 423265, paul.smith@creativeengland.co.uk
About Creative England
Creative England is a national agency that invests in and supports creative ideas, talent and businesses in film, TV, games and digital media. We aim to grow the brightest, the best, and those with the most promise so that individuals and businesses can achieve their full creative and commercial potential. We help identify future opportunities to grow the economy and generate jobs.
With offices in Salford, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham and Elstree, we are a national agency with strong local and regional links.
About Ingenious:
Ingenious Ventures provides investment capital to successful, growing media and entertainment companies that are looking to raise expansion capital or are the subject of a management buy-out or buy-in. Ingenious have invested in companies specialising in music, marketing, television, games and live events.
Ingenious Ventures provides funding across the media and creative industries sector, partnering experienced entrepreneurial management in the strategic development of their companies. Ingenious seek to work with the highest quality management teams, who have a demonstrable track record of commercial success.
www.ingeniousmedia.co.uk/ventures
About Pembridge:
The Pembridge Partnership is a team of experienced entrepreneurs and investors that help businesses start, grow and exit to ultimately realise value for stakeholders.
Pembridge applies their expertise and market insights across the digital, creative, technology and other emerging sectors providing a range of thought leading services for businesses at all stages including; sustainability, growth strategies and preparing for external finance through to final exit.
Pembridge has a proven track record of building value and closing successful transactions for the businesses with whom they have worked. They also have in-depth sector-specific knowledge from their perspective as investors and real-world entrepreneurs.
About Taylor Wessing:
Taylor Wessing is a leading International law firm with a single-minded approach: to help its clients succeed by thinking innovatively about their business issues. The Firm numbers around 900 lawyers working across 22 offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, offering an integrated service across the full range of practice areas, with a firmwide focus on forward thinking companies.
About Kingston Smith:
Kingston Smith LLP is a top 20 UK accountancy firm. With 64 partners spanning six offices across London and the South East, and a dedicated technology and media group, we support companies throughout their lifecycle, from start-up through to listed businesses. Kingston Smith is the leading firm in KS International, with offices in over 70 countries.
About: Jargon PR
Founded in 2008 by Simon Corbett, Jargon PR helps technology companies differentiate themselves from their competitors by providing impactful, strategic communications council. Jargon PR places clients at the forefront of the media, raising awareness, communicating key corporate messages and generating interest in our client’s products and services to drive sales.
New Laws for the Digital World
"When nearly all customers touch-points are going digital, every brand is going to have to become a software company". From, "Velocity: The Seven New Laws for a World Gone Digital" by Ajaz Ahmed.
Be Unconventional and Live
Watching a recent presentation by Bonin Bough, the VP-global media and consumer engagement at Mondelez, he ended this energetic pitch with one message, "Consumer brands need to innovate their conventional marketing approaches or they will die". He reiterated this warning at his recent Advertising Week keynote. Working with startups is the best way for consumer packaged goods companies to do so - get involved and don't miss out on the vast talent, innovation and unconventional energy that startups have.
Why 'B2Brand'?
Shouldn't we go find the next Google? The next Instagram? What about another Angry Birds? They're creative, they use tech, no? Well, no.
Our investments from Collider12 will be unashamedly 'B2Brand'. The startups will have some smart, creative technology that help the big brands in a big way. This is what we know and these are the startups we'll help grow.
Like others we believe in B2B, but more so we believe that what the UK does so incredibly well is creativity joined with scalable technology. The investors and brands know that the UK does this better than anyone else - we understand the people, the technology and the potential. For their part, Notion Capital's investments will typically be £1m - £2m and they're confident of deal flow. "If you are an entrepreneur setting up a B2B business in Europe there aren’t that many VCs that are active. There isn’t anyone else with the ‘laser’ focus in that area that we have,” Jos White said.
With Jos and others having 'laser' focus at Series A but you need the seed round. Rose comments, "Being creative with technology that can help Brands is what England does so well - London is the home of creativity and there are incredible opportunities here right now - we can help from the crucial early stage and beyond, so if you're a tech 'B2Brand' startup get in touch with matthew@collider12.com".