James Wise

"Funding Collapse sends investment in start-ups to six year low" The Times today covering the shocking stats that VenturePath uncovered, with our partner Beauhurst. Great quotes from supporters Michael Moore CEO, BVCA and Julian David CEO, techUK. * UK VC funding at Series A is -44% from last year, and worsening * Q3 24 is down a staggering 57% from Q2, itself down from Q1 * 9 in 10 seed funded startups cannot access Series A VC funding, the next 'rung on the funding ladder' * Just 32 future scaleup companies across the whole of the UK were able to access their first VC funding round in Q3...a 6 year low * Half a billion less capital is going in to UK scaleups at Series A, than just 2 years ago! As the UK scaleup funding gap widens, we are losing ground against other countries, at both startup stage (a position the UK worked hard to achieve, since 2011), and for scaleup support. OECD data: 13th in the world for scaleup support, and that's before Series A funding access dried up. I get that its confusing. Another report (BBB, Nations & Regions) released this week spoke of positive trends in private investment, stating "The data for Q2 2024 shows that investment value has continued to grow". Great, I love to see optimistic data. But under analysis that bundles venture with private equity (later stage), where a few megadeals skew the numbers. Otherwise the exact opposite is true. Our independent research here, for the UK ScaleUp Investment Mission, is laser beam focussed on Series A. The funding round where companies move from the c.1m startups launched each year, through the 2,179 that access seed funding, into the rarefied category of being recognised as future scaleups, attracting Series A funding (£2-10m). The UK venture landscape is currently funding just 248 pa of these companies, and declining. We've been sharing this urgent call for support with the new Government since the day after the election. I've personally met with several Ministers, and spoke to all the relevant Government departments. I will shamelessly repeat loudly what is at stake. UK scaleup funding at Series A has nearly halved in a year, and continues to decline steeply, more than halving in the last quarter. VenturePath developed The UK ScaleUp Investment Mission to convene the scaleup support ecosystem and £7bn of funders to help address this problem, to improve nationwide access to VC investment, and create more venture-backed successes. We have clear support, clear recommendations to reverse this decline in UK scaleup investment, and have made a clear ask of Government for participation in this, to ensure immediate action is taken to create the conditions for success for UK scaleups, ensuring the focus on growth isn't undermined by lack of capital, or equitable access to it. Government decision makers, we'd love your interest, to progress to action. HM Treasury: Rt Hon Rachel Reeves Spencer Livermore James Murray & CC Poppy Gustafsson (welcome to the debate).

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The article outlines five critical priorities for the UK government to support SMEs better: improving access to finance, enhancing digital infrastructure, reducing regulatory burdens, fostering innovation, and expanding international trade opportunities. These actions are essential in empowering SMEs, the backbone of the economy, to thrive in a competitive and rapidly evolving market. The government can help SMEs overcome challenges, drive economic growth, and create more resilient and sustainable businesses by addressing these key areas.

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Breaking news on low carbon and the Labour Manifesto …… Key strategies include: - Introducing a carbon border adjustment mechanism to protect British industries and meet climate objectives. - Ensuring the institutional framework supports reaching net zero and meeting carbon budgets. - Mandating UK-regulated financial institutions to implement credible transition plans aligning with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement. ### Heat Pumps and Low Carbon Heating Support the widespread adoption of low-carbon heating solutions, including heat pumps, through: - Offering grants and low-interest loans under the Warm Homes Plan to support the installation of heat pumps and other low-carbon heating systems. - Ensuring private rented sector homes meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030. ### Solar PV To expand solar power usage, Labour intends to: - Triple solar power capacity by 2030 as part of the mission to deliver clean power. - Provide support through the Warm Homes Plan for solar panel installations. - Deploy more distributed production capacity through the Local Power Plan, partnering with local authorities and cooperatives for community-based solar projects. ### Insulating Homes Labour's manifesto highlights a significant focus on improving energy efficiency in homes through: - Investing an extra £6.6 billion over the next parliament to upgrade five million homes, aiming to reduce bills and fuel poverty. - Providing grants and low-interest loans for insulation and other improvements. - Working with combined authorities, local, and devolved governments to roll out the Warm Homes Plan. - Ensuring that no one will be forced to replace their boiler as a result of these plans. ### Details on the Warm Homes Plan The Warm Homes Plan is a cornerstone of Labour's strategy to improve energy efficiency in homes. Key elements include: - Offering grants and low-interest loans to support investment in insulation, solar panels, batteries, and low-carbon heating solutions. - Partnering with combined authorities, local and devolved governments for a comprehensive rollout. - Collaborating with the private sector, including banks and building societies, to provide additional private finance to accelerate home upgrades and low-carbon heating. - Ensuring homes in the private rented sector meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030, which will save renters hundreds of pounds per year. - Guaranteeing that no one will be forced to remove their boiler as part of these improvements. ### Training on Low Carbon Technologies To support the transition to a green economy, Labour plans to: - Establish Skills England to bring together businesses, training providers, and unions with national and local government to ensure a highly trained workforce for the Industrial Strategy. - Devolve adult skills funding to Combined Authorities - Reform the Apprenticeships Levy to create a flexible Growth and Skills Levy. GTEC Training

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NOTWICS would like to alert founders to this lovely message I got from my good mate Tom Britton @ SyndicateRoom This excellent Cambridge based pre-seed and seed stage VC is looking for top founders and hopefully this is the first of many funds ringing the bell saying they are now deploying 💥 - akin to top man Dan Bowyer’s LP post yesterday. The winds of change are coming - funding is coming back From Tom “Hey Chris - We've partnered with Carbon13 to launch their next Climatech SEIS fund. The fund will open to investors on Tuesday and aims to deploy in the current tax year. And on Carbon 13 Carbon13 companies have gone on to raise up-rounds totalling more than £38m. The average age of their cohort participants is 37, a quarter hold PhDs and 63% of their teams are mixed gender”. Their portfolio now has 71 ventures across five key sectors: chemicals and materials, energy, food systems, enabling platforms and the built environment. Founders find out more here and get applying https://lnkd.in/es6EvuN5 Or Direct Message Tom for more Apologies for spelling mistakes - rushing to host a huge defence tech breakfast with FieldHouse Associates and others #startups #scaleups #vc #angel

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Today we announce that we have successfully raised £20million to invest in scientific startups developing breakthrough solutions for deep decarbonisation. I joined Zero Carbon Capital in August '22 and it has been incredible! I happily spend my time talking to bold and intelligent entrepreneurs, searching for high impact investment opportunities, learning about industry sectors and technologies areas, and supporting our awesome portfolio companies in their long road ahead. I feel so grateful that my job is hopeful in the midst of a climate and environmental crisis. That I get to focus on solutions and be pro-active in finding and supporting the technologies, processes, products that could take chunks out of global greenhouse emissions and get us on track to a net zero 2050. Most of all, I have found my people. What better way to spend my days than with a team of super smart, mega determined people who care about the same things that I do! Chloe Coates, Max Werny, Alex Gawley - what a joy! And Pippa Gawley - for all that and for your leadership. Your leadership in a historically male dominated VC industry is a beacon. And this extends to the whole ClimateTech ecosystem - it energises me to work in a sector of like-minded people, passionate about the work we do. The conversations, exchanges, brainstorming make the job even richer! Let's keep going! Hold on to the vision for 2050 - a healthy planet! Our goals are achievable! https://lnkd.in/erWfvwz2

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Climate finance and innovation - the National Wealth Fund Among the stream of announcements and early action from the new UK Gov. this was an important one. At WOVEN we support and advocate for a more cohesive and therefore effective ecosystem, to support the acceleration of innovation in climate change. This can be from the earliest startups through to implementation of the large scale infrastructure projects. By finding and enhancing the interconnectivity that threads all the key stakeholders together, we can accelerate more effective deployment and change. As we know from market signals in the last 12-24 months, funding is always challenging for innovation, most notably for; ▶️ Early stage technology innovation ▶️ Public and Private funding balance ▶️ Bridging the Valley of Death ▶️ Large scale project finance, guarantees and debt The NWF is focused on guidance to Gov. on how to best utilise the £7.3bn of capital the Gov. has initially made available, to align goals and draw in a further £20bn of private sector investment. Initial focus areas are the big ticket items which you might expect to be on the list, whether they merit a place is for further techno-economic analysis; ⚙️ Ports ⚙️ Gigafactories ⚙️ Clean steel ⚙️ Industrial clusters ⚙️ Green hydrogen The NWF is designed to provide a new more dynamic approach and range of financial mechanisms through; guarantees, equity and debt, demand-side offtakes and CfD. These larger scale projects can have huge regional benefits, accelerating our economic recovery, skills and growth. Who are the other key organisations that are driving this initiative? Green Finance Institute - leading the NWF Taskforce UK Infrastructure Bank - closer integration with BBB British Business Bank - closer integration with UKIB Corporate Finance Members - big tickets as per image Let's hope the Gov. quickly delivers on their rhetoric around Industrial Strategy, Net Zero and economic growth ambitions. Without a clear focused plan, set out across multiple years, there is a risk we will lose focus and market confidence, wasting precious time and investment in the wrong areas. A lot to be done, little time to do it. Ensuring innovation and technology developers have alignment in their strategies, market readiness and investment readiness, is a key function WOVEN supports clients with across the cleantech sector. #innovationfinance #startupecosystem #nationalwealthfund

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Another smart choice by the UK Govt. https://lnkd.in/e2MfQipp The Climate Change Committee in good hands at an important inflection point. And with Chris Stark at Mission Control for net zero energy we will know both where we are and where we are going. I am looking forward to helping extend the UK's role as a trusted partner and using foreign policy as an international delivery arm of the UK's energy transition

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📢 It's great to see the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology launch the new Regulatory Innovation Office today - something we've long campaigned for at Form Ventures through our #fixtheregulators campaign (recap: fixtheregulators.com). But.... 🚨... as my colleague Andrew Bennett told the Financial Times this morning (👇), the RIO will only make the impact we need if it has two key ingredients: political backing - proper ministerial and PM-level buy-in; and financial backing from HMT. It remains to be seen if we have either, both, or neither. 🧪 One other point: the focus on novel tech is great, and important, but regulation can be an enabler of innovation across existing regulated markets too, where tech is moving the frontier of what's possible - and if anything, the quicker political and growth wins are found here.

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I couldn’t be prouder to be a Venture Partner at Isomer Capital (aka the best European FoF - at least for me) as we just announced the launch of our pioneering £100m secondaries fund. This fund is dedicated to acquiring stakes from LPs in various VC funds, tapping into a massive and largely unexplored market. 🌟 Key Highlights: - Focused Investment: Primarily targeting stakes in VC funds, with selective investments in private companies. - Robust Funding: Already over 20% funded, thanks to strong support from Nordic family offices and a German foundation. - Market Potential: With a growing number of private tech companies and a VC liquidity crunch, Europe's VC secondaries market is poised for rapid growth. - Track Record: This isn’t Isomer’s first foray into the secondaries market. As a firm we’ve done several secondaries deals with portfolio companies and VC firms, including early-stage VC Seedcamp (in 2021) and mobility giant Bolt (in 2023). - Expert Team: Welcoming the amazing Omolade (Rachel) A., formerly of Coller Capital, as a principal to lead this initiative. 💡 Investment Strategy: - 65-75% of the fund will buy "LP interest" stakes in VC funds. - 15-25% will be directed towards stakes in companies. - Up to 15% reserved for flexible investment opportunities. 📈 Looking Ahead: We're targeting returns of 2-3x, with significant distributions expected in the next 4-7 years. As one of the few players in this space, we're not just participating in the market—we're driving it forward. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/dc7sbC3G #VentureCapital #SecondariesFund #EuropeanVC

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Standard Chartered pioneers green finance with carbon removal startup UNDO. • StanChart breaks new ground by offering commercial debt to UNDO, a carbon removal firm using Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) - a promising yet controversial approach to fighting climate change. • This innovative financing model, backed by British Airways advance credit purchase, could unlock scalable funding for nascent carbon capture technologies. • ERW shows potential for dual benefits: sequestering CO2 for millennia while improving soil health and crop yields. But questions remain about its ecological impact and verification challenges. Is this the financial catalyst needed to scale carbon removal, or are we overlooking simpler climate solutions? What are your thoughts on ERW as a viable carbon capture method? #CarbonCapture #ClimateFinance #SustainableInvesting #CleanTech #NetZero

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When Fossil Fuel Free Isn’t Free (Greenwashing Example) Matt Patsky exposes the dangers of greenwashing in ESG investing. As CEO and Lead Portfolio Manager at Trillium, Matt has firsthand experience navigating the challenges of authenticity in sustainable finance. He was also one of the insightful voices featured in my book, Sustainable and Responsible Investing 360: Lessons Learned from World-Class Investors. 🎧 This week, I’m revisiting the book and sharing three key chapters to help you identify true impact investments and avoid the pitfalls of misleading marketing. Tune in: 👉 https://lnkd.in/e4YbwSRG #SRI360 #ImpactInvesting #SustainableInvesting #SRI #Sustainability #EnvironmentalImpact #SocialChange #SocialImpact #ScottArnell

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In 2024, UK scaleup funding hit crisis levels - less than 300 companies accessed Series A funding, with Q3 showing the lowest activity in 6 years. Half a billion less capital went to UK scaleups than just two years ago. The ecosystem's response was decisive. 65+ partners united through the UK ScaleUp Investment Mission, representing £7bn of VC funding. From Treasury engagement to industry collaboration, we've built momentum for systematic change. Two posts that captured this year's journey, with around 100k impressions from these 2 alone: "Funding Collapse sends investment in start-ups to six year low" Coverage in The Times highlighting the urgent need for intervention as UK VC funding nearly halved https://lnkd.in/ehH8sCJQ "UK ScaleUp Investment Mission Roundtable" 20 ecosystem leaders met with Treasury Minister Lord Spencer Livermore to improve conditions for scaleup success https://lnkd.in/e3GTdcwX At VenturePath, we've supported this mission by helping unlock Series A-B funding for ambitious tech companies while advocating for broader ecosystem improvements. Our community's growth reflects the hunger for better funding access. Deeply grateful to the founders, VCs, and ecosystem builders who've driven real progress this year. Special thanks to our government partners at Treasury, DBT, and DSIT for engaging meaningfully with industry recommendations. Looking to 2025: We have clear solutions, strong ecosystem support, and growing government engagement. Now we need to turn recommendations into action. The UK ScaleUp Investment Mission will focus on implementing practical measures to improve nationwide access to venture funding. To every organization working to create more venture-backed UK successes: 2024 showed what's possible when we unite around a clear mission. Let's make 2025 the year we reverse the decline in scaleup funding. -- Get your 2024 LinkedIn Rewind at https://lnkd.in/eUCXR-Dm

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A funny thing has happened with almost all of the impact investments we've done. We look at an opportunity, do our due diligence and decide it makes for a good investment. Then when we share our due diligence and invite people to participate in that investment, mainstream investors come onboard. Without our work to demonstrate financial returns, those investors wouldn’t have touched those investments because they didn't think the commercial returns were there. We've got a pioneering investment mandate. So, sometimes we’ll take the risk of looking into investments which mainstream investors don't have the remit to review. And we’re investors. So, we care deeply about unpacking and analysing risk and return, but we also make sure that we can see sufficient social or environmental impact in each deal. In short, our due diligence is next level. As a result, we create a safe space for mainstream investors to dip their toes in impact investing deal by deal and have done many times over.  Quite often we take a lead investor position and mainstream investors crowd in to fill a round. That’s a whole lot of capital for ventures that otherwise wouldn't have got a look in with mainstream investors who didn't know how to approach them. It's our belief that we'll see this process writ large. Impact investors come along, do the deals, demonstrate returns, and show that it's possible. Then other investors can follow in behind because they see evidence that impact investing can work and there are established practices to follow. Massive thanks to The University of Auckland Business School for publishing this piece and for being context for my growth as an academic and entrepreneur. Soul Capital was born during my PhD (🎓 Deb Shepherd, Christine Woods) and grew in parallel to my academic career. Not all business schools were open to my research agenda back then, 'career limiting' was a term I heard a lot when abroad. But at UABS I always found the best mix of rigour and support among colleagues. Still do. And now the leadership across the faculty are demonstrating a commitment to producing the research, graduates, and industry collaborations which will drive us toward the more productive and sustainable economy to which we aspire. #impactinvesting #investment #socialimpact #environmental #esginvesting

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We had the pleasure of speaking to the inimitable Gordon Sanghera, co-founder and CEO of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, valued at around $6.8bn in 2021. Gordon somewhat accidentally ended up as an entrepreneur, breaking the conventional VC wisdom around 'born founders'. The technology is wild - democratising access to genomic sequencing giving us a new understanding of living organisms. In the episode of Riding Unicorns, we cover: 00:00 Defining Entrepreneurship 00:55 Understanding Oxford Nanopore's Technology 06:10 Gordon's Journey to Founding Oxford Nanopore 12:09 Commercialization Challenges and Strategies 16:27 Building a Strong Founding Team 20:55 Navigating the Ups and Downs of Deep Tech 25:54 Innovative Applications of Nanopore Technology 28:57 Company Culture and Operational Insights 35:05 Attracting Talent in a Competitive Market 37:22 The IPO Experience and Future Outlook https://lnkd.in/eQZVSGeK

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Day 3 #COP29. Yesterday, Secretary General of the ICC, John Denton, shared data from Oxera Consulting LLP that climate-related extreme weather events have already created real economic losses of c. $2 trillion over the past decade. Now that’s a call to accelerate action! I attended an event to review progress against the UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, signed by 160 countries. One of the key points calls for government support funds to promote activities which “increase incomes, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, bolster resilience, productivity, livelihoods, nutrition, water efficiency and human, animal and ecosystem health while reducing food loss and waste, and ecosystem loss and degradation.” Many of the 7 countries reporting progress also referred to the discussion about financing. Mette Frederiksen, prime minister of Denmark, described how the Danish Government had brought together their national stakeholders for dialogue, acknowledging different interests make it hard to agree on everything. This summer the Danish Government announced there would be a livestock carbon emission tax from 2030 but also with subsidies available already. She spoke of the need to ensure no loss of jobs, affordable food, not losing control of emissions and the need to “build bridges”. Can this be done? I hope so. I noticed that reducing food loss and waste (8-10% of global emissions including a lot of methane) didn’t get much of a mention. Today WRAP will reveal the number of country plans which actually include it! I am at the Agri-Food Systems Summit on Friday hosted by Climate Action Innovation Zone, Baku Marriott. Please come with your experience and join our roundtable at Future Food System Hackathon to share or co-create solutions preventing food loss and waste. Dr Richard Swannell FRSA and Keith James are here with partners like ReFED FareShare and The Global FoodBanking Network to share best practice between countries. WRAP has been tackling organic waste for over twenty years. Last week WRAP, EY-Parthenon and IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) published a UK food sector Net Zero Transition Plan - data-driven and ready for implementation. Not every business will agree with all of it, but every business can get behind at least one of the game-changing programmes to deliver significant impact. The plan models a 25% GHG reduction from 2021 to 2030, with new cost estimates at the national level. It emphasises the need for increased green financial incentives for UK farmers and to drive climate-positive practices in imported food supply chains. Which brings us back to the conversation here in Baku. The step up required is both in the action plans and the financing of those plans. As Andrea Porro asked yesterday “if food and agriculture is 30% of global GHGs, why is only 3% of financing targeted at farmers?” Catherine David Harriet Lamb https://lnkd.in/ewBBgRaV

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Food waste contributes 8-10% of total greenhouse gas emissions (five times more than aviation) and yet features in few NDCs, the UN lingo for country targets and plans. A new WRAP survey of NDCs shows that only 12% of countries so far have plans for food loss and waste reduction in them. This is therefore a massive opportunity to increase the impact of the countries yet to include food loss and waste in their plans. Countries are missing a golden opportunity to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and increase security of food supplies to their citizens by preventing food loss and waste. There are many successful examples of how to do this from around the world that are ready to be applied, which the team at WRAP can share and advise on. And there’s still time for countries to add in a commitment, before the deadline for this round of NDCs closes in February… #foodwaste #COP29 https://lnkd.in/eqRR7-Sp

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I’ve recently joined the Project Frame working group with the ambition to help harmonise some of the thinking and approaches on evaluating current and future impact. At Carbon13 we require every venture to present an Investment and Impact Case (Carbon Case). Project Frame is focused on greenhouse gas emissions. A recurring question - does every tonne of CO2e have the same “value”? One tonne today vs tomorrow, and what about integrity or longevity of the avoidance or removal. Too complicated? Thoughts on the back of a postcard… Project Frame, Carbon13 #impact #emissions

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I’m looking into a new (niche but important) topic at the moment: healthcare-focussed climate adaptation tech. In other words, startups that are helping healthcare systems to prepare for future: → Climate events (e.g. floods & heatwaves) → Climate-caused pandemics → Increases in certain illnesses/diseases (e.g. skin cancer and asthma) I’d like to expand my network and speak to health & med tech investors (VC, PE, infrastructure) about how the market’s currently looking. Are we seeing the words ‘climate adaptation’ and ‘healthcare resilience’ used in pitches just yet? Who should I speak to? Any and all recommendations greatly appreciated. 

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Take a look at our handy guide on different nature-based carbon projects and some key points to consider. Make sure you're following the Terra page for more explainers like these.

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