New platform to democratise access to investment for entrepreneurs

EPIC, an innovative collaboration between the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA) and Pitchflix, the video-first company fostering engagement between accelerators, investors and founders, is a new a platform to help entrepreneurs identify potential investors.

The initiative is the first of its kind for the EISA members, many of whom are investment funds providing support for UK start-ups through HM Treasury’s EIS and SEIS. Since the schemes were launched, over £27bn has been invested in more than 52,000 businesses.

EPIC helps founders identify relevant sources of potential investment to help them grow and scale their businesses. These innovative start-ups will play a crucial role in the UK’s economic recovery. The EIS and the SEIS help to facilitate the flow of private capital into these exciting young businesses and EPIC aims to further ensure that start-ups are able to secure this crucial investment as efficiently as possible.

By providing clearer information about UK early stage investors, EPIC will help to democratise access to capital for all founders from across the whole of the UK.

Not only will it help founders avoid the unproductive effort of pitching to a long list of funders, many of whom may have criteria that don’t accommodate their required funding, but it could also improve the proportion of relevant investment opportunities received by the funds themselves.

One fund manager participating in the initiative, Worth Capital’s Matthew Cushen explained, “Anything that breaks down the barriers and increases communication between VCs and founders has to be good news.

“Especially for founders to hear about what different VCs are looking for, what they are likely to get excited by and the kind of help they could offer. And with video, founders are likely to pick up a few clues as to whether the chemistry might be there that is the precursor of a healthy, productive, fun working relationship.”

Director general of EISA, Christiana Stewart-Lockhart added, “One of the questions I get asked most often by Founders is who could they approach for funding. It is often challenging for founders to find out which investment funds specialise in their sector and stage and which could add the most value to their start-up in terms of mentoring and advice.

“I’m delighted that EISA has worked with Pitchflix to address these gaps and develop a platform that democratises this information. EPIC will enable all founders from across the whole of the UK to access the information they need to secure crucial investment enabling them to scale and grow.

“EPIC will be particularly important for those entrepreneurs who don’t have existing networks in the investment community, and we’re delighted to be making this information available to all founders free of charge. The EIS and the SEIS are fundamental in ensuring founders can secure private investment for their start-ups and EPIC will help to ensure this happens as smoothly and efficiently as possible.”

Head of communications at Pitchflix, Yasmin Voong commented, “We have developed our platform to leverage live and on-demand video communication and are particularly keen to deploy it with businesses that represent future UK growth stories.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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