The Landing adds new angel investment panel to business incubator programme

From July, scale-ups and SMEs who are accepted on to The Landing’s three-month business incubator programmes, delivered via the Launch co-working space on the 6th floor, will also now get the chance to meet with, network and pitch to a handpicked group of venture capitalists, angel investors and investment consortiums at the end of their 90-day tenure.

This pitch panel event will give participating companies the chance to share their fully-formed business concepts, growth projections and any prototype technologies with potential investors, having honed and polished their proposition with help from The Landing’s support team.

It will also give them the first opportunity to put into practice all the help, guidance and learnings gained by taking part in The Landing’s series of bootcamps and workshops which are integral to the Launch incubator programme.

However, in a twist on the more traditional ‘Dragons Dens’ model for investment pitching, The Landing has teamed up with the Barclays-sponsored Eagle Lab team, who are based on the 4th floor, and the popular members only bar On The 7^th, to devise a dinner and drinks format for the quarterly pitch panel events.

This follows on from a successful pilot evening held recently which saw seven leading North West investors – including Alex Buchan from Accelerated Digital Ventures, Connor Cantwell from Cosimo, Andrew Davidson from Livewire Capital and Colin Shenton of the Shenton Group – meeting and hearing from a number of fast-growing Landing-based companies over a three-course meal in On The 7^th‘.

Also present at the event were members of The Landing’s extensive network of private sector consultants and advisors who all signed-up earlier this year to provide advice, guidance and mentoring to Launch-based companies.

All investors, advisors and the companies presenting at the event thought it was a breath of fresh-air in terms of how to pitch for investment, getting to know the people behind the business ideas, and generally making stronger connections and building great relationships between potential funders and entrepreneurs.

Shu-Ling Li, Community Manager for The Landing’s Launch co-working space, said: “The recent dinner and drinks event we hosted, which saw a handful of Landing-based companies do a quick two-minute pitch to a group of leading investment angels between courses, was such a great success that we have decided to make it officially part of the Launch incubator offer. 

“It will give scale-ups based at Launch the chance to put into practice all they have learned from the intensive scale-up and business support programme we provide in friendly surroundings. They can also then continue to network with potential investors, and The Landing’s wider business support team, in a very relaxed environment. 

“When we opened Launch last year we described it as a place to ‘Work, Test and Play’, and this more social and open approach to pitching for funding, and making connections with potential investors, is a great example of that philosophy in action”.

The first Launch incubator cohort who will benefit from the next dinner and drinks pitch panel eventAdd Module (scheduled for October 4^th) will commence on  July 3^rd and there are a few spaces still left. For more details of the incubator programme and how to apply visit http://www.thelanding.org.uk/launch-landing-incubator-programme/