Week 4 Completed: EU-Ying De Joint Accelerator Programme

13 July – Week 4 of the EU-funded Accelerator Programme led by Ying De was successfully completed. This week, we continued to provide advice on fundraising as well as financial management to SMEs.  

 We delivered a detailed analysis on how SMEs could focus on showcasing the strengths of their projects during fundraising in order to attract investors and increase their willingness to invest. The two mentors we brought in were Flavia Richardson, Vice President of Silicon Valley Bank and Dr. Wilson Ren, COO of Ying De Group.

Flavia described the current state of venture capital in the European market in recent years and its impact on the UK investment climate, with particular reference to the changes and trends in seed and angel round investments over the past two years. There has been varying degrees of growth in the European investment market from seed to Series B funding during this period. Flavia also reiterated the entire process of funding, highlighting how company founders can make venture capitalists better understand the business, why venture capitalists are more inclined to work with tech companies and what founders should showcase and take note of in each of the three stages of funding.

During the Q&As, Flavia discussed in particular how to better attract angel investors, effectively carry out company valuation and work with investors in their due diligence.

Dr. Ren then explained in detail how to organise business plans in a better and more efficient manner so as to generate investor interest and lead to investment decisions.

Dr. Ren introduced how to build a business plan and the components that it should contain, and explained in detail what each part should cover. From a SME perspective, he covered in depth how company founders should highlight the competitive edge of their business and the implementation of their business model in order to attract investors.