March 17th, 2010 by
Chris Measures
Cambridge is full of innovative start-ups and the main thing they need is money to help them grow. That’s the perceived wisdom but having attended last night’s Cambridge Network Open Meeting on Growth Capital I think it needs to be challenged.
The whole event, held at Robinson College was about getting money. But despite engaging presentations from the likes of bankers Kleinwort Benson, venture capital companies Amadeus and Atlas Venture as well as economic think tank Z/Yen the audience was dominated, not by hungry start-ups but by lawyers, accountants and PR people (myself included). A back of the envelope calculation was that just 16 per cent of people there were start-ups. Obviously you need an ecosystem to develop any technology cluster, but the balance seems all wrong.
So the question I’m left with was – where are the future Cambridge giants, the next ARM, Autonomy or CSR in embryo? Are they in their sheds busy inventing or simply not worried about gaining the investment they need to grow? Answers on a postcard please……
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Tags:
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Z/Yen No Comments »
November 23rd, 2009 by
Chris Measures
Can the UK produce world-class tech companies that lead their markets? That’s the question the Sunday Times poses, essentially coming to the conclusion that in the main, IT entrepreneurs are selling their businesses, taking the money and running.
There are those that have become international successes – the likes of Sage, ARM, Autonomy, Misys and Ultra Electronics are all strong members of the FTSE 250. But in comparison to the US, which has the NASDAQ Index predominantly made up of tech companies we obviously lag behind.
Given a flotation is the obvious alternative to a trade sale, we should be encouraging tech companies to list, gain additional investment and grow. But it currently costs over £1m to list a business on a UK stock market, where you are competing for money with a huge range of companies from around the world, many of whom are selling simpler products such as raw materials, consumer goods or property.
Rather than criticise entrepreneurs and their VC backers for ‘selling out’ it is time that listing a company in the UK was made more attractive. This would bolster the UK tech sector and create more of the leaders that we are looking for.
Posted in
Technology
Tags:
ARM,
Autonomy,
Entrepreneur,
FTSE 100,
FTSE 250,
investment,
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Technology,
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Ultra Electronics,
Venture capital 1 Comment »
July 6th, 2009 by
Matthew Watson
The Guardian: BT drops Phorm targeted ad service after customers cry foul over privacy: BT has decided not to go ahead with rolling out Phorm’s ad-targeted Webwise system to its 4.8m broadband customers. BT said that not using the technology, which uses information on which sites a user visits to help target them with relevant advertising, was down to its need to save resources ahead of its £1.5bn investment in super-fast broadband
The Guardian: ‘Congrats to Uncle C’ – how his wife’s Facebook page exposed new MI6 head: This follows Milliband playing down the issue on the Andrew Marr show yesterday.
Media Guardian: Complaints to rise at the Advertising Standards Authority, despite number of adverts falling: Guy Parker, new CEO of the Advertising Standards Authority, believes complaints this year will top last year’s record figure. The regulator’s chief told MediaGuardian: “We’re heading for about 30,000 complaints, but about fewer ad campaigns than last year.” Last year 26,433 complaints were made to the ASA, about 15,556 ads.
Silicon: 50p broadband tax ‘will leave 20 pc of UK without fibre’: David Campbell, BT Openreach’s MD of next-generation access, said that BT will deploy a mixture of fibre to the premises and fibre to the cabinet for next-generation access – with P or C being chosen depending on the economies of each exchange
FT.com: UK venture capital: Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The UK government’s recent decision to invest £150m in a new venture fund is the latest attempt to help British start-ups navigate a death zone formed by a lack of mid- to late-stage funding. Its goal – to drum up £1bn of public and private funding for start-ups over 10 years – is laudable. But it is unlikely to make much difference.
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