BRISTOL ENTREPRENEURS INVEST IN START-UPS

Successful entrepreneurs from the Bristol area are to provide seedfunding for early-stage start-up businesses in the South West.

Previously Bristol Private Equity Club (BPEC) only invested in established enterprises with growth potential.

“We have a growing pipeline of start-ups seeking investment and have carried out an initial round of evaluations of 12 businesses resulting in one investment and two others being considered by the group.”

Bristol-based Neighbourly has raised £3 million to accelerate the growth and impact of the Neighbourly platform.

Since launching the platform in 2014, the tech-for-good company has worked with corporate partners including Aldi, M&S, Lidl, Danone, M&G Investments, Cadent and RSA Insurance, to support more than 16,000 local good causes across the UK and Ireland.

As a UK market leader in community investment and engagement, the Neighbourly platform has helped disburse £13 million in microgrants, 70,000 hours of employee volunteering time, redistributed 50 million meals and saved 80,000 tonnes of CO2.

The investment came from Guinness Asset Management.

Neighbourly has seen a significant increase in demand from businesses wanting to deliver and measure social impact at a local level, as well as from local good causes wanting to make that connection. The investment follows three years of strong growth.

BPEC Seed is finding businesses to fund through organisations such as SetSquared, TechSpark and Tech South West, with around 20 per cent of BPEC members looking at supporting start-ups.

Heading up BPEC Seed is Peter Lockett supported by colleagues Ben Cooper and Sam Simpson. All three volunteers have had extensive experience and success with their own early-stage companies and are active Business Angels in the South West.

Peter Lockett said: “BPEC has established itself as a credible source of investment for regional growth companies looking for Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) funding.

“BPEC Seed is extending the service to earlier stage start-ups sourcing Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) funding. Funding from us can help start-up businesses access other funds or could be a good start for those seeking crowd funding.

Peter Lockett, who co-founded and sold a successful pharmaceutical packaging business, said many entrepreneurs are keen to support those in the early stages of their journey.

“We are looking to give something back and BPEC has been very successful in supporting businesses with investment of between £150,000 to £500,000. This is for those requiring less than £150,000 and the business must be under two years old with assets of less than £200,000.”

Jerry Barnes, founder and CEO of BPEC said: “This is a fantastic extension of the support that BPEC is giving to growing businesses in the region. I am very grateful to Peter for leading this initiative and helping BPEC to expand its role by supporting new businesses which always find it tough to find seed funding.”

Bristol Private Equity Club (BPEC) has invested around £8 million in local businesses since it was founded four years ago and now has more than 100 members.