Birmingham unis call angel network

University of Birmingham and Aston University have joined forces with Minerva Business Angel Network to start a syndicate called Minerva Birmingham that will offer angel funding and expertise to local enterprises.
Minerva Birmingham’s angels will regularly convene at Aston University to offer opportunities to growth-stage businesses in the region.
University of Birmingham’s tech transfer office, University of Birmingham Enterprise, will prepare potential investees with pitch training and mentoring.
The syndicate is an attempt to lure more funding into enterprises in the West Midlands. Businesses in the region collected a 2.6% share of the funding eligible for VC tax breaks through the UK’s Enterprise Investment Scheme during 2017.
Minerva Birmingham’s launch event will take place at Aston University on April 9, with several local unnamed investors and companies due to be in attendance.
The main Minerva Business Angel Network was established in 1994 from University of Warwick’s Science Park. It typically arranges angel equity investments of $6,700 or higher.
Minerva already works alongside the two Birmingham universities to deliver a West Midlands edition of the Pitchfest startup competition, which has channeled $3.7m of funding into local business since launching four years ago.
David Coleman, head of enterprise acceleration at University of Birmingham Enterprise, said: “There are some fantastic investment opportunities in Birmingham, as we have seen through our existing partnership work on Pitchfest West Midlands, which has helped around 170 companies in the region looking for investment.
“However, we also each recognise that within our region companies frequently lack the confidence to seek the finance to grow or those that do are lost to other regions in search of capital. Much more needs to be done to attract and connect angel investors to Birmingham based companies, retain our best entrepreneurial talent and this new network will be an important enabler for this.”