FundingHero

If you're an ambitious founder in Leicestershire and want to learn more about what it takes to scale a business... and what success really looks like (from an exited founder), whilst ALSO having the chance to meet with investors and other professional service providers, add this event to your diary! 📌 When: Tuesday 4th November, 6-8.30pm 📌 Where: Leicester Space Park RSVP below See you there!

📢 📢 📢 Free Webinar For Enterprise Educators & Academics 🚀 The Missing Skill in Enterprise Education: Embedding Funding 💰 Readiness into the Curriculum 🙌 Entrepreneurs receive super education and support around ideation, customer personas, validation, and pitching, to name just a few, but not funding readiness! 🤔 It's a vital missing skill that's not taught appropriately in Enterprise Education without any clear framework or process. The result.... Entrepreneurs waste months or years chasing the wrong funding at the wrong time from the wrong sources when they could have been focused on traction and revenue instead! 😤 Next week I’m hosting a live webinar with Associate Professor Matthew Draycott (Birmingham City University & Director at Enterprise Educators UK ) on embedding funding readiness using the proven 6 Pillars of Funding framework that has raised millions. 👉 It’s time to change that 💪 Join us for a free 45-minute interactive webinar exploring how to embed funding readiness directly into entrepreneurship and innovation teaching, giving students the clarity, confidence, and credibility to raise finance successfully. 🗓 Tuesday 21 October, 1:00–1:45pm 🎟 Register on Eventbrite: https://lnkd.in/eV4KF7sH You’ll learn how to: ✅ Define what “funding readiness” really means in practice ✅ Demystify the funding landscape, debt and equity alike ✅ Introduce a structured, step-by-step framework for raising finance ✅ Translate theory into applied learning and assessment ✅ Equip students with the tools and resources to build investor-ready ventures This session is designed for academics, enterprise educators, and programme leaders who want to prepare their students for the realities of raising finance, whether launching innovation-driven enterprises or running smaller entrepreneurial ventures. Speakers: 🎤 Matthew Draycott – Associate Professor in Innovation Management, Birmingham City University / Enterprise Educators UK 🎤 Jim Shirley – Founder of FundingHero, Author of The Startup Fundraising MBA Let’s make funding readiness the missing link we finally bring into the classroom. Please tag or share with any of your colleagues who may find this relevant. #EnterpriseEducation #InvestmentReadiness #Entrepreneurship #HigherEducation #UniversityInnovation

*** NEW ANNOUNCEMENT *** Delighted to announce that the British Business Bank will be supporting FundingHero's next 12-week #Midlands High Growth Fundraising Accelerator cohort to be delivered from January 2026 If you are interested to find out more about this opportunity, we will be hosting two webinars in November, as part of 'The Capital Roadmap: Unlocking Angel and VC Funding' series 📢 From Traction to Term Sheet: How to Secure Angel Funding, with Luke Pulford, Head of Minerva, Minerva Business Angels 📅 Thursday, 6th November 2025 ⏰ 12.30pm - 1.30pm 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e8a2EbMX 📢 Inside the VC Mindset: Raising Smarter, Raising Bigger, with Hannah Tapsell Chapman - Mercia Ventures, Investor, Mercia Ventures 📅 Wednesday, 26th November 2025 ⏰ 12.30pm - 1.30pm 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eWAVtDqS British Business Bank Midlands Richard Bearman Warren Ralls Vicky Mears Tracy Sherratt BB Cert Caroline Brooks Jim Shirley East Midlands Combined County Authority D2N2 Growth Hub Lucie Andrews Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Business Lincolnshire Angela Driver Leicester and Leicestershire Business and Skills Partnership Business Gateway Growth Hub Phoebe Dawson South Midlands Growth Hub Ruth Roan East Midlands Chamber (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire) Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce

Excited to be hosting a Founders' Forum next month in collaboration with Howard Mitchell from Mercia Ventures, Weightmans and Dow Schofield Watts at the Space Park Leicester with Francesca Faedi! Join Mercia Ventures and others as we explore the start-up and scale-up journey through fireside chats, a founder panel and networking... It's shaping up to be a fabulous evening. Grab a ticket now while there are still some left! 🎟️ Share and spread the word! Sandy Reid - Mercia VenturesHoward MitchellAmrit SamiHannah Tapsell Chapman - Mercia VenturesAmber JardineFrancesca FaediFreya SummersFahim KassamLewis Stringer

*** SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT COHORT 5 INCOMING 📣 📣 📣 *** Delighted 🥳 to announce that the British Business Bank will be supporting Cohort 5 of the FundingHero next 12-week #Midlands High Growth Fundraising Accelerator cohort to be delivered from January 2026 🚀

Really excited 🤩 to be speaking at such an incredible event tomorrow and sharing some insights from our scaleup to exit experiences and from the companies we’ve helped support on the FundingHero high growth fundraising accelerator. 🚀

🚀 Training Opportunity for Enterprise Educators and Startup Supporters! Enterprise Educators UK has partnered with FundingHero to deliver an exciting Investment Readiness Training Programme, designed to help you confidently support students, graduates, spin-outs, and entrepreneurs in securing investment or equity funding. This comprehensive programme includes: - Bite-sized online modules you can complete at your own pace - A 2-day interactive bootcamp (17–18 November 2025 at LUinc, Loughborough University) - Access to an ongoing community of support - Resources including the Fundraising MBA book and an Educator Canvas Toolkit You will learn directly from Jim Shirley, founder of FundingHero and author of The Startup Fundraising MBA, gaining practical insights into: - Understanding the investment process and aligning finance with strategy - Knowing when and how to approach different funding types - Helping founders craft compelling investor materials and pitches - Navigating valuation, due diligence, and investor expectations 🎯 Empower yourself to better guide the next generation of entrepreneurs toward investment success! Places are limited, book early to avoid disappointment. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ejFF4PBB

*** NEW ANNOUNCEMENT *** Delighted to announce that the British Business Bank will be supporting FundingHero's next 12-week #Midlands High Growth Fundraising Accelerator cohort to be delivered from January 2026 If you are interested to find out more about this opportunity, we will be hosting two webinars in November, as part of 'The Capital Roadmap: Unlocking Angel and VC Funding' series 📢 From Traction to Term Sheet: How to Secure Angel Funding, with Luke Pulford, Head of Minerva, Minerva Business Angels 📅 Thursday, 6th November 2025 ⏰ 12.30pm - 1.30pm 🔗 https://lnkd.in/e8a2EbMX 📢 Inside the VC Mindset: Raising Smarter, Raising Bigger, with Hannah Tapsell Chapman - Mercia Ventures, Investor, Mercia Ventures 📅 Wednesday, 26th November 2025 ⏰ 12.30pm - 1.30pm 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eWAVtDqS British Business Bank Midlands Richard Bearman Warren Ralls Vicky Mears Tracy Sherratt BB Cert Caroline Brooks Jim Shirley East Midlands Combined County Authority D2N2 Growth Hub Lucie Andrews Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Business Lincolnshire Angela Driver Leicester and Leicestershire Business and Skills Partnership Business Gateway Growth Hub Phoebe Dawson South Midlands Growth Hub Ruth Roan East Midlands Chamber (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire) Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce

*** STILL TIME TO REGISTER *** for the "How to create a compelling business plan in numbers" webinar with Eilish Jamieson, Non-executive Director at British Business Bank, as part of Business Finance Week 2025. #BusinessFinanceWeek25 Delighted to announce that we will be joined by Jim Shirley, Founder of FundingHero and Sandy Reid - Mercia Ventures, Fund Principal at Mercia Ventures. 📅 Wednesday, 8th October 2025 ⏲️ 12:00 noon - 1:00pm Register here - https://lnkd.in/e9Drkbsm This webinar is designed to help you write a successful business plan in numbers. Learn what makes a business plan compelling to investors and lenders and gain practical tips on how to present your vision and strategy effectively in numbers. Aimed at start-ups and early-stage entrepreneurs, this session will equip you with the tools and insights to create a robust and persuasive business plan. Register here - https://lnkd.in/e9Drkbsm #BusinessFinanceWeek25 Stephen Welton CBE Louis Taylor CBE Richard Bearman Warren Ralls Vicky Mears Sarah Gardiner Rebecca Clubbe Britta Keller Katarzyna Klos Angelene Woodland Singleton Andrew Richardson Sharon Madden Kate Brooman Caroline Brooks Elspeth Groundwater Suzanne Tinkler Matthew Mosses Becky Hilyer Lauren Tunnicliffe Chart.PR MCIPR Paul Hayes UK Business Angels Association British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA) Responsible Finance British Chambers of Commerce Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Institute of Directors (IoD) CBI (Confederation of British Industry)