Despite the notable decline in syndicated venture capital deals last quarter (see UK tech VC investment plummets), co-funding remains an important source of investment for UK start-ups and SMEs.
Witness the additional £400k of seed funding raised by Tyne-and-Wear based web marketing software firm, 4th Aspect, led by The Angel CoFund, alongside existing investors Rivers Capital and TRI Capital. The current funding round brings the total investment in 4th Aspect since its founding in 2010 to £750k.
This is a rather broad mix of investors, with a wide range of interests. Newcastle-based Rivers Capital runs the £7.5m Finance For Business North East Angel Fund; Sheffield-based The Angel CoFund does pretty much what it says on the tin. Business angel syndicate TRI (Tweed Renaissance Investors) Capital is headquartered in the Scottish Borders, working closely with Scottish Enterprise.
There surely must have been significant time consumed by 4th Aspect management to secure what is really only a very modest level of funding in the grand scheme of things, time which could probably be better spent running the business proper. With still over half of UK tech VC deals syndicated, one wonders how much faster UK start-ups and SMEs might be able to grow if they didn’t have to rely on sewing together a patchwork quilt of investors to raise funds each step of the way.