Seeking Funds?

If you have, or are planning to set up a business in the West Midlands and have a strategy for growth which requires additional funding, the Advantage Early Growth Fund may be able to help.

Most of your questions regarding the operation of the fund and the types of investment we can make can be found by visiting the Frequently Asked Questions and About Us sections of this web site.

AEGF launched in February 2004 with the aim to make equity funding a common method of financing early stage businesses in the West Midlands region. It does this by demonstrating that venture capital can be a constructive and supportive source of 'patient capital' and trying to improve the general image of the venture capital industry.

Unusually AEGF does not charge any fees when it makes an investment. We believe that we should make our profit when our investee companies succeed and that they will probably need all the capital they can get at this crucial early stage of their growth.

We like to work closely with the companies in which we invest to help them through their formative years because early stage businesses are vulnerable to unexpected setbacks, which more established businesses can ride out (such as losing a customer or supplier). We are also there to help in times of rapid change, when the speed of growth can stretch all the resources of an early stage business. Running a small business can be very lonely and our experience with helping other companies means we have usually come across similar problems and opportunities before, or we have another company that can share it's experiences with you. In addition, we always have to invest alongside a private investor and they often have valuable experience and business contacts they can introduce.

In November each year we hold a conference for the investee businesses and their investors meet to share experiences, contacts, ideas and generally help each other to grow. Now that the Fund has a 'portfolio' of over 40 investments we are finding that an important part of our work is to 'add value' by making introductions and highlighting business opportunities by working with the other businesses we know.

Although AEGF is attempting to operate a "no frills", low-cost fund this does not imply any reduction in our expectations regarding sharing in the profits we help to create! Our philosophy is to try and help you make the 'cake' as big as possible so that our slice is valuable, rather than try to grab as big a share as possible whilst the 'cake' is still small!

How to apply

If you would like to apply to the Fund we normally expect you to send us a comprehensive business plan - either by post or email click here for details of where to send it.

If you are not sure about applying or would like to discuss your business with us on the telephone first, you can call Tim Powell on 07973 386443 or Peter Brown on 07767 398968 and we will endeavour to help you through the next steps.

If you would like some general information about raising venture capital have a look at www.thefunded.com the premiere source of venture funding information for entrepreneurs and CEO's worldwide. It includes useful tips, warnings about potential pitfalls and feedback on over 3,600 funds operating throughout the world.