‘Running the gauntlet’ competition doubles investment pot to £2m
The East of England Development Agency’s ‘Running the gauntlet’ investment competition and business education programme has doubled its prize money for the 2007 event. It said there will now be up to £2m on offer for entrepreneurs with investable businesses in the region that includes Cambridge.
EEDA said that in the past two years nearly 800 businesses had used the competition as the springboard for business development and investment. Many have gone on to attract private equity running into millions of pounds - among them Camrivox, Compound Photonics and Short Fuze.
This year EEDA is partnering with four investors: CREATE, Low Carbon Accelerator, NW Brown Group and SEP. Doug Richard of Library House will chair the investment panel.
There will be an enhanced business education programme this year.
The competition offers free access to The Gauntlet, the virtual investor devised by Library House and the London School of Economics. Thereafter, over £250,000 of in-kind advice and guidance is available from a range of professional organisations: Bailey Fisher, Cambridge Marketing College, Grant Thornton, HSBC, Microsoft UK, Mudhut Communication, Sagentia Group, Taylor Vinters, The Commercialisation Company.
A series of boot camps has been scheduled for Cambridge (14 June), Norwich (20 June) and Chelmsford (4 July). The programme, which will involve ‘running the gauntlet’ investors and partners, will be structured around The Gauntlet to help strengthen the entrants’ submissions and improve their chances of success whilst offering an excellent networking opportunity.
Entrepreneurs can enter online at www.runningthegauntlet.com upto 2nd September. Those who register early will have the chance to win a place (worth £1000 each) on ‘Ignite’, an intensive week-long summer school for entrepreneurs run by the Cambridge Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning or to gain a place on Microsoft UK’s small business management course.
A shortlist of fifty will be announced at an event on 12 September. They will be invited to pitch to the panel of investors who will select ten finalists to go forward for more detailed discussions. Investment plans (which will be subject to due diligence) will be announced at EEDA’s ‘Destination Growth’ event on 6 November.
3rd May 2007
