Participants in a programme aimed at helping start-ups and early stage businesses attract investment have now raised over £15m.
Companies that have been through the gateway2investment (g2i) programme, established to help get new tech businesses ready to pitch for funding, have secured £16.9m since the scheme’s launch in 2005, it has been announced.
The g2i programme is run by a consortium led by business advisers Grant Thornton, and was launched to advise and support technology companies looking to raise between £50,000 and £3m.
“Reaching £15m was an important milestone for us and the fact we have surpassed this provides more evidence of the success of the g2i approach,” said Grant Thornton’s Ian Shields, manager of the g2i programme.
According to Grant Thornton, the g2i programme offers ‘high-quality advice and support’ that start-ups could not usually afford.
Shields added: “The real innovation of g2i is that the entrepreneurs are guided by professionals whose day-to-day jobs are working with investment companies and major corporations.
“It was expected that the programme would leverage £15m of private sector funding by December 2007. Surpassing this milestone in October 2007 is testament to the success of the programme.”
The news follows the recent announcement that the g2i programme has been extended to offer support to young companies across all industry sectors in London (barring financial services and property development) following £1.7m of backing from the London Development Agency (LDA).
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
