Do we need to be seed funded to apply?
Save in special circumstances (e.g. we are approached by an already proven, successful management team) we are not looking to support businesses at the idea stage or at a very early stage. We would expect each of our new members to have previously received seed funding (generally this means an initial round of friends & family funding and a subsequent round of Angel-led funding)
At what stage of development/funding do you expect the applicants to be?
We would expect the new businesses on the programme to be demonstrating strong growth and be ready to do a Series A fundraising roughly in the next six to nine months – We define a Series A for these purposes as the first ‘institutional’ fundraise for the business, i.e. where a business is looking to raise finance from a Corporate Venture Team, a VC fund or an at-scale Family Office (or similar).
Do we need to demonstrate any revenue?
Each new member should already be receiving revenue from a product or service that has been taken to market. Generally we do not want to support pre-revenue businesses.
Do we need to have people employed at the company in order to be eligible to applyfor equIP?
Hiring staff shows commitment to and belief in a business. Most businesses we accept onto the programme should have in excess of 15 employees actively engaged in running the business.
Are businesses in certain sectors more interesting than others?
We are currently focused on supporting tech enabled businesses that fit with one or more of CMS’s identified sectors (see main page). We are also looking to support businesses that are developing products or services that may assist with our own focus on innovation initiatives. Business that are active in the Legal Tech space will be of interest as well.
Do we have to cover all of the above requirements to apply?
No, you can cover a combination of those and still be eligible to apply. Please contact us either through the main landing page of the program or through your local page if you have questions that you still haven’t gotten answers to.
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