Said Business School has announced a new seed fund that will invest up to £25k this summer in two to four start-ups led by Oxford students and alumni.
Managed by a student committee and mentored by successful entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, and academics, the Saïd Business School Seed Fund not only provides capital for new ventures to get off the ground, it is also designed to provide a learning experience for the committee, giving students behind-the-scenes access to the management of early stage investing.
Saïd Business School has announced a new seed fund that will invest up to £25k this summer in two to four start-up’s led by Oxford students and alumni. Managed by a student committee and mentored by successful entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, and academics, the Saïd Business School Seed Fund not only provides capital for new ventures to get off the ground, it is also designed to provide a learning experience for the committee, giving students behind-the-scenes access to the management of early stage investing.
The fund is led by a committee of eight students from the MBA and Masters in Law and Finance programmes with backgrounds in angel investing, start-up incubation, law, risk management, management consulting, sales, and managing start-up’s. MBA student John Stringfellow plans to work in venture capital after graduation: “I’m very excited to be surrounded by such talented team members and to have the opportunity to help drive the entire investment process – from vetting the deals, to working through financials and undertaking due diligence before investing in new ventures. It will give me a huge amount of experience of the sector and provide a solid grounding in some of the specific skills that will help act as a springboard to a career in venture capital.”
An initiative of the Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the fund is accepting applications until March 7th 2013. Eligible ventures must have an Oxford student or alumni as a key member of the founding team and be at a pilot or proof-of-concept stage, with no significant previous investment. From the initial applications the committee will select a number for diligence review with a view to making formal offers and closing investments by the summer of 2013.
The seed fund will provide additional valuable resources to successful ventures including angel investors, mentors, and support for business model development. Those entrepreneurs that are not yet ready for investment will be eligible to join the Lean Launchpad business model development programme in Spring 2013. Building off the latest lean startup methodology, the Lean LaunchPad will help six to eight teams refine business models and prepare their ventures for future funding.
The fund will tap into the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Oxford acting as a catalyst to innovation and collaboration across the University and beyond. The Fund will be launched at Oxford Inspires this Saturday, a new conference bringing leading entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from across the globe together to share their experiences of starting a business, discuss industry trends and provide practical actionable insight on how to start, fund and scale new ventures through a variety of speaker events, masterclasses and breakout sessions.
