Beer & Partners Investment Fair Secures Record $9m Investment in 5 Months

Beer & Partners has completed its biggest ever deal with a $9 million investment going to a leader in the cloud computing software sector. In just five months, this US-based company now has the required funding to expand its revolutionary cloud-based managed services platform.

This financial commitment from a small institutional investor, introduced to Beer’s client at the London Investment Fair in June 2011, enables the business to develop their marketing activities, grow the sales team and add functionality to the product range. They met a number of serious investors from the Beer angel community on the day and quickly entered into negotiation with a London based private equity firm.

Mike Weaver, Chief Executive of Beer & Partners commented:

“The UK is increasingly attracting companies from the USA seeking to raise funding here rather than in Silicon Valley and the US. Key factors behind this trend is the attraction of UK’s less regulated environment, the costs of fundraising are substantially lower and, surprisingly to many, there is a stronger investment appetite here at present than in the US. Changes in the exchange rate between the US Dollar and UK Pound however can make this cyclical.”

Weaver added:

“Since the beginning of this recent period of economic turmoil, we have seen an increase in family offices and higher net worth individuals join Beers to seek alternative investment opportunities. Compelling, well-prepared, well-managed businesses like this one are just what they are looking for.”

Robin Rowland Hill, who led the fund-raising campaign for Beer, feels that the number of opportunities available within the sector helped to attract those investors already taking note of on-going industry changes and developments and this constituted the “almost perfect client”. Hill acknowledges the advantage of being organised and well-prepared when it comes to meeting prospective investors:

“Our client was serious about attracting investment and made sure they were extremely well-prepared for the Investment Fair in June. Because of this, we were able to efficiently generate some earnest interest from angels in a short space of time, utilising a focused and stimulating campaign.”

Beer & Partners is delighted that their client has attracted this investment and reached terms relatively quickly. Whilst Beer are best known for raising funding from the business angel community they also have good links with over 300 institutional investors and family offices who bridge the funding gap between the angel investors and the VC’s.

2011 was a tough year for all. Euro permitting, Beer & Partners has high hopes for 2012 as the SME sector begins to move forward again with the added incentives of EIS brought in during last year.