Tony Hunter

#Manchester based past SkilledUp Life tech startup customer Cytix raises £1.6 million Seed investment from Manchester based Praetura Ventures founded by David Foreman. Michael Rees well done. Limited Partner (LP) in this case is Northern Powerhouse Fund II operated by British Business Bank British Business Bank North of England Delyth Lloyd Edwards. Simon Cunnington SkilledUp Life helped Thomas Ballin and the team during the earliest stages of the tech startup when they were self-funded and bootstrapping. I also had the pleasure to mingle with Ben Armstrong at Techcelerate when they were just starting up and trying to build the first version of the product. Both Ben and Thomas stood up as a strong pair of co-founders. They came from the same industry, worked for the same boss and knew the market inside out. They knew how to innovate the market and slice a portion of the market for themselves. They also had a superb unfair advantage in addition to above. The pair was perfect to start a tech product company. Let me explain why. When you talk about building tech startups, especially at the very earliest stages, you need to two people: - Some one who can code and build - Thomas Ballin - Some one who can sell - Ben Armstrong Having been in the tech startup world for 20 years, I rarely see this ideal combination. I knew they would go places. And they had. A massive congratulations from me to Thomas, Ben and the team. My only regret was I could not convince them to join Techcelerate. 😁 Here's the story https://lnkd.in/ec7VzXp2 covered by Deal Lite. Here's the story about Pre-Seed round https://lnkd.in/eR4UQ9fi I look forward to reading the story about Series A investment not too long in the near future. Congrats all. A good day for #Manchester! 🥂 Oh, by the way, we have a ton of #cybersecurity volunteers on https://skilledup.life Here is a bunch of Manchester tech startups who are leveraging SkilledUp Life as they self-fund and bootstrap their businesses in the early stage. These companies are cash-efficient and understand how hard the journey is: - Dustid run by Michael Livingstone - Orakly run by Craig A. Taylor - also a Techcelerate member - mutuals run by eddy D. SkilledUp Life de-risked Cytix over 20 months period. SkilledUp Life is here to give a leg up to tech startups in early years. #Cytix #Cybersecurity #Manchester #TechManchester #SkilledUpLife

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If you're looking for VC funding in the UK, check out FundFinder.live If you're one of those people that likes to just play with all the circles on an Apple Watch because it's super satisfying, but struggle to pick one because playing with the interface is too satisfying, then maybe don't go to this website :) FundFinder has a similar interface to Apple Watches, but on web. Thank you Hector Mason, Jack Richardson, and the team at Focal for sharing this. Simultaneously showing me a very useful tool that could save me time in research, but also could waste lots of my time thanks to my brain (not sure if ADD or something else). And thank you to Concept Ventures and Justified Studio for building it. Oliver Kicks - who deserves the credit? #random #fundraising #startup #vc

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Highlighting: "The market for a bespoke solution like Holoride may be narrower than its founders once hoped." "No shit, Sherlock." This was a niche of a niche of a niche that I honestly never understood. Imagine starting with the people who are VR enthusiasts, and then reducing by the people who want VR in cars, and then the people who have recent year Audis, and then people in Germany (the USA was added later), and then the people who will buy a $700 semi-enterprise package that comes with access to only a dozen games, but also a $20 a month subscription. This is like 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% of 1%. The shocking thing is not that they ran out of funding. The shocking thing is that they EVER got any funding. Oh and keep in mind, all that fun stuff about VR being 6DoF, roomscale, body movements, arm movements, hand tracking? All gone. This is semi-3DOF locked in your seat holding a console style knock off bluetooth controller. The VR headset? HTC Vive Flow. The gamepad? 8BitDo Pro 2 Gamepad. The cars supported? Only the Audi A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, Q5, Q7, Q7, Q8, Audi e-tron, Audi e-tron Sportback, Audi e-tron GT* Nothing else. No other makes and models. Just a few Audis. Who does this?! Seriously? Its like developing a PC Game that can only be played by people in Madison, Wisconsin running Mac Pro towers built between 2009-2015, and they can play that game on Wednesday on odd dates of the month. Who does this?! This isn't a business. It's a boutique artisanal popup shop selling handcrafted farts to people who can't smell. It's just confusing. ----- UploadVR: "Holoride Insolvent As Investment Falls Through: 'Pioneering Is Painful'" (IAN HAMILTON) (10 MAY 2024) Holoride's founders say they've filed "for insolvency" after an investment round fell apart. The startup built a platform to present VR headset as in-car entertainment with demos offered at trade shows like CES showing off the concept and a partnership with Audi to sell it to for use in cars in Germany. Holoride CEO and co-founder Nils Wollny acknowledged making mistakes in a post on LinkedIn, that “pioneering is painful” and they "missed our first shot." Responding to questions from UploadVR, Wollny explained over direct message that some employees had been laid off “in February this year based on a new strategic direction. Our team's right-sizing was also based on terms we had agreed on with our planned lead investor.” “While our business operations continue, we are working with the provisional insolvency administrator to find a solution by the end of June to ensure the continued existence of holoride GmbH and conclude our strategic repositioning, which we have intensively worked on.” UploadVR: https://lnkd.in/g32pFPrA #vr #xr #holoride #puzzling

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STOP looking for funding shortcuts and do the damn work. Raising Capital is HARD Expanding your network is HARD Raising Interest from investors is HARD. Delivering a compelling investor pitch is HARD. Building trust with from total strangers is pretty HARD. Securing funding without a network is HARD. Negotiating investment terms  s HARD Deploying growth capital is HARD Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is wrong. With DeeDee our all-in-one solution it gets EASIER FUND. ACQUIRE. EXIT Your Business • set-up online profiles in minutes • tease investors with deal summaries • build trust with recommendations • secure all documents in 1 place • comfortably track your deal • all your contacts in 1 crm • raise interest from 15.000 investors • auto investment updates • benchmark your metrics • etc.    𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝟮𝟬 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 $𝟰𝟵𝟳,- 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹. 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁. If you plan a raise is 6 months, comment deedee and we will drop a dm See you on the inside. Your friend Sven Milder ⚡️

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Hopefully, if you're on the #IsleOfMan, you've now heard about the extended set of free events around #ai that Digital Isle of Man are hosting. If not, here's a quick rundown. 👇 Brian & Natalie Gallagher of LEMA Logic (formally Lemur Labs) are presenting "AI in a day's work: rethinking admin" Arron Clague BSc(Hons) MA MBCS of Viking Office Systems is presenting "Building Practical Use Cases with AI" Chris Kissack of Acclaim Limited is presenting "AI Fundamentals without the tech jargon" Jason Bissell is presenting Responsible AI for Senior Executives. Last (but hopefully not least!) I'm presenting an updated version of "AI- enhanced Communication & Marketing". There's literally something here for everyone from "I've never used AI, how do I get started?" to "I'm an experienced Dev, what are the technicalities around implementing specific aspects." Also, a quick shout to Lyle Wraxall, Sarah Ennett, Grace Hoodless, & the rest of the team at DIOM. While we get to stand around chatting about stuff we enjoy, they are doing a huge amount of work enabling these #ActivateAI events, setting up the LearnAI website, and really giving the Manx community a chance to understand and leverage this tech. To find out more, get some free video training, or book a place on any (or all if you like!) of the above, check out https://learnai.im.

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