Building a company is hard. Convincing strangers to give you money to do it is harder. So we thought we’d even the playing field and give you access to the investors. We’ve arranged a series of events over the coming months to present to you the investors doing the deals in London.

Come and hear what trends they are seeing, what ideas they are backing, what they are looking for in a deal, and how you should approach them.

Meet them, ask the questions you need answers to, and walk away with a face to the name, and maybe a business card…

Damien Lane, Partner at Episode 1 Ventures is our guest in March

After a 20 year career in the Private Equity industry, in which Damien was a Partner at Electra Partners where he led numerous successful investments (and some not so successful ones!), in 2010 Damien moved to Octopus Investments where he was a senior member of the Ventures team.  In 2012 Damien left Octopus and co-founded Episode 1.    

Episode 1 raised a £37.5m fund in 2013 and the team is looking to invest between £250k and £1m into UK based, software-driven start ups, typically as the first institutional investor.  The team then supports the entrepreneurs it invests in to prepare them for a larger fundraising after 12-18 months.  The firm can invest up to £3.5m in any one company to help fund further growth.

@damienlane1