UKBAA Recognises the Global Successes of the Future at the Angel Investment Awards 2015
Many of the world’s most successful businesses began with angel investment.
On Wednesday 1st July, over 300 leading players of the industry gathered together at the UK Business Angels Association Awards Dinner 2015, at the Tower of London Pavilion, to recognise the UK’s most disruptive and innovative angel-backed businesses and celebrate the investors behind them.
Now in its 10th successful year, the UK Business Angels Association Awards event featured key addresses from Simon Calver, ex CEO Love Film, the Chair of Moo.com, Chemist Direct and who has now taken the role of Chair at UKBAA; and from Simon Devonshire, ex Telefonica and co-founder of the Wayra Accelerators, currently Entrepreneur in Residence for the UK Government who gave his insights on the challenges and opportunities for growth and scale-up.
Sponsors included Lloyds Bank, BBA, NESTA, Angel CoFund, Innovate UK, BVCA, BGF, Business Growth Service, Isle of Man Government, INNEON, Barclays, CIDG and Gust.
The Awards winners were announced during the evening by Kiki Loizou, Small Business Editor of the Sunday Times:
High Growth Team of the Year Award, won by LOVESPACE – the self storage specialist founded by Brett Akker, the entrepreneur behind Streetcar – now known as ZipCar.
Angel-VC Deal Of The Year Award, won by Gousto the recipe ingredients delivery subscription service
Best Investment In A High Growth Manufacturing Business Award, won by Oxford Space Systems a rising star in the UK ‘new space’ industry
Best Equity Crowdfunded-Angel Investment Award, won by Lightpoint Medical which has developed a new cancer imaging technology
Best Investment in Disruptive Tech Award, won by Arachnys Information Systems – the business data solution supporting due diligence
Best Women-Led Investment of the Year Award, won by Abundance Generation the UK’s first regulated eco investment platform
Best Investment in Eco-Innovation 2015, won by Aeristech electric car supercharging & turbocharging tech specialists
Social Impact Investment of the Year Award, won by Aduna , Africa-centric superfood beauty pioneers supporting the livelihoods of rural communities in Sub Saharan Africa
Exit of the Year, won byZoopla the UK’s second largest property listing website which had successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange
Lead Syndicate of the Year, won by Angel Academe, the pro-women angel syndicate recognised for encouraging more women to invest, with a special focus on investing in women-led tech businesses
Angel Investor of the Year, won by Michael Blakey recognised for his longstanding experience as an active investor having invested in over 30 early stage businesses as well as his strong leadership role in supporting the growth of the angel market over many years,
The panel of Judges comprised leading figures from national early stage investment scene, including:
Sarah Abrahams (Grant Thornton UK), David Aitken (Carbon Trust) Steven Barr (Manufacturing Advisory Service), Marion Bernard (London & SE Business Growth Fund), Bruce Colley (Innovate UK), Peter Cowley (Angel Investor of the Year 2014), John Garland (Isle of Man Government), Irene Graham (BBA), Tim Hames (BVCA), Richard Heggie (Barclays), Shalini Khemka (E2Exchange), Jenny Mcdowell (Lloyds Bank), Ian Merricks (Whitehorse Capital), Katie Mountain (Nesta Impact Investments), George Whitehead (Octopus Ventures).
Jenny Tooth, CEO of UKBAA said: “The UKBAA Awards are a celebration of the innovation and global ambitions of disruptive early stage businesses in the UK. This year the quality and quantity of nominations is the highest ever, with even more entries from across the regions. ” She added: “We were blown away by the talent and ground-breaking achievements of the companies who won each category.”
” But what these awards really reveal are the amazing unsung heroes behind these businesses, the angel investors, supporting them, with not only valuable risk capital, but with business advice, access to markets and customers to enable these entrepreneurs to be the global success stories of the future.”
”One of the most exciting trends we’ve seen through these awards is the increase in the number of successful entrepreneurs bringing their capital and expertise and investing into the next wave of high growth businesses.”
